More Castles, set and miniature sheet - 21 May 2026

The latest Royal Mail celebration of the United Kingdom's Castles introduces some that we haven't seen before, except perhaps on the Castles series of Smilers Sheets.

Information supplied:

Across the extent of the British Isles, our landscape is studded with castles, great and small. Some survive as houses or visitor attractions, others as ruins, earthworks or just shadows traced in the lines and names of streets in 21st-century cities and towns. Today, castles are objects of curiosity, but for centuries these buildings were great monuments at the heart of political, social and economic life. 

This stamp set features photography of eight castles, from all four nations of the UK, dating from the Norman period onwards. The Miniature Sheet of four stamps celebrates four ‘Royal’ castles. These designs feature newly commissioned artworks by the British artist, Rob Ball. 

Castles Stamps details

The Castles. Scotland: Uruquhart and Stirling; England: Warwick and Bamburgh; Wales: Raglan and Pembroke; Northern Ireland: Dunluce and Dundrum.

Technical details

Designed by Stand Up the 50 x 30 mm gummed stamps have been printed by Cartor Security Printers by lithography in four sheets of 60 (30 se-tenant pairs), perforated 14.

Dunluce Castle, photograph© Adam Burton/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of the Historic Environment Division, Department for Communities, Northern Ireland and Randal McDonnell, Earl of Antrim;
Dundrum Castle, photograph© scenicireland.com/Christopher Hill Photographic/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of the Historic Environment Division, Department for Communities, Northern Ireland;
Raglan Castle, photograph© Maciej Olszewski/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Cadw;
Pembroke Castle, photograph© Sebastian Wasek/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Pembroke Castle/Pembroke Castle Trust;
Urquhart Castle, photograph by Karol Kozlowski© robertharding/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Historic Environment Scotland;
Stirling Castle, photograph © John Carroll Photography/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind pennission of Historic Environment Scotland;
Warwick Castle, photograph by John Lamb/Getty Images, featured with kind permission of Merlin Entertainments;
Bamburgh Castle, photograph© SuxxesPhoto/Alamy Stock Photo, featured with kind permission of Mr Francis Watson-Annstrong 

Miniature Sheet  

Miniature Sheet of four 1st class stamps showing Royal Castles - Caernarfon, WIndsor, Balmoreal and Dover.

Technical details

Designed by Stand Up the 192 x 74 mm sheet printed by Cartor Security Printers by lithography contains four 60 x 30 mm gummed stamps using newly commissioned artwork by Rob Bell.

Collectors Sheet

A collectors sheet contains all 8 stamps from the set with accompanying labels which could of themselves have been the stamp designs.  In fact the views of Raglan and Stirling used for the stamps are probably not as attractive as the labels.  The collectors sheet is self-adhesive.

Self-adhesive Castles Collectors Sheet of 8 stamps and relevant labels.

Products available

Set of 8 stamps, miniature sheet, presentation pack, first day covers (2), stamp cards, press sheet of 10 miniature sheets, and framed set, miniature sheet, and collectors sheet (£39.99 each).

First day cover filler card

Click on any image to see a larger version.

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Royal Mail 2017 stamp programme announced - plenty of Machins

As promised, Royal Mail have now released their 2017 programme and many lucky people have already received the January Philatelic Bulletin.  On the back page is a list of 2017 issues (see left), and a selection of pictures which may or may not be used for stamps - no promises given that one of them shows a 2015 post and go stamp!


The programme (updates highlighted in yellow,):

17 January	Ancient Britain
6 February	65th Anniversary of the Accession - £5 Machin definitive We're told that Tallents House customers with regular orders will NOT get this stamp unless they have high value definitives as part of their regular order.
15 February	Windsor Castle set and miniature sheet PSB* and retail booklet
15 February	Post and Go Postal Heritage: Mail by Rail
14 March	Music Giants - David Bowie
end March	New Tariff Machin and Country Definitives
6 April	Racehorse Legends
4 May	Songbirds
24 May	Exhibition Generic Stamp Sheet Finlandia
5 June	Machin Anniversary including PSB
5 June	New Style Machin Anniversary Post and Go 1967-2017
20 June	Windmills and Watermills
13 July	Landmark Buildings
31 July	World War I including PSB
22 August	Classic Toys
13 September	Post and Go Royal Mail Heritage: Air Mail
13 September	Postal Museum Opening stamp sheet (Generic/Commem?)
14 September	Ladybird books
20 October	To be advised
7 November	Christmas
16 November	Lunar New Year of the Dog
20 November	To be advised

* The four panes in the Windsor Castle PSB contain
a. 2x 1st (external) and 2x £1.52 (internal) views
b. single 1st (external) and single £1.52 (internal) views
c. Eight Machin definitives: 2 x 2p, 2 x 10p, 3 x 1st class, 1 x £1.05, so only one set - again!
c. Eight Machin definitives coded MCIL M16L: 2 x 2p (new), 3 x 1st class deep scarlet (new), and 2 x 10p and a single £1.05 as already issued in Beatrix Potter PSB.  So TWO sets of the new stamps. 
d. 4 stamps from miniature sheet in different positions
The retail booklet contains 1st class deep scarlet Machins coded M17L MCIL

Post and Go News for 2017 from the January Philatelic Bulletin
a. More Enquiry Office machines countrywide from April
b. More static sites
c. Exhibition programme

Spring Stampex 15-18 February
Scottish Congress Perth 21-22 April
MIDPEX Warwickshire Exhib Centre 8 July
Autumn Stampex 13-16 September

Confirmation of 2016 developments which impact on 2017: Pictorial stamps used in Enquiry Offices in parallel with those at Post Office SSKs, new labels introduced at PO SSK machines for parcel/packet barcoding, 'Post a Parcel' tested at the party political conferences - although it is unclear how much of a test this was given the limited access: one can imagine only those who actually wanted to post a parcel from the conference would actually do so whereas collectors with access would have tested it anyway!

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Royal Mail 2017 stamp programme - first Europa stamp for years!

I'm sorry to disappoint all of you who expect that this post will show the programme, but it doesn't!

In years gone by (not so long ago) Royal Mail distributed the stamp calendar at Autumn Stampex but no more.  Although they announce the programme to the stamp trade at that event, with details of the first six months, all information is now on strict embargo.  And even if it wasn't, the last list I saw showed at least two 'To Be Announced' entries with not even the month known!

I've been told that the programme will not be announced until January.  All I can do is repeat what was printed in the October edition of the Philatelic Bulletin (and reprinted in some magazines):

- Ancient Britain
- Royal Mail Heritage - Mail by Rail
- Racehorse Legends
- Windsor Castle
- Post and Go

I expect Mail by Rail to be a Post and Go issue, and Windsor Castle to be similar to Buckingham Palace - so 6 sheet stamps, 4 in a miniature sheet and an expensive prestige stamp book.  I also expect there to be a 10 x 1st class set in March or April just before the postage rates increase.

To find out more about new issues readers should look at the websites of first day cover producers.  Restrictions by Royal Mail Stamps and Collectables mean that cover producers and others can often promote their own products 10 weeks before the issue date.

However I can't now publish pictures of any of the Royal Mail products (stamps, FDCs, etc - even if I was using a special postmark on my Royal Mail FDCs) "until the stamp images are released by us via our website or in mailings to regular order customers".

Typically Royal Mail will undertake PR on the day of issue with a “buy them now” notice.

So I'm sorry, I'm not going back to first day cover production just so that I can provide the pictures and other details at the earliest possible time.  And you can't rely on the philatelic press either because they have never had the '10 week' rule even though they have long printing lead times.

The Royal Mail Philatelic Bulletin costs £18.95 (UK and Europe) or £24.95 (rest of world): you can ask for a sample copy but I leave it to you to decide whether it is value for money, given that some of the details of new issues have, in the past, been omitted or inaccurate.

UPDATE 7 DECEMBER
I've been told that there will be a PR announcement for 1 January about (all or one of) next year's new issues, but I have no details.  This may mean that - as last year - the first you read about some of the new stamps will be in the national press on that day, if you can be bothered to go and get a newspaper!   Again, look at the websites of majors, like The Telegraph.

2nd update: if you follow my twitter account you can see the Windsor Castle stamps which will be issued on 15 February https://www.twitter.com/Ian_norvic/status/806612388539748357 
Thanks also to Mia who pointed out that one of the 1st class stamps carries the PostEurop Europa logo (top right on the FDC).

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