Tredwell's Yard (between Nos. 30 & 31 Cornmarket)
Tredwell Yard or Passage (sometimes spelt as Treadwell) used to run between 30 and 31 Cornmarket Street. It was in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate.
The yard is shown on the right in 1876, with the entrance through the ground floor of the narrow building at 31 Cornmarket Street on the left.
The photograph below (Historic England HT13551) was taken by Henry Taunt in 1911 just before the yard was obliterated and looks west towards Cornmarket. It shows on the left four of the five cottages on the south side of the yard, and straight ahead is the back of the tall narrow building that used to stand at 31 Cornmarket Street:
The yard was named after the Tredwell or Treadwell family, who ran a Wagon & Van Office from 31 Cornmarket Street. (See below for all the people who lived in the five small cottages, each with just three rooms, listed in Tredwell's Yard in the censuses from 1841 to 1911.)
Elias Tredwell ran it until his death in May 1822.
On 19 November 1825 Jackson's Oxford Journal reported: “On Thursday last died, after a very short illness, aged 27, Mr. Thomas Tredwell, porter at the Waggon Office, in the Corn Market.”
Elias's widow Mary Tredwell died at 31 Cornmarket Street at the age of 73 in 1833 in March 1833. Her eldest daughter Miss Ann Tredwell continued to run the family business, and Robson's Business Directory lists ““Tredwell Ann, 31 Corn mkt st, Waggon & Van Office”.
In the 1841 census Miss Ann Tredwell (born in Oxford in 1788/9) is listed as an office keeper at Tredwell's Passage (presumably at 31 Cornmarket Street) with her younger sister Mary Ann Tredwell, who is described as her servant. Ann retired in 1843 when she was aged about 54 and inserted the following notice in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 16 December that year:
I, ANN TREDWELL, having given up the Business of my WAGON OFFICE, situate in Corn Market-street, to Mr. Steane, whom I beg most respectfully to recommend as my successor, take this opportunity of apprising the public generally that I have no connection whatever with S. Cockbill, my late porter, and beg to caution the public not to entrust him, the said S. Cockbill, with any more money or Goods in my name; and that all goods sent to my late office, to the care of Mr. Steane, will be duly attended to, and forwarded with dispatch to any part of the kingdom.
Mr Steane retorted in the next edition of the newspaper that he had “had no connection to Miss Ann Tredwell's Wagon Office for two years past, having had an office at the Ship Inn, Ship-street”.
Although her business closed in 1843, the name Tredwell's Yard survived until 1911.
On 4 October 1851 Jackson's Oxford Journal reported on a meeting of the Street Commissioners as follows:
TREDWELL'S YARD.
A complaint was made that an intolerable nuisance existed in Tredwell's Yard, in the Corn Market, opposite the Three Goats Inn, from a privy which was most offensive to the inhabitants in that locality, and although the parties had been applied to by the City Surveyor to correct it, nothing had been done towards its removal.
Mr. Alderman Sadler said that it was one of the greatest nuisances which existed in this city; that fever had broken out in the yard, and death had ensued, and that unless immediate steps were taken to correct this evil, it would be impossible to tell what might be the consequence.
The Town Clerk reminded them that the opening of a privy at a time when sickness was prevalent in the locality often times increased the evil, and he should like to know whether the privy in question was in a worse state than others in the town.
Mr. Selby said that it was not worse than others in different parts of the town.
The Town Clerk said that after such an admission on the part of their Surveyor, he should move that Mr. Selby do report on the state of those privies which were known to be such intolerable nuisances.
Mr. Vincent seconded the motion, which was agreed to.
It was also agreed that Mr. Selby should serve notices on the parties to appear before the Magistrates in the City Court, to show cause why they had not removed a nuisance which had been complained of, and why they should not be fined for such neglect. It was also agreed that Mr. Selby should be authorized to supply quick lime where privies were being emptied, with a view to lessen the effluvium arising from that operation.
Poorer people including widows and the disabled lived in these five cottages. Some of them must have been very overcrowded: for instance No. 5 was occupied in 1861 by a couple with eight children (of whom five were still at home ten years later), all sharing two bedrooms. In 1871 a couple with four children at No. 3 must have all slept in the same room to make the other bedroom available for their boarder and lodger.
On 9 October 1911 the Oxford Journal Illustrated published the photograph of the cottages immediately prior to their demolition, and in 1912 Arthur Pearson of the Oxford Drug Company (later part of Boswell's) redeveloped Treadwell's Yard and No. 31 to the north as part of their enlarged shop.
Treadwell's Yard in the censuses
(The people who lived in Treadwell's Yard were never listed in directories)
1841
This census does not give relationships and rounds ages up, so some siblings appear to be the same age as each other
Treadwell's Yard: Henry Randell (40), a cordwainer, lived here with his wife Mary (33) plus John (13), Rosine (6), and Laura (5). A 50-year-old shoemaker also lodged with them.
Treadwell's Yard: Joseph Stevens (22), a policeman, lived here with Elizabeth (22) and William (three months), and Mary Stevens (60).
Treadwell's Yard: William Morrice (62), a college servant, lived here with Mary Morris (60) and Ann Morris (20).
Treadwell's Yard: Jacob Sallis (50), a labourer, lived here with Esther Sallis (40), and Frederick and Henry Sallis (both 15 and labourers), Hannah Sallis (15 and a dressmaker), Caroline Sallis (12), and Francis Sallis (10)
Treadwell's Yard: Thomas Jewell (45), a labourer, lived here with Ann Jewell (50) and Thomas Jewell (25), who was a servant, and William Jewell (20), who was a cook. George Minchin (15) and Ann Wiggins (65) also lodged with them.
