Plaques are being placed on closed post boxes across Guernsey to preserve their historical heritage.
Last year, state-owned Guernsey Post announced it was closing more than half of its blue post boxes due to declining usage.
Brown plaques now hang on 27 of the 83 closed cells, telling their stories, including a human body, a short passage from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, and a concrete barrier damaged during an air raid during World War II.
«"We never intended to get rid of them, so we decided the best way to... enshrine them in Guernsey's history was to preserve these commemorative plaques," said Bridget Yabsley, head of the Guernsey Post Office's philatelic department.
She said they were very important to the island's history: "We were one of the first islands [to have postboxes]. It started as an experiment in Jersey, but then in 1853, postboxes were introduced to Guernsey as part of the Anthony Trollope trial.".
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There were originally six of them - one on Union Street, which is still in use, one in La Piette and one in Hauteville, but the location of the other three is unclear.
«"The Hauteville postbox is now in the British Postal Museum and is where Victor Hugo sent his many letters," Yabsley added.
She said there was no evidence that Hugo sent letters to that box, but it was in place when he lived at Hauteville House during his 15-year exile from France, and it was there that he wrote many masterpieces and more than 100 letters, as well as manuscripts and notes.
For Rosaleen Le Huray, assistant philatelist and accredited Bailiwick of Guernsey Gold Mark guide, postboxes and postal history were already part of her tours, so she was happy to help with the research behind these printing plates.
She said the blue colour of the post boxes was changed from red in 1980 when the postal service was transferred from Royal Mail to Guernsey Post Office.
She discovered some interesting facts, such as that it was on this island that the first and last parcels carrying people were sent by Royal Mail, and said she was keen to know more.
«"The first person sent by Royal Mail was a man who arrived on Sark in 1905. A gentleman from Guernsey sent himself to Sark," Le Hurry said.
«"The postman had to go with him because it was a parcel that needed to be delivered, and the last person sent by post to Alderney was in 1940, just before the occupation of the island, and the postman had to go on the ship to Alderney with him.".
She also discovered that the record for the shortest telegram sent by post during the Victorian era was set by Victor Hugo, who was on the island from 1855 to 1870.
What did he send?
«"It was a question mark, and the answer was an exclamation mark, and it all had to do with the publication of Les Misérables," Le Huret said.
More information about the heritage conservation project is available on the Guernsey Post website. .
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Guernsey Post