Left: Long Wall Place on OS map of 1876. It consisted of three houses wedged behind No. 6 Long Wall Street and stretched alongside the fine back garden of No. 7 to the right. Today the only sign of the old passage that led to this area is the gate below, on the right-hand side of No. 6
There were three small houses in Long Wall Place, each with just three rooms. Two appear to be wedged between the back of 5 Long Wall Street and Magdalen College’s Chemical Laboratory, and the other behind No. 6.
Poor families and widows tended to occupy small houses in yards. Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 7 August 1869 reported that four-year-old James Fox of 2 Longwall Place fell into the river at Christ Church Meadow and was drowned along with his sister Ann (8) who tried to rescue him; and the coroner stated, “The parents were poor, and unable to send a servant with their children to look after them.”
The three houses of Long Wall Place (together with No. 7 Long Wall Street to the north) were owned by Mrs Sarah Gunning, and her Executors advertised them for sale thus in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 6 April 1878:
Also adjoining the above (No. 7), and known as Long Wall-place,—Three STONE and LATH and PLASTER BUILT and TILED COTTAGES, containing three rooms, viz.:—One sitting room and two bed rooms, occupied by Messrs. Haines, Fox, and Gray respectively, each tenement producing an annual Rental of £9.
The house and three cottages together fetched £750 at the auction.
Occupants of Long Wall Place listed in directories etc. |
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No. 1 |
No. 2 |
No. 3 |
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1846–1866 |
No listing in directories (or just “Longwall Place intersects”) |
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1869–1871 |
George Crickmere |
Edward Fox (1869–1871) Frederick Fox |
Jane Hooper |
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1878–1881 |
Mr Gray |
Charles Haynes |
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1889 |
Mrs Trundell |
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1899–1901 |
John Greener |
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1911 |
Walter George Brain |
Miss Elizabeth Bennett |
Frederick Brown |
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1914 |
Miss Shipperlee |
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1928–1935 |
Samuel Dossett |
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1936 |
Charles Bernard Pratt |
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1938 |
No listing |
No listing |
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1940–1947 |
Long Wall Place is given as a heading in these directories, |
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1949–1976 |
No listing |
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At Long Wall Place today |
Magdalen College annexe |
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Long Wall Place in the censuses
1841
The 1841 census does not give house numbers, but it is possible to give a tentative assignment based on census order and known inhabitants
No. 1 Long Wall Place
James Hooper (55), a shopkeeper, appears to have lived here with Jane (45) and William (25), Frederick (21), Harriet (15) and Elizabeth (6). They had one servant.No. 2 Long Wall Place
John Speakman (45) appears to have lived here with Hannah (45), and Henry (15), John (12), Emma (11), James (9), and Samuel (5)No. 3 Long Wall Place
Ann Bannister (55), a laundress, appears to have lived here with Sarah Marshall (70).
1851
No. 1 Long Wall Place
James Hooper (58), an upholsterer’s porter, lived here with his wife Jane (58) and his daughter Elizabeth (15).No. 2 Long Wall Place
Charles Williamson (38), a printer and pressmaker, lived here with his wife Sophia (35) and his children William (19), Alick (11), Emma (9), Harriet (5), and Mary (2). William worked as a servant and Alick as an errand boy.No. 3 Long Wall Place
John William (35), a cordwainer, lived here with his wife Frances (33) and his children Amelia (5) and Frederick (1).
1861
No. 1 Long Wall Place
Jane Hooper (69), now a widowed laundress, lived here with two lodgers: an unmarried woman of 70 and a schoolboy of 15.No. 2 Long Wall Place
Frederick Fox (28), a boot closer, lived here with his wife Sarah (28) and sons Frederick (3) and Walter (1). They had a groom lodging with them.No. 3 Long Wall Place
Charles Keen (50), a college servant, lived here with his wife Mary (60). They had a house servant of their own, who was an unmarried woman of 55.
1871
No. 1 Long Wall Place
Jane Hooper (79) still lived here, and was now alone.No. 2 Long Wall Place
Frederick Fox (37), a bootmaker, still lived here with his wife Sarah (37) and his children Frederick (13), Walter (11), Alfred (7), Joseph (3), Sarah (1), and Annie (1).No. 3 Long Wall Place
George Crickmere (52), a groom, lived here with his wife Jane (42) and his children Walter (14), Edgar (11), Amelia (9), and Cornelia (7), and a boarder.
1881
No. 1 Long Wall Place
George Gray (48), an unemployed carpenter, lived here with his wife Lydia (51), an unemployed college servant and his children George (18), Anne (15), Mary (12), and Elizabeth (7).No. 2 Long Wall Place
Frederick Fox (46), a bootmaker, lived here with his wife Sarah (46) and his children Alfred (19), Joseph (12), Anne (10), Sarah (10), Louisa (8), and Georgina (5).No. 3 Long Wall Place
Charles Haynes (58), a tailor, lived here with his wife Martha (37) and his children Esther (12), Emily (9), Charles (5), and Margaret (10 days).
1891
No. 1 Long Wall Place
Sarah Trundell (76), a widow with her own means, lived here with her unmarried daughter Amelia (45).No. 2 Long Wall Place
UninhabitedNo. 3 Long Wall Place
Charles Haynes (68) still lived here with his blind wife Martha (47), his children Charles (15) and Margaret (10), and Martha McRory (75), a widow described as his mother but presumably his mother-in-law.
1901
No. 1 Long Wall Place
Sarah Trundell (86). a widow, lived here with her granddaughter Ada Trundell (29).No. 2 Long Wall Place
John Greener (75), a retired iron founder, lived here.No. 3 Long Wall Place
Charles Haynes (78), with his own means, lived here with his wife Martha (58).
1911
No. 1 Long Wall Place
Walter George Brain (35), a labourer, lived here with his wife Fanny (35) and children William John (5) and Harry George (3).No. 2 Long Wall Place
Elizabeth Bennett (42), a charwoman, lived here.No. 3 Long Wall Place
Frederick Brown (48), a fettler at an iron founder’s, lived here with Harriet Foster (32), a single woman who was the mother of Gladys (9), Fred (6), Thomas (3), and Herbert (4 months). They had one female servant.