Resources

There are now many websites relating to philately and postal history, as well as general and specialist sites which can help collectors identify postmarks and relevant obtain historical and geographical information. Other societies specialise in the study of the postal history of specific areas or counties, or in particular aspects of postal services, and links to their websites can be found on our Links page. In addition, the following sites may be of interest to students and collectors of British Postal markings.

Krag Machine Postmarks of Great Britain & Ireland contains lists of all Krag stamp-cancelling machine dies recorded by Paul Carter - the site is based on the BPS-published book (First Edition 2012, Second Edition 2022) and is frequently updated with new information

Universal Machine Postmarks of Great Britain & Northern Ireland contains Paul Carter's lists of all Universal stamp-cancelling machine dies (and Universal-style dies post-1933 in Hey-Dolphin & Krag single-impression machines), frequently updated with new information

Norvic Philatelics' Blog contains current news from Ian Billings about stamps and postmarks of the UK

UK Post Offices by County contains Ken Smith's lists of Post Office branches with dates of opening, change of status and/or closure for each county in the UK

Royal Mail, now fully privatised, provides the Universal Postal Service in the UK; its website details postal services and inland and international tariffs for letters and parcels*

Post Office Ltd, still publicly owned, has a nationwide network of branches, including 'outreach' and mobile services, with a contract to provide a 'shop window' for Royal Mail*

*Both Royal Mail's and Post Office Ltd's websites contain 'Branch Finder' tools for locating Post Office branches. Frequently they show different information from each other, show branches no longer open and omit branches that are open; they are not therefore reliable sources.

The BPS accepts no responsibility for the contents or availability of other websites

Page updated September2023