131A: The Chequers
The Chequers is down a lane off the High Street (sometimes called Chequers Yard) behind No. 132. It is currently a Nicholson's pub.
The pub dates from the fifteenth century. It is Grade II listed together with No. 132 in front (List Entry No. 1186736).
It was in the parish of All Saints until that church closed in 1971. It is now in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate Church.
In the fifteenth century it was a private house used by a moneylender, and this may explain its present name, as the chequer board was the old money-lending sign.
The house was bought by All Souls College in 1466.
It was rebuilt as a tavern by Alderman Richard Kent in about 1500, when it became known as Kent’s Hall.
In 1696 John Clayton paid tax on twenty windows at this tavern.
The 1772 Survey of Oxford lists that the gateway to the Chequers, held by Mr Leazenby, had a width of two yards and six inches.
Howell Goddard lived here until 1776.
On 29 July 1786 Jackson's Oxford Journal advertised that the Chequers would soon be sold by auction:
All that well-known old-accustomed INN, called the CHEQUER, in the High Street, in the City of Oxford; comprising ten good Bed Rooms, a large Dining Room, two Parlours, a commodious Kitchen and Bar, good Cellaring, a spacious Yard, with necessary Storehouses, and Stabling for forty Horses.
N.B. All the said Premisses are Freehold.
William Palmer was the innkeeper here in 1791
In 1800 this inn was taken over by A. Hughes, who inserted this advertisement in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 30 August that year:
CHEQUER INN, HIGH STREET, OXFORD.
A. HUGHES most respectfully begs Leave to acquaint his Friends, Customers of the House, Travellers, and the Public in general, that he has taken and entered on the above INN, and humbly solicits the Favours of their Countenance and Support, assuring them, that his Liquors of all Kinds are of the first Quality, that his Stabling is roomy and complete, and that his Charges in every Respect shall be reasonable; by which, and a constant Endeavour to please, he hopes to meet with that Encouragement it will at all Times be his Wish to merit.
☛ A good Ordinary [a courier conveying letters] every Saturday at One o'Clock.
In April 1823 Mary Rogers took over this inn.
By 1839 George Stroud was the innkeeper or victualler of the Chequers. The 1841 census shows him living here with his wife Mary and their son John, plus a lodger and two servants, and the flyman Henry Taylor was living in the Chequers Yard. Stroud was still the innkeeper at the time of the 1851 and 1861 censuses.
The 1891 census shows the publican John Way (42) living here with his wife Elizabeth and their two sons. There was no one living in the two houses in the Chequers Yard.
At the time of the 1901 census William Robinson (34), the publican of the Chequers, lived here with his wife Charlotte and their two children.
The 1921 census shows the publican Frederick Holloway (35) occupying six rooms at the pub with his wife Florence and his widowed mother-in-law Jane Scaldwell (68) and his sister-in law Dorothy Scaldwell (24), plus a boarder.
