Marygold (later Abbey/Santander) House, Carfax
Marygold House (now known as Santander House) is a large five-floor building built in 1932 and designed by Ashley & Newman. It occupies a prominent position on the south-west corner of Carfax, and was built at the same time as Carfax House on south-east corner of Carfax.
Three bays face St Aldate's Street to the east and five face Queen Street to the north, and it was always listed under Carfax in Kelly's Directory.
Five old shops were demolished to make way for this building: 121 St Aldate's Street; Boffin's Bakery on Carfax corner; and 1, 2 & 3 Queen Street.
Oxford City Council sold the building to the Abbey National Building Society for nearly £7 million when the previous occupants, Barclays Bank, decided to sell their leasehold interest, with the profits split 65/35 in the council's favour.
After a period of closure from 4 April 2025 for extensive repairs and alterations, the Santander Work Café opened here on 15 December 2025.
Occupants of Marygold House, 1932–present
The ground floor of the present building has always been a bank or building society, occupied as follows:
- 1932–1942: Glyn Mills & Co, Bankers,
with the City of Oxford Electricity Supply Department showroom from 1933 to 1937 - 1942–1969: Martin's Bank Ltd (brief history of this branch)
- 1969–1985: Barclays Bank Ltd
- 1985–2004: Abbey National (which changed its name to Abbey in 2003)
- 2004–2010: Abbey National was taken over by Santander in 2004, but did not take that name until 2010
- 2010–present: Santander
(Glyn Mills & Co bought Child & Co in 1924, and the latter had used the trade sign of the Marygold in Fleet Street since 1661, which may explain the name of this Oxford building.)
Many other businesses and individuals have occupied the upstairs floors: for example in 1935 the Prudential Assurance Co. Ltd. was on the first floor, the Sun Insurance Office Ltd was on the second floor, and the accountants Saxton & Brown on the third floor. Two private individuals and the caretaker occupied the living premises on the fourth floor in the roof.
This is now Santander's Oxford Work Café. For more information about the structure of this building, see the heritage statement under the documents tab on this planning application.
Earlier buildings on this site
Swindlestock (or Swyndlestock) Tavern
The Swindlestock Tavern stood on this site in the fourteenth century, and was the place where on St Scholastica's Day (10 February) in 1354/5 the Oxford's most deadly town-and-gown riot started.
The inscription (left) on Marygold House, the current building on the site, remembers the tavern that stood here from 1250 to 1709.
(A swindlestock was a board on which flax or hemp was beaten or scraped.)
This extract (right) from Agas's map of Oxford of 1578 shows Carfax viewed from the north, and the building opposite St Martin's Church is presumably the Swindlestock Tavern.
The Swindlestock Tavern later became known as the Mermaid Tavern. For more information about its history and the people who leased it, see Salter, Oxford City Properties, pp. 155–9. Lessees included a number of Mayors of Oxford:
- John of Barford (1348–1355),
- Alderman William Noble (1581)
- Francis Harris (1611)
- Anthony Hall (1674).
The Mermaid Tavern was demolished in 1708/9. In October 1709 the council reported on various people being appointed to treat with Mr Moreton's executors for the purchase of the ground on which the Mermaid Tavern lately stood for enlarging the Carfax market place and report back.
By 1762 there was a butter bench on the site of the old tavern, shown in this painting of 1772 (left).
The vaults of the former tavern were underneath this butter bench, and on 4 February 1792 the following advertisement appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal:
“TO be LETT or SOLD, and entered on immediately,—All those four WINE VAULTS under the Butter Bench, in the Centre of the City of Oxford, heretofore occupied by Messrs. Methold, and lately by Mr. Greenwollers; held by Lease for forty Years under the City.”
On 6 January 1838 the following resolutions relating to the butter bench (made by the Council's Estate Committee) were published in Jackson's Oxford Journal:
1s. Resolved (in the alterations to be made in the site of the Butter Bench) that arrangements be made to secure a police office for the use of the city.
