The Shop Building
The current Brading Post Office was opened as a shop around 1815 as a Shoemakers. It was opened by William Warder, a shoe and boot maker from Shanklin. A history of the Warder family can be found be at www.geocities.com.
The right hand side, looking at the building, was the shoemaker shop and the left the living accommodation. The front half, where the counter is today, was probably the sitting room and the rear, where the Post Office is today, the kitchen. The flagstones for the kitchen floor can still be seen today!
Brading Post Office opened in 1850 in a 15th century cottage on the opposite side of the road to the current Post Office location.
Before this the Bugle Inn, further down the High Street, was used for delivering and collecting mail. Incoming mail used to be placed in the window for people to come and take them. A letter box was placed in the window for outgoing mail and two or three times a week the mail coach would come round and collect.
Mr Robert Loe was the first postmaster and worked there for nearly 60 years. His son, Henry, began working at the Post Office when he was 15 and was Postmaster for 38 years until his retirement in 1939,he died in the same year. Mrs Julia Loe ran the Post Office for a short time in the same year until the Post Office was transferred to its present site and was run by William Harvey.
In 1824 William Warder married Mary Toms. Mary was an important leader in founding the Bible Christian Society on the Isle of Wight. Twelve years later, in 1836,a chapel was built by William and Mary at the rear of the shop, known as Warder's Chapel. It was closed around 1863 when a larger Methodist church was built in New Road, Brading. The Methodist Church still stands today, but where the Warder's Chapel was, now stands a Public Convenience.
The shoemaker shop stayed in the Warder family until around 1885 when James Johnson and his family took over followed by the family of Percy Taylor.
The Malt House and cottages seen in the earlier photographs was replaced by the new Town Hall in 1903.
A major change happened in the early 1920's when the business was bought by Bill Harvey, who turned the shop into a Confectionists. The Post Office was moved into the area next to the shop in 1939 with steps linking the two from the front shop door.
The Thomas family took over in 1957,followed in subsequent years by the Walters and the Roberts until today when it is owned by myself, Paul Morris. The shop and Post Office are now one shop, but the historical charm still exists.
If you have relatives or are in contact with anyone who has ever lived in the Post Office memoirs or photos would be gratefully received at paulmorris@bradingpostoffice.co.uk
