Snailmail gets new meaning as molluscs seal off postbox

A POSTBOX in Co Tipperary has been taken out of service because snails have been eating the mail.

Since the 19th century, the residents of Kilmoyler have been posting letters in the Victorian iron postbox embedded in an ivy-clad wall opposite the Lady Gregory public house.

Recently the postman noticed the box had been infiltrated by snails which were nibbling at envelopes. An Post decided to suspend its collection and seal the box. Angus Lavery, a spokesman for An Post, said “the damp in the box was attracting snails” and the staff found “slug damage to envelopes”. An Post plans “to remove the postbox and see if it can be made damp-proof and slug-proof” in the hope that “the lovely old Victorian box can be retained”. Roadside wall postboxes were first installed during the 1850s. They were originally painted green – in Britain and Ireland – before red was adopted as the standard colour by the post office in the 1870s. Following independence, postboxes in the Republic again became green.

Before independence, postboxes bore the insignia of British monarchs. “VR”, “ER” and “GR” (referring to Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V) can still be seen in parts of Ireland. Postboxes erected since 1922 bear Irish logos – originally a harp entwined with the letters SÉ (for Saorstát Éireann), later PT (Posts and Telegraphs) and, since 1984, An Post.