1851
1 Treadwell's Yard: Amelia Hadley (49), a widowed fishmonger, lived here with her five children: Henry (17), who was an apprentice; Caroline (15), who was doing household work, and Fanny (13), Thomas (10), and Elizabeth (6).
2 Treadwell's Yard: Thomas Jewell (36), a labourer, lived here with his wife Ann (36) and their children Mary (10), William (7), and Henry (5).
3 Treadwell's Yard: William Couling (22), a paper-hanger, and his wife Elizabeth (22) lived here with their children Isabella (2) and Montague (1).
4 Treadwell's Yard: Elizabeth Wakelin (32), the wife of a servant, lived here with her son James (2).
5 Treadwell's Yard: William Wilkinson (33), a boot & shoe maker, lived here with his wife Jane (29) and their children Jane (7), Lydia (5), William (3), and Sarah (1).
1861
1 Treadwell's Yard: Thomas Jewell (46), now described as an assistant college servant, lived here with his wife Hannah (44) and their two sons: William (17) was a plumber's apprentice and Henry (15) was a fireman's apprentice.
2 Treadwell's Yard: Robert Fadam (42), a servant, lived here with his wife Mary Ann (40) and their children Robert (8) and Ellinor & Anne (both 7).
3 Treadwell's Yard: Susannah Boyce (60), a widowed needlewoman, lived here with her daughter Harriett (20), who was a house servant.
4 Treadwell's Yard: William Fletcher (28), a groom, lived here with his wife Louisa (30), who was a dressmaker, and their daughter Harriett (2).
5 Treadwell's Yard: William Williamson (42), a shoemaker, lived here with his wife Jane (39), who was a bookbinder, and their eight children: Jane (17), who was also a bookbinder, and Lydia (15), William (12), Sarah (10), Walter (7), Mark (4), Frederick (2), and Mary (one month).
1871
1 Tredwell's Yard: No listing
2 Tredwell's Yard: Thomas Jewell (53), a college servant, lived here with his wife Hannah (53). Another college servant boarded with them.
3 Tredwell's Yard: Amos Strange (32), a groom, lived here with his wife Mary (30) and their children Laura (7), Constance (5), Fredrick (4), and William (2). They also had a boarder and a lodger.
4 Tredwell's Yard: Mrs S. Bryce (69), a widow, lived here with three of her Bryce grandchildren: James (12), Kate (9), and Fredrick (4).
5 Tredwell's Yard: William Williamson (53), a shoemaker, still lived here with his wife Jane (49) and their children Jane (27), Sarah (21), Walter (17), Mark (14), who was an apprentice gasfitter, Alice (8), and Leonard (5).
1881
1 Treadwell Yard: Thomas Jewell (66), now described as a former coal porter, still lived here with his wife Hannah (64).
2 Treadwell Yard: Amos Strange (42), a coachman, still lived here with his wife Mary (39) and his children Frederick (14), who was a gas fitter's apprentice, Mary (5), and Ernest (nine months). They also had a groom lodging with them.
3 Treadwell Yard: James Bryce (56), a widowed insurance agent, lived here with his daughter Emma (19), who was a dressmaker.
4 Treadwell Yard: Tom Thompson (22), a decorator, lived here with his wife Annie (21), who was a dressmaker, his brother Joseph (17), who was a fireman, and his widowed father-in-law James Smith (48), who was a carman.
5 Treadwell Yard: Jane Williamson (60), a widowed shoe binder, lived here with her sons Walter (27), who was a gas fitter, and Leonard (15), who was a tailor's apprentice.
1891
1 Treadwell's Yard: David Owen (50), a cab driver, lived here with his wife Martha (45) and their daughter Fanny (9). They had one boarder.
2 Treadwell's Yard: William Keep (38), a painter's labourer, lived here with his wife Lydia (36), a tailoress, and his children Jessie (13), Lilly (8), George (3), and Frederick (one month).
3 Treadwell's Yard: Charles Busby (34), a coachman, lived here with his wife Martha (25) and their daughter Alice (1). They had one lodger.
4 Treadwell's Yard: Tom Fielding Thompson (32), a house painter, lived here with his wife Anne (30) and their children Harry (9), Joseph (8), and Anne (5).
5 Treadwell's Yard: Henry Cooke (34), a painter, lived here with his wife Lucy (32) and their children Tom (4), Norah (3), Dorothy (2), and Margaretta (1).
1901
1 Treadwell's Yard: J. Akers (45), a bricklayer, lived here with his wife Annie (45), who was a cook.
2 Treadwell's Yard: Listed as unoccupied.
3 Treadwell's Yard: Charles R. Antill (63), a scavenger for the Oxford City Incorporation, lived here with his wife Elizabeth (54), who was a dressmaker, and their granddaughter Dorothy Kerby (4).
4 Treadwell's Yard: Louisa McNab (50), a widow, lived here with her sons William Sheppard (32), who was a waiter, and Thomas Sheppard (28), who was a boots.
5 Treadwell's Yard: James C. Acott (52), a widowed shoemaker, lived here with his daughter Martha (12).
1911
People were already moving out, as the yard was about to be demolished
1 Treadwell Yard: Mrs G. Cooper (72), a widowed charwoman, lived in this three-room cottage with her son Alfred (34), who was a fish hawker.
2 Treadwell Yard: No listing.
3 Treadwell Yard: Charles Richard Antill (73), now described as a draper's assistant afflicted by a stroke, still lived in this three-room cottage with his wife Elizabeth (65), who took in needlework.
4 Treadwell Yard: No listing.
5 Treadwell Yard: Alfred Fordham (42), a groom, lived in this three-room cottage with his wife Harriet (63).
The restaurant of The Store Hotel which opened on 7 May 2024 is on the site of Tredwell/Treadwell's Yard and is named after it:
