Oxford History: The High

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The present four shops at Nos. 13–16 High Street were built in 1773–4 by John Gwynn to form the frontage to the new covered market and were known as “New Parade” until about 1812. These four shops forming the original market front were in the parish of All Saints until that church closed in 1971. They are now in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church.

Before the Market expanded westwards in 1838, there were three entrances: the main central entrance between Nos. 14 & 15, and an entrance each side: West Avenue to the left of No. 13, and East Avenue (shown above) to the right of No. 16.

This shop at No. 16 is separately Grade II listed (List Entry No. 1047270) from the three other shops to the west that front the market, and is owned by Lincoln College. It was split into two units in 1976.

The first occupant of No. 16 was probably the tea-dealer Richard Williams, as on 21 August 1779 Jackson's Oxford Journal advertised the sale of “The Corner House on the New Parade in the High-Street, Oxford, now in the Occupation of Mr. Richard Williams, Tea-Dealer; held by Lease for forty years under Lincoln College, renewable every fourteen years”. Further details were given on 18 September 1779: Williams' house was “in exceeding good Repair, has Vaults, Cellaring, and Kitchen under Ground; three Stories high; three Rooms on a Floor; besides large Closets and good Garrets”.

On 10 December 1785 John Nicklin announced that his partnership with Stephen Richardson had been dissolved on 21 October, and that he had “removed to the New Buildings, at the Front of the Market” from their shop near All Saints' Church. In a separate notice Nicklin stated that he had opened a new tea warehouse called the Grasshopper, next door to Mrs Jones, fishmonger (at No. 15), which confirms that the Grasshopper was here at No. 16.. By November 1787 Nicklin had moved away from Oxford.

This shop may have been taken over by Thomas Wynne, as the announcement of the marriage on 20 October 1787 of Mrs. Wynne described her as “Widow of the late Mr. Thomas Wynne, Grocer and Tea-Dealer, on the New Parade”.

By 1836 this shop at 16 High Street (and possibly before: see No. 15) was occupied by Morley & Company (linen & woollen drapers, silk mercers, haberdashers), and on 26 March 1836 they announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal that they were enlarging and improving their premises here, and after describing the goods that they sold stated that the entrance to their silk room was from the market entrance on the right. On 9 February 1839, however, they advertised a sale of their stock “in consequence of being obliged to leave the premises they now occupy”, and they moved four doors west to 12 High Street, where they are listed in Robson's Directory for 1839.

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London & County Bank (1842–1868)

By 1838 the bankers Davenport, Walker, & Co were based here at 16 High Street, and in 1842 they were acquired by the London & County Banking Co., which remained on these premises for 26 years.

At the time of the 1841 census two young bankers, George and Thomas Walker, were living here at No. 16 with their two servants, and in December 1842 the London & County Joint Stock Banking Company reported that at the close of that half-year three new branches had been successfully opened, one of which was at Oxford, “where the respectable Bank of Davenport Walker & Co. has merged with the London & County Bank”.

The 1851 census shows Henry Strong (56), described as an army captain as well as a bank manager, living upstairs with his wife and his daughters Henrietta (20), Emily Frances (10), Marion (8), and Ethel (5), plus three general servants. Emily Frances Strong (later known as Emilia) became a writer on art, and ten years later she married Mark Pattison, the Rector of Lincoln College, who was 27 years her senior. (It has been suggested that their relationship inspired that of Casaubon and Dorothea in George Eliot’s Middlemarch.)

Gardner's Directory for 1852 lists the bank as follows:

London and County Bank, 16 High-street; draw on the head office, 21 Lombard-street, London,
Captain Henry Strong, Manager

At the time of the 1861 census the premises above the bank were occupied by the tailor and post messenger James Carter (54) and his wife and son.

On 26 September 1868 an advertisement in Jackson's Oxford Journal stated that 16 High Street, occupied by the London and County Bank, was to let with immediate possession. By 1869 that bank had moved to larger premises at 121 & 122 High Street (where it later became the Westminster Bank).

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From 1869–1900

According to Webster's Directory for 1869, this shop was occupied by the draper H. Adamson that year.

On 12 March 1870 it was announced that Mr. F. E. Webb (an agent of the jewellers Mappin & Webb) had succeeded in obtaining the extensive premises at 16 High Street formerly occupied by the London & County Bank, and that he would be opening here in a few days.

The upstairs premises were unoccupied at the time of the 1871 and  1881 censuses, and were probably storerooms or offices.

The Webbs (jewellers & cutlers) remained here until 1900.

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Slatter & Rose, 1900–1956

The booksellers Slatter & Rose moved here in late 1900 when they were forced to move out of Nos. 2 & 3 High Street so that their shop could be demolished to make way for the new Lloyds Bank building.

The detail from an F. Frith & Co postcard on the right shows their shop in 1907.

The guest rooms of the Mitre Hotel next door extended over this shop, so no one was listed as living here at the time of the 1891, 1901, and 1911 censuses.

Slatter & Rose remained in this shop until 1956.

The shop was then a newsagents until 1976, when it was split into a shop and an office.