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The Traveling Exhibit of Letterboxing Patches
Dartmoor
Badges:
The tradition for associating patches with letterboxing is definitely something we Americans inherited from our Dartmoor predecessors. Godfrey Swinscow established the very informal 'Dartmoor 100 Club' in 1979. At the time, there were exactly 101 letterboxes in Dartmoor, and Godfrey had found them all. He says it simply occurred to him that "people like to belong to clubs," so he and his wife, Anne, designed a simple green and white cloth "badge" as an award for those who, like himself, had qualified for membership by finding 100 Dartmoor letterboxes. (Please note that the British tend to prefer the word "badge", since they consider a "patch" to be something you would use to repair a hole in your trousers.) In her book, Dartmoor Letterboxes, Anne Swinscow points out that, "other than [the badge] the club does not exist." There is no club constitution or membership fee, and there are no official meetings or club officers. (However, they do publish an annual catalogue of Dartmoor letterbox clues.) A local newspaper, the Tavistock Times, once referred to Godfrey as the "unofficial president of a club that doesn't exist." The title stuck, and he has even received mail addressed as such. Godfrey has since retired from his unofficial role, and has turned the operation of the Club over to other dedicated volunteers. But he is still very much involved in the hobby, and continues to keep records of every letterbox in Dartmoor. Meanwhile, the "rucksacks" (backpacks) and jackets of many Dartmoor letterboxers are adorned with various badges from the 100 Club, as well as many other embroidered awards and commemoratives. This page shows some examples. Dartmoor 100 Club Badges: The most significant badges associated with the Dartmoor letterboxing scene are still those from the Dartmoor 100 Club. Godfrey and Anne's original green and white design is still used to signify 100 finds. Later, blue and gold color variations were produced as awards for 200 and 500 finds, respectively. Finally, more elaborate designs with metallic thread were created for letterboxers with 1000 finds or more. We are very grateful to the 100 Club (especially Stephanie and Roger Paul, as well as Godfrey and Anne Swinscow) for allowing these highly coveted badges to be displayed in the Traveling Exhibit of Letterboxing Patches. |
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Other Dartmoor Letterboxing Awards: Over the years, some Dartmoor boxers eventually managed to reach incredible milestones that were not anticipated or acknowledged by the 100 Club. Once several dedicated letterboxers had managed to log over 10,000 finds, they began to enquire about the possibility of commissioning a special badge for this accomplishment. A talented local seamstress and fellow letterboxer named Sylvia Vanwin (of "The Navigators") came to their rescue. She now produces badges to commemorate 10, 20 and 30 thousand finds. She also makes badges that celebrate some of the most remote and historical letterboxing destinations in Dartmoor. |
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Personal Badges: Another service that Sylvia Vanwin has offered is the creation of personalized cloth badges for letterboxers. Often, such customized designs are commissioned to celebrate a 10,000th find. These beautiful embroidered trophies are worn on one's jacket or rucksack with great pride! We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Sylvia for helping us obtain permission to have duplicates of these very unique badges produced and included in this exhibit. |
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Dartmoor National Park Badges: The birthplace of letterboxing is Dartmoor National Park, in Devon County, England. As such, it goes without saying that any badge commemorating the park is a welcome adornment to a letterboxer's gear. |
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| Souvenir Badges: The production of souvenir badges began in Germany during the early 20th-century, when hiking became popular shortly after World War I. People began collecting these badges from various resort towns they visited, and sewing them onto their rucksacks and jackets. They were usually shield-shaped and often contained a coat of arms. After World War II, the souvenir badge tradition was imported to Britain by Sampson Souvenirs Ltd., which began producing badges of British tourist spots. Sampson is still the largest British manufacturer of souvenir badges, and produced many of the badges shown below (as noted). Rather than being embroidered, the designs of the Sampson badges are usually woven with fine lurex thread into a thin piece of fabric, which is then stitched or (more recently) glued onto a felt backing material. |
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Long Distance Walking Tour Badges: Devoted groups of long-distance walkers have established special tours of Dartmoor and regularly organize expeditions along these routes. Most of these walks are 18 miles or more in length. There are usually opportunities for letterboxing along the way, and some of the walks even have special letterboxes associated with them. A few of the longest walks have cloth badges available upon successful completion. Dartmoor letterboxers wear these proudly as well-deserved badges of honor. |
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| Please note that inclusion of a badge in this exhibit does not necessarily indicate that anyone directly associated with the collection has earned it. The badges in this collection are for display only and are being exhibited as an historical representation of the types of badges that might be worn by an experienced letterboxer. They are a permanent part of this display and will never adorn anyone's personal gear or be used to substantiate false claims of accomplishment. |
NOTE:
All patches are represented at the same scale for comparison purposes.
However, images |