2d. That the area of the Butter Bench being sufficiently capacious to admit of the erection of offices for the occupation of the city lessee of vaults underneath, and it being clearly shown that the value of that property will be considerably enhanced thereby; resolved that it would be desirable for a dwarf building to be erected at the same time as the police office.
3d. That the City Surveyor be directed to make a good architectural design, conformably with the foregoing Resolutions, with the least possible delay.
4th. That the lessee of the wine vaults have a lease of such part of the Butter Bench as may be occupied by buildings to be erected for his own use, upon such terms and conditions as shall hereafter be agreed upon; the lessee covenanting to build conformably to the Plans approved by the council.
5th. That the City Surveyor confer with the Sub-Committee on the details of the Plans, &c. for the new building.
A long debate was then reported, and “amid the greatest uproar that ever prevailed at a Council meeting”, the resolutions were carried. The police office was duly erected.
Boffin's Bakery had opened at 1 Queen Street by 1847, and when the premises were pulled down in 1884, he moved back into the new building on the site. Boffin's Bakery remained there until that in turn was pulled down in 1932 to make way for Marygold House. For more on Boffin's, see the box at end of this page.
The Queen Street property adjacent to Boffin's (now on the site of part of Marygold/Abbey House)
In November 1899 the city council agreed to go ahead with the exchange of property they owned at 8–16 King Street (now the north–south part of Merton Street) for 1, 2, 3 Queen Street, which belonged to Merton College (with the anomaly that the city held the wine cellars underneath the latter). The article below, published in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 22 September 1900 under the heading “UNDERGROUND OXFORD”, shows that the cellars were still intact.
The text underneath that drawing reads:
The recent discussions of the City Council anent [archaic: = about] the proposed exchange of property recalls the fact that the greater part of Carfax is undermined, and that practically the whole of the premises until lately occupied by Mr. Ald. Seary [2 & 3 Queen Street, as also those of Mr. Boffin [on the corner of Carfax], Mr. Higgins, and the Singer Manufacturing Company [both at 1 Queen Street], rest on the piers or walls of vaults upwards of 800 years old. The proximity of these wonderful burrows to the old “Swindlestock” and “Fleur-de-Lys” [120 St Aldate's Street, adjacent to Carfax] suggests that the cellars probably were connected with those taverns. The history of their origin is lost in antiquity, but, despite their age, it is believed they are still firm enough to form the foundations of any modern erection. The ramifications of the vaults run right across St. Aldate’s and under the Town Clerk’s office. But the most remarkable circumstance in connection with the vaults is that they have been owned by the City from time immemorial, while the superstructure has always been the property of Merton College. The City has owned the vaults so long that there is no record of the time when the Corporation acquired them. There is a grant of Henry VII in 1497 of two “solars” (cellars), a shop, etc., near “Carfox” — but this was another site. The City has always recognised the title of the College to the lath and plaster premises in Queen-street, and references to “Marton Hall,” as it was frequently called, are to be found in the civic archives. It is hoped that the termination of the dual ownership will be a great advantage to the City, as it will then possess a block of property of much value. The cellars [numbered 121 St Aldate's Street] are at present rented by Messrs. Jones and Sotham, wine merchants. Our plan shows the extraordinary course of the cellars under the south portion of Carfax.
