Post box history featured on Guernsey stamps

A set of stamps featuring post boxes has been published to mark key moments in Guernsey's postal history.

The stamp issue features six post boxes including a rare 1887 Jubilee pillar box at Trinity Square, and a Georgian wall box at Fort Road, which was damaged in an air raid during the Nazi German Occupation.

A trial in the Channel Islands in 1852 marked the first use of pillar boxes within the British postal system. Guernsey's first boxes were installed in 1853 - including Union Street, which is the oldest continuously used pillar box in the British Isles.

Guernsey Post is running several projects to celebrate the history of post boxes after it closed 83 boxes last year due to falling use.

Another project involves heritage plaques being placed on some of the closed post boxes.

The initial trials carried out in the islands led to the boxes being adopted across Britain.

While red became the standard colour in 1874, Guernsey Post adopted the island's distinctive blue in 1980.

Bridget Yabsley, head of philatelic at Guernsey Post, said: "Post boxes are a distinctive and enduring part of Guernsey's landscape, reflecting both the island's rich postal history and their continued role in everyday life."

She said a display at the Guernsey Post Museum, which offers a free exhibition located on the second floor of the island's branch at 7 Commercial Arcade in St Peter Port.

"The new museum displays build on this theme by exploring the wider stories connected with Guernsey's postal heritage, including historic Liberation stamp issues, Sark's first official postage stamps, and Guernsey's long association with Victor Hugo.

"Together, they highlight how stamps and postal history continue to preserve and share the Bailiwick's cultural identity."

Follow BBC Guernsey on X and Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk.