Letterboxing

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Cranmere Pool (2004)
A look into the first letterbox or the shrine from 1856 at the Cranmere Pool (2004)

Letterboxing (derived from the English term letterbox for " letter box ") is a leisure activity , the original version of which is about using clues , a map and a compass to find containers hiddenin nature , each with a rubber stamp and a logbook . For some letterboxes , direct coordinates are also published, which can be found using a GPS receiver. Letterboxing is regarded as a kind of forerunner to geocaching , but it can look back on a much older tradition.

History of origin

The letterboxing originated in 1854, when the hiking James Perrott of Chagford in Dartmoor a glass bottle with his business in the territory of Cranmere pools hidden and other walkers encouraged to seek it, and then there also leave their business card. The glass bottle was soon replaced by a tin can , and a logbook was placed in it, in which those who found this container could enter themselves. To protect the letterbox, Perrot built a stone shrine that still exists.

The term “letterboxing” arose from the fact that it became a variant of this hobby to leave letters and postcards in the hiding spots below, which were then taken by hikers and sent by post.

The local historian William Crossing (1847–1928) lived in the villages of South Brent, Brentor and Mary Tavy and has written more than twenty books about the Dartmoor as a landscape, its inhabitants and also letterboxing . The best-known publication in this context is Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor , which has also been available as a reprint of the original since 1990.

present

Today's letterboxes each contain a stamp and a log book, in which the finder enters himself with his personal stamp. In addition, every finder can enter an imprint of the stamp in the letterbox in his personal logbook. The information on the individual letterboxes is passed on orally, in writing in book form or partly via the Internet.

Differentiation from "letterbox hybrids" in geocaching

The largest supplier platform for geocaching Geocaching.com , knows a geocache type that is called "letterbox hybrid" and explicitly a throwback to the historic described here letterboxing is. The “letterbox part” is taken into account by the fact that the container to be searched for must contain a stamp, the imprint of which the finder can add to their stamp book. The term "hybrid" in the name of the geocache type forms the link to modern geocaching and stands for the mandatory use of a GPS device at at least one point when searching for the container at the destination, for example by bearing the given coordinates.

literature

  • William Crossing: Crossing's Guide to Dartmoor. Illustrated by Philip Guy Stevens. Plymouth (Local): 1909. (Reprinted: Peninsula Press, Newton Abbot 1990, ISBN 1-872640-16-8 )
  • Martina Gemmar, Rainer Tempel: Letterboxing. Hiking days with a modern variant of the scavenger hunt. With excursion geocaching. (= Education for sustainable development, elementary school, secondary level. I). Pedagogical Center Rhineland-Palatinate , Bad Kreuznach 2009.
  • C. Granstrom: They Live and Breathe Letterboxing: For devotees of this curious English pastime, searching the moors for hidden boxes is 'better than watching the telly'. In: Smithsonian [Institution] . Vol. 29, No. 1, McLaughlin, Washington DC 1998, pp. 82-93. ISSN  0037-7333 .
  • Randy Hall: The letterboxer's companion . Falcon, Guildford, Conn. 2004, ISBN 0-7627-2794-2 .
  • M. Napier-Ross: Letterboxing. In: Runner. Vol. 42, No. 3, Alberta's Teachers' Association. Health and Physical Education Council, Alberta [Canada] 2007, pp. 9-10. ISSN  0707-3186 .
  • Ulrike Katrin Peters, Karsten-Thilo Raab: "Britannia Kuriosa". The funniest events and competitions in the UK. Westflügel-Verlag, Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-939408-04-8 , p. 21 f.

Web links

Commons : Letterboxing  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ James Perrott - Dartmoor guide. The birth of Dartmoor tourism. accessed on January 15, 2016.
  2. ^ The History of Letterboxing ( Memento July 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed November 22, 2010.
  3. ↑ Information on William Crossing on the Official Devon website , accessed January 15, 2016.
  4. ↑ "The History of Letterboxing" letterboxing-germany.info , accessed on January 15, 2016.
  5. ↑ Geocache Types on Geocaching.com , accessed January 15, 2016.
  6. ↑ Excerpt from subsection "Letterbox-Hybrids" of the rules of the game on Geocaching.com , accessed on January 15, 2016.