The images below show the buildings on the site of Marygold/Abbey House in c.1932, just before they were demolished:
- Boffin's on the corner (also giving a good view of the other four shops demolished to make way for Marygold House)
- The beginning of the demolition
Boffin's Bakery and the Boffin familyJames Boffin was born in Bicester on 31 October 1817, the son of the shoemaker Samuel Boffin and his wife Sarah, and baptised there on 13 November. He was a hatter and hosier of St Mary Magdalen parish when just after his 21st birthday on 8 November 1838 he married Eliza Townley (otherwise King) at St Michael’s Church in Oxford, and their first child Jane King Boffin was born in 1839. Robson's Directory of that year lists his business at 16 Magdalen Street. At the time of the 1841 census James was still working as a hatter and living at 16 Magdalen Street with his wife Eliza and their daughter Jane (1), plus their three young servants. Five of their children were baptised at New Inn Hall Street Methodist Chapel: Alfred Boffin in 1844, William Henry Boffin in 1846, Catherine Anne Boffin in 1849, Edith Boffin in 1854, and Adeline Boffin in 1857. By 1847 James Boffin had opened a baker's shop at 1 Queen Street, and on 3 April that year he placed the following advertisement in Jackson's Oxford Journal:
By the time of the 1851 census James Boffin had a second baker's shop at 109 High Street (one of the two houses demolished in 1872 to make way for King Edward Street). He was then aged 33 and employed seven men, and lived over the shop with his wife Eliza (33) and their children Jane (11), Alfred (7), William (4), and Catherine (2) plus six baker's general assistants and one shop assistant. Their youngest daughter Catherine died soon after this census. The following advertisement for the pair of Boffin shops appeared in Billing's Directory of 1854:
In 1856 James Boffin opened tea, coffee, and soup rooms at 1 Park End Street, convenient for both of Oxford's railway stations. The 1861 census shows James and Eliza still living over the shop at 109 High Street with their children Jane (21), Alfred (16), Emily (8), Edith (6), Adeline (4), and Alice (two months), plus two shop assistants and a two house servants. In 1865 he moved two doors east to No. 107 High Street, and continued to run his shop at 1 Queen Street. The 1871 census shows James Boffin (54) still living over his shop at 107 High Street with his wife Eliza and their daughters Jane, Edith, Adeline, and Alice, plus their shop assistant, cook, and housemaid, 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. On 31 July 1872 at Stoke Newington James's son William Henry Boffin married Alice Webb. He was a confectioner who managed the Boffin's shop at 71 St Giles' Street and must have been destined to take over the family business, but he died at the age of 32 on 6 April 1879 and was buried in Holywell Cemetery: see a transcript of his letters of administration here. Early in 1873 James Boffin opened a bakery with two blocks in Bear Lane, described in Jackson's Oxford Journal of 11 October 1873. On 30 September 1875 his daughter Jane King Boffin married James William Bolton at the Wesley Memorial Chapel Oxford, and on 27 September 1877 his daughter Edith Boffin married Joseph Henry Wild at St Mary Magdalen Church. In 1881 James and Eliza Boffin and their daughter Adeline were staying with their married daughter Jane in Essex. Alfred Boffin continued to operate in his second shop at 1 Queen Street. On 11 October 1884 it was reported:
That new building at 1 Queen Street was immediately reoccupied by Boffin, and is shown below.
In about 1888 James's son Alfred Boffin took over the family business. On 11 September 1889 at Ss Philip & James's Church, Oxford James's daughter Alice Eliza Boffin married James Joseph Timmis. In 1890 James's wife Eliza died, and at the time of the 1891 census he was living at May Villa, 61 Banbury Road with his unmarried daughter Adeline (33) and his granddaughter Violet Bolton (14), plus his cook and housemaid. Five servants now lived in his former home over his shop (a housekeeper, two confectioner's assistants, a housemaid, and a kitchenmaid) James Boffin, the founder of the family firm, died at May Villa, 61 Banbury Road at the age of 83 on 10 February 1900 and was buried in Holywell Cemetery (after a funeral at St Mary-the-Virgin Church conducted by a Wesleyan minister). His effects came to £6,832 14s. 10d., and a transcript of his will can be seen here. Alfred Boffin (1844–1937)James's only surviving son Alfred