Oxford History: The High

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No. 106 (left) and No.107 (right) originally formed Tackley’s Inn, an academic hall built in 1320. The pair of houses, which are owned by Oriel College, were refronted in the eighteenth or nineteenth century.

They are jointly Grade II* listed (List Entry No. 1047253). They have always been in the parish of St Mary-the-Virgin.

Tackley’s Inn was built c.1320 by Roger le Mareschal, who had the living of Tackley. Adam de Brome acquired it from him in 1324 as a home for Oriel College, who still own the building. It is one of the very few surviving examples of a medieval academic hall. The building was divided into two as early as 1438, and the part to the east then became known as The Tavern.

These two shops have a fine medieval vaulted cellar, part of which is incorporated into the present office at No. 107, which also occupies the whole refectory hall.

Ancient vaulted roof of Tackley's Inn, now the basement of A-Plan Insurance

Newer roof of A-Plan Insurance on the ground floor, part of Buckley Hall

In 1549 the whole hall and the shops in front were leased to Garbrand Harks (or Garbranus Herkes), a Dutch Protestant refugee, who sold books from the ground floor and wine from a tavern in the vaulted cellar. It was then known as Buckley or Bulkeley Hall.

According to : “T. D. Whittet, the apothecary John Clerk or Clarke lived here in the mid-seventeenth century, and Dr William Petty, one of the founders of the Royal Society, lodged with him. The basement at this time was used for anatomical dissections, and apparently in 1660 the body of Anne Green, who had been hanged for the supposed murder of her illegitimate child, was brought here to be dissected but she was found to be still alive and was freed.

At the end of the seventeenth century it became Puffett’s Coffee House.

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No. 106

The 1772 Survey of Oxford shows No. 106 in the occupation of a Mr Wood.

On 30 January 1836 Charles Foster junior announced that he had moved his drapery business from Waterloo House (which was opposite the Angel Inn in the High Street) to his “other shop” here at 106 High Street; but by 1839 he had moved to 124 High Street.

(1) Wheeler's/Wheeler & Day at No. 106 (1839–1918)

By 1839 James Luff Wheeler ran a bookshop here at No. 106. The 1841 census shows him living over this shop with his wife Ann and their children James (15), Ann (13), William (10), Dickinson (9), and Alfred (7), plus two female servants, and he was still here in 1851 and 1861.

James Luff Wheeler died here at the age of 64 on 18 November 1862, and the firm became Wheeler & Day. On 26 April 1866 they inserted the announcement below in Jackson's Oxford Journal stating that they had bought Edward Bracher's photographic business at 26 High Street and moved it here:

The 1871 census shows the upstairs quarters of Wheeler & Day's bookshop at No. 106 let out to Miss Sarah Bliss, a lodging-house keeper.

From 1872 William Henry Wheeler worked here on his own as a bookseller & stationer as well as a photographer. At the time of the 1881 census he was living over his shop with his wife and three children, plus a governess and general servant. He was still listed at No. 106 at the time of the 1891 and 1901 censuses (No. 106a was listed as a tailor's shop in the 1901 census, but no one was living there.)

Right: Back of a small card with a photograph
taken by Wheeler. He is using the University coat-of-arms,
showing an open book surrounded by three crowns

The 1911 census shows William Henry Wheeler, a widower of 80, living here with is unmarried daughter Lucy Agnes Augusta Wheeler (40) and their two servants. He died in 1918 at the age of 87, and his business closed.

The 1921 census shows the photographer Edward E. Turner, a widower of 50, living over his shop here with his daughter Phyllis (20), who assisted him in the business, and his son Geoffrey (11). A couple surnamed Paice occupied a separate part of their accommodation, and the photographer George Taylor was at 107A with his daughter Lavinia (21) and Kate French (35), both of whom were photographer's assistants, and their servant.

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No. 107

The 1772 Survey of Oxford shows that No. 107 had a frontage of 9 yards 0 ft 9 in., and was then occupied by a Mr Lewis.

At the time of the 1841 census the tailor Thomas Slatter lived over his shop here with his wife Ann, his sons John and Thomas, who were both tailors, and his younger children Sarah, Henry, George, and Jane lived over No. 107 with one female servant. By the time of the 1851 census Slatter and his son John were partners in the tailoring business at No. 107 and lived over the shop with four of John’s siblings and a general servant. Two families are listed between Nos. 106 and 107 as living in “Slatter’s Yard”, which must have been behind this shop.

On 17 July 1858 Edward Wells announced that he had moved here to No. 107 from his former shop at 141 High Street. At the time of the 1861 census No. 107 was duly occupied by Edward Wells, a “Haberdasher and Register for Servants” and his family. He called particular attention to his“Stock of WOOLS, consisting of Berlin, Fleecy Scotch Fingering, Shetland, Andilusian, Pearl, and Thibet; also a large variety of Designs for Braiding, Church Embroidery, and other Ornamental Needlework”.

On 21 October 1865 Edward Wells announced that he was moving to a third shop in the High Street, No. 99, but he died aged 73 three weeks later on 14 November.

 

Boffin's Confectioners (right), who had opened at 109 High Street in 1847, moved here in 1865.

The 1871 census shows the confectioner James Boffin (54) living over the shop at No. 107 with his wife Eliza and their four daughters, plus one of their shop assistants and a cook and housemaid. His son, the confectioner William Henry Boffin (25), lived in a separate part of the living accommodation with three female shop assistants and a kitchen maid and housemaid

At the time of the 1891 census five servants lived upstairs (a housekeeper, two confectioner's assistants, a housemaid, and a kitchenmaid), and the situation was very similar in 1901.

Boffin's remained here at No. 107 until 1906.

• More information on Boffin's Bakery in the Queen Street section of this site

Another cook & confectioner Norman Minty had this shop from 1907 to 1913. At the time of the 1911 census the manageress, waitress, and a servant were living upstairs.

From 1918 to 1962 No. 107 was a tailor's shop, with a café at 107A.