Was out on a morning walk with the dogs that we are looking after and walked that little bit further than usual… What a treat!
( I was then looking up whether ‘telegraph pole’ was the correct term…and found your website…and scrolled down to find a picture taken on the railway near Williton in Somerset…where I grew up!)
…I don’t suppose you have a sister site appreciating manhole covers do you??…they are my other penchant!!

Well the email subject says Poles of Le Marche Italy.  The words Le and Marche are French.  The sky is blue, so it’s not Wales.  Carey is from Yahoo if that narrows it down a bit. Carey says it was taken yesterday if that is any help.

To answer your question re Manhole Appreciation…  We’re a bunch of feminists here at TPAS – my wife says so – and may well be starting a personhole appreciation society any day now.

I know for a fact David Reynolds is wondering what the hell happened to the email he sent back in August.  David, of weather-forecasting fame and avid insulatorist and pole connoisseur attached this photo of a telegraph pole in Smethwick, dated 1885. Now, he took this photo in 2001 so I would say it’s 50/50 whether or not it’s still there.  It would be the record holder if it is – as the oldest pole we at TPAS Towers have on record is dated 1893 (p109 Telegraph Pole Appreciation for Beginners, Arenig Press, £5.99)

So if you’re from Smethwick, or are passing through, do check this one out.  It should be easy to find – it’s got a brick wall behind it and some green stuff, looks like leaves of some sort.

The caption with this photo said simply “Bottomless pole a farmer decided to airlift this pole”

I’m going to try to value add a little to this tiny photo.  Er… nope, can’t think of anything else to say, sorry.

Actually, right at the bottom of my inbox, and stuck to an elastoplast where some of the backing paper has come off, I find this photo also sent in by Edward Jones.  The email is simply titled Old Pole with the caption “I came across this line pole feed from orrell ete*”.  (??) In another photo from the same email, I see a ’62 date.  So, ahem, I was born before then, so it can’t be old.  It CAN’T be old !!

*  Erratum:  It’s Orrell ATE (Automatic Telephone Exchange – ie there are no ladies plugging wires into circuit boards)

We’ll catalogue this email from Mr Red under Fringe.  Mr Red likes to hunt for OS Bench Marks – those little up-turned crows feet things my prison uniform used to have all over it.   Mr Red also likes the use of post scriptum. Three in this particular email.  Anyway, re his UTEC placard – I’ve seen these before but can’t remember where.  It’s nailed to a telegraph pole so it’s in as far as I’m concerned:

I too found 3 of these cast iron markers in Gloucester, whilst hunting OS Bench Marks. Doubtless there are others.  What I have seen a lot of is concrete posts, usually with the same OS style arrow bearing lead characters in a John Bull printing set “style”. ft & in – IMNSHO, would suggest something up or along by that dimension Maybe you would know better than my guess. But up would indicate overhead wires in my imagination. The cast iron variety have the same ft & in thingy and one lurking behind a modern lamppost is definitely Elizabethan (II of this era). Cnr Alvin St & London Rd.

I have seen a website based on Brighton where the webmeister has assumed OSBMs. http://www.buildingopinions.com/2014/12/02/ordnance-survey-bench-marks/
But yes I would like chapter and as many verses on these too. What have you found?

Mr Red
http://benchmarks.mister.red

PS might this JPG show something spurious and unfathomable or something significant?
PPS we have redundant poles along the Stroudwater, one marked dating from 1902 – or what’s left of it.
PPPS Howard Beard, local photo collector, has an image that may date from the installation of poles in Stroud. Wires not visible and maybe not there at the time. He dates it to the opening of the telephone exchange in Russell St.

A quick google of UTEC says “UTEC is a dynamic, forward-thinking and fast-growing organization.  It is one of the world’s largest independent survey companies”  So there.

G7SLL might sound like it’s a Gloucestershire postcode but it is, in fact a radio ham callsign.  And a quick rummage on a well known internet search engine tells us that Gary Peach, G7SLL is a rocket scientist and the inventor of a type of slide rule for measuring the temperature on the moon.  I kid you not.  This goes some way to explaining the rather eccentric manner of our semi-recent communication which started with him asking if I knew where DP317 was.

[TPAS] No idea where DP317 is. Possibly not too far from DP316, but that’s just a guess.
[G7SLL] now there’s a guess with a high probability of success.  But I’ll not put any of my money on it. The GPO were a law unto themselves, thus the “YIT”, ( Youth In Training), may have maid a mistake.
[G7SLL] I could show you a good picture of a Pole, if you can wait for her to come out of goal. Instead I’ll show you a pole instead. Wince I telegraphed that one, “BLUSH” and it is almost outside of my House in Newbury, West Berks, RG14 5NR

{This bit about Nancy Mitford’s knickers censored because Mrs TPAS reads this too}

[G7SLL] Once upon a time the person in the closest house was England’s first champion Lady Jockey, “Betty Richards” daughter of Cliff R, ( not the pop star), niece of Sir Gordon Richards, England’s Champion Jockey, a LOT. What a lovely lady was Betty…. RIP
A line coming directly from DP 317 into this URL ?
Now, why would they label this pole twice; (SEE picture)?
It is plane to see this pole has the sheiks.
Wooden tit make a chump laugh? so don’t monkey with me.
Gary, G7SLL, wins the 2018 prize for the most bonkers email received this year.  For all time, actually.