Boffin took over the family business. On 29 August 1867 Alfred had married Fanny Elizabeth Robertson as Summertown church and their four children were baptised at New Inn Hall Methodist Church: Ethel Viner Boffin (1868), James Arnold Boffin (1869), Mary Winifred Boffin (1872), and Florence Boffin (1874). The 1871 census shows the couple living at 30 St John Street with their first two children Ethel (2) and James (two months). Alfred's first wife Fanny Elizabeth Boffin died at 34 St John Street at the age of 33 on 14 September 1874, three months after the birth of her fourth child Florence. In 1875 at Ss Philip & James' Church he married his second wife Lucy Davys Ham. The 1881 census shows them living at 5 Winchester Road with Alfred's daughters Mary (8) and Edith (1), while his son James (11) was at boarding school in Winchester. Alfred and Lucy's son George Herbert Wigley Boffin was born on 18 December 1882 and baptised at St Aldate's Church on 22 December. In 1892 Alfred's eldest daughter Ethel Viner Boffin married John Scott Richardson Their daughter Ethel Gladys Richardson was born in Peru early in 1894, and her mother Ethel died in Oxford at the age of 26 on 31 October 1894. On 12 June 1897 it was announced that Mary Winifred Boffin, now the “eldest living daughter of Alfred Boffin, Esq., of 5, Winchester Road, Oxford” had a week earlier married John William Richards, the eldest son of W. E. Richards, Esq., of 6, Clarendon Villas, Park Town. At the time of the 1901 census Alfred was living at 1 Winchester Road with his second wife Lucy and his daughter Edith (21) and their son George (18), plus their servant. His unmarried daughter Florence (26) was living at 5 Longworth Road with her niece Ethel Gladys Richardson (7). Boffin's shop at 107 High Street closed in 1906. Alfred's second wife Lucy Davys Boffin died at the age of 64 in 1906. There is a transcript of her will here. By the time of the 1911 census Alfred Boffin, a widower of 67, described himself as a retired confectioner and was living at 85 Banbury Road with his unmarried daughter Florence (36) and his grandchildren Ethel Gladys Richardson (17) and Bernard Alfred Richards (8). His daughter Florence Boffin married the schoolmaster Francis Charles Gillispie on 19 July 1914, and in 1921 Alfred was living alone with a servant at 221 Woodstock Road. Neither of Alfred's two sons carried on the family business: James Arnold Boffin became a physician and emigrated to the United States in 1920, and George Herbert Wigley Boffin (M.A. Oxon) became a musical critic and writer. Alfred Boffin died at 221 Woodstock Road at the age of 94 on 8 November 1937 and was buried with his parents, his brother William, and his daughters Catherine and Adeline in Holywell Cemetery. He left £41,922, and there is a transcript of his will here. Cooper & Boffin 1923–1966 (Cooper & Boffin c.1923–1952)
Alfred Boffin would have been aged 79 in 1923. With no sons available to carry on the family business, he evidently went into partnership, as by that year his business had become Cooper & Boffin Ltd, bakers, confectioners & pastrycooks. A photograph in the Oxford Journal Illustrated on 21 February 1923 shows a machine at Cooper & Boffin that wrapped and sealed loaves of bread and another on 7 May 1924 showed their new delivery van, which was in the shape of a loaf. In 1927 Cooper & Boffin had branches here at Carfax and at 13 Magdalen Street, 71 St Giles', 5 George Street, 1 & 2 New Road, and 55 St Thomas Street. By 1935 the New Road branch had closed and there were new branches at 4 Blue Boar Street and 70 London Road, Headington. Cooper & Boffin had to give up their Carfax premises when they were demolished in c.1931 to make way for Marygold House, and in the same year their shop at 71 St Giles' was demolished to make way for the new extension to the Taylorian. By 1935 they had given up their premises in Blue Boar Street and George Street, and had opened new shops at the Carfax Café, at 225 Banbury Road in Summertown, and at 119 St Aldate's Street. Cooper & Boffin survived with four shops in Oxford until c.1953, and then in 1954 the firm became Boffins Bakeries Ltd again with its head office at 55 St Thomas Street and cafés at 13 Magdalen Street and 225 Banbury Road. By 1960 their registered office and bakery was in Ferry Hinksey Road, and they had a café and shop at 13 Magdalen Street and cafés at 35 Little Clarendon Street, 225 Banbury Road, and 1 South Parade. They were still at these addresses in 1966, but disappear from Kelly's Directory in 1967. |
