Oxford History: The High

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This building dates from 1897 and currently houses two shops. These were originally numbered 127 and 129 (with No. 128 allocated to he Wheatsheaf pub which is reached via the passage down the middle). Today No. 127 on the left is usually numbered 127/128; the property behind (a house in multiple occupation) 128a; and the shop on the right 129.

The shops on this site were in in the parish of All Saints until that church was closed in 1971, and they are now in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate.

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Former shops at 127 & 129 High Street up to 1897

In the mid-seventeenth century Nos. 127–129 High Street were known as Swinbrook's and were leased to the mercer Thomas Dennis.

The 1772 Survey of Oxford lists the following buildings here:

• [No. 127] occupied by Mr Jones with a frontage of 3yds 2ft 4in
• [No. 128, the Wheatsheaf] occupied by Mr Young and accessed via a passage measuring 1yd and 6in
• [No. 129] occupied by Mr Blinkinsop with a frontage of 8yds 2ft 10in.

The drawing below made by W. A. Delamotte in 1834 and engraved by Orlando Jewitt shows in the centre the former shops at 127 and 129 , with the signs FUSSELL (an ironmonger) over 127 and HOBDELL (Henry Bashard Hobdell, a watch & clockmaker) over 129, with the passage to the Wheatsheaf Inn running down between them. The two shops flanking them (No. 126 to the left and 130 to the right) look much the same as they do today.

The photograph below (Historic England CC72/01890) shows the same scene in 1892:

Former No. 127

Austin Fussell announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 4 February 1826 that he had lately been in partnership with Mr Bush and had now opened his business as a furnishing ironmonger, brazier, tinman, locksmith, and bell-hanger opposite the market place in the High Street, and that he also did smiths’ work in general. Fourteen years later he went bankrupt, and a sale of all his ironmongery stock in trade and household furniture was advertised in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 11 January 1840. His house and premises (described as having a frontage of c.40 feet and a depth of c.135 feet, with a side entrance from the Wheatsheaf Yard and a right of way through to Bear Lane) were auctioned at the Wheatsheaf on 19 November 1840.

In 1837 Henry Cooke the printer started to publish the Oxford City & County Chronicle (as the Oxford Chronicle and Berks & Bucks Gazette was first known) at the former shop here (see No. 119).

In the 1851 census the bookseller Thomas Laycock (49) is listed at No. 129, which appears to be this shop, with his bookseller's porter, groom, and general servant, and he was still here at the time of the 1871 census.. Laycock died at the age of 73 on 2 May 1876.

No one lived at No. 127 at the time of the 1881 and 1891 censuses.

Former No. 129

The 1841 census shows the goldsmith Henry Bashard Hobdell living over the former house on this site with his wife Emily and their children Ann, Mary, and Lucy, plus three servants. He died near the end of 1849 and the 1851 census shows his widow Emily Hobdell (48) as the silversmith here, with her daughter Lucy (7) plus two servants. Mrs  Hobdell's house is numbered 128 in that census, and there is another listing at No. 129 for the bookseller Thomas Taycoeth who is shown as living here with his servant, groom, and bookseller's porter.

In the 1861 census this shop was again numbered as 128 (which was going spare, as the Wheatsheaf was then numbered 127½), and it was occupied by the hosier's assistant William Young (36) with his wife Annie and their four young children, plus a servant. A second servant-cum-assistant was living separately in the house.

No one lived at this shop at the time of the 1871 census.

In 1872 the former shop on this site was taken over by the tailors Evans & Bracher, and the 1881 census shows the widowed shirtmaker Annie Cobb living here with her daughter Ada, who was a seamstress.

The living quarters over this shop were unoccupied at the time of the 1891 census.

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The present shops at 127 & 129 High Street (from 1897)

Jackson’s Oxford Journal stated on 16 October 1897 that Kingerlee were to build new business premises and warehouses here, and a description of the new shops appeared on 16 October 1897.

 

Right: Date of 1897
above the first-floor
central window

The 1901 census shows Frederick Flight (52), a boarding house keeper, lived over the present No. 127 and No. 129 with his wife Mary Ann and their daughter plus a general servant and a houseboy. At the time of the 1911 census Flight (described as a club steward) appears to have occupied just No. 129 (ten rooms) with his wife (who was described as the lodging-house keeper here) and their grandson. Frederick Allnatt (35) and his wife Emma (30) were now living in the nine rooms over No. 127, where they ran a separate lodging house.

The 1921 census shows Mary Flight, a widow of 78 described as keeping a university lodging house) living in two rooms over No. 129, while the Gentleman's outfitter Bertram Wiliam Braston (43) lived in four rooms over No. 127 with his wife Lucy and their three sons.

No. 127 was occupied by the ironmongers Gill & Co. from 1934 to 1952. POX0094658 dated February 1946 shows their shop on the right, and there is another image of it at POX0600132 in October 1949.

No. 129 was occupied by the cigar importers & cigarette manufacturers Fribourg & Treyer from 1908 to 1929. The photograph below (Historic England HT13871) shows their shop in 1911: