Well it's allright for Andrew Rowsell (#0466H) - he works for BT so he's out there all the time and gets to see lots of telegraph pole oddities.  Luckily for us though, he's now an honorary member of our most esteemed, august and elite society.  So he sends them to us and for which we are extremely grateful. 

This amazing splinted utility pole specimen he photographed at a place called Three Waters in Cornwall.  Surely it must have been easier to just put up a new pole though?  All photos gratefully received - please send them to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

Thank you.

 Meanwhile, a request from Dan Newby from Internetshire.

I am looking for a manual on a KS-19935 L7 Test Set. Made for Western Electric by Stelma, Inc. in Stamford, Conn. USA.

Any suggestions?

Aren't we all?  Anyway, do drop us a line if you can help Dan, or if you even know what he's talking about.

Finally, just to let you know that Jack Nesbit's new website "British Insulators" is now up and running.  In it he showcases his collection of telegraph pole insulators.  I believe he intends to display them all mounted on crossarms like the example he sent me, below. 

W ell just look what the parcel force man delivered here today...

#15. Mixed Media on Canvas. 100 x 50 cm - by Joe Simpson

This will look splendid on the walls here at Telegraph Pole HQ.  But we didn't half jangle our nerves getting it.  With telephone bids coming in from around the world, and the Sotheby's auctioneer about to bang his gavel to a Oligarch collector - we thought we'd missed our chance.  "Four million, three hundred thousand pounds anyone?"  "Going once, to the shifty looking foreigner in the front row...", "Twice...". 

Now, I blame the lamb biryani we had at lunchtime, but that was a terrible moment for my dyspepsia to kick in.  And to an excited auctioneer a gurgled stifled belch might conceivably sound like a bid. 

"Gone... Four million, three hundred thousand pounds to the startled looking gentleman over by the toilets. Congratulations, Sir."

Right, I've just been on the internet and found a buyer for my right kidney.  That just leaves £4,299,000 to find! 

Prompted by the picture that Brian Russell sent in 5 posts ago, reader Ernie Stanton sent in the photo you see at left - one of three such cast iron marker posts he found in Plymouth.

He says :

A contact at Plymouth museum gave me your details following an enquiry I made to him. I have found three cast iron maker posts in Plymouth, similar to the one on your website.

These are however slightly different, in that they carry the letters GR and have a line under the ft in. From the condition of the one shown on your website, it seems that this may have fallen off the one photographed by Brian.

The three in Plymouth are however identical to each other and have a recess under the ft in into which numerals can be fitted.The combination of an arrow underneath the horizontal line reminded me of OS bench marks, which are traditionally carved into the faces of walls etc., but these are not shown on the OS maps I have, dated 1892/4. If you ever discover what they are I would be interested.

Well Ernie, I consider myself a bit of a dab hand at internet researching, but I'm struggling to find much about these posts. The GR in this case standing for George Rex (ages it to between 1910 and 1936) whilst Brian's being from V.R.Victoria Regina (1837 - 1901).  I will continue to search, but I'm going to  guess aged water mains rather than anything telegraphic.

Meanwhile however, my detective brain did spot the darkening stain at lower left, and which continues on to the pavement and surrounding wall - indicative, perhaps, that a disrespectful dog may well have passed this way shortly before Ernie took his photo. 

Elementary!

W e can almost imagine the telephone conversation that led to this...

"Hello, thanks for calling BT."

"Er, hello, Hulton Lane builders here,"

"If you're calling from the number you want to talk about press 1 now"

"Oh ok! But we were wondering if you could move your telegraph pole so we could finish building our house?"

"Please enter the full number of the telephone you'd like to talk about."

"Look, your telegraph pole is right where we want to build our house."

"You've now got four choices"

"And you've got to get it shifted, or these lads'll be on overtime."

 "If you'd like to place or check on an existing order press 1 now."

"Look, is there somebody there who I can talk to about this telegraph pole?"

"If your call is about billing or payments, press 2."

"No I'm not calling about bloody billing!"

"If you're moving home and want to stop your service, press 3."

"You'll be moving home in a minute if you don't answer my question. 

"If you're calling to report a fault or need help with any of our services, please press 4 now."

"Oh sod it!"

"Right lads, it's not going anywhere so build the bloody thing around it."

Thanks to Jay Davis of Somerset for sending us the photo.