Nos. 9–12 Long Wall Street are four houses that belonged to the City of Oxford until 1921, when they became the property of New College via an exchange. They are now a single college building, entered via the back.
The four houses in the block are jointly Grade II listed (List Entry No. 1047216). They are described in a lease of 1812 as being “lately erected”, but Historic England states that they are probably late seventeenth-century in core and refashioned in the mid-eighteenth century. The windows date from the eighteenth century: those on the ground floor have shutters, and those on the first floor have iron window-box balconies.
Historic view of 9–12 Long Wall Street
On 1 July 1812 the City granted a lease to the Headington carpenter William Jeffcoat of “seven messuages, lately erected”, being this group of four houses and Nos. 13–15 to the north. In 1825 and 1839 he was granted further leases, and the occupants were then as follows:
Lease of 1825: occupants |
Lease of 1839: occupants |
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No. 9 |
Richard Hedges |
John Hart |
No. 10 |
George Hill |
William Gunstone |
No. 11 |
Thomas Sammons |
Richard Cartwright |
No. 12 |
Richard Osman |
James Blake |
Jackson’s Oxford Journal for 1 July 1865 reports that Charles Fisher senior had died on 27 June at the age of 84 “at his lodgings, 12, Long Wall-street”.
On 6 April 1895 the following report about the poor state of these four houses, which then still belonged to the City, appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal:
LONG WALL STREET PROPERTY
The special committee appointed with reference to this matter reported that they had very carefully considered the question of dealing with it, and were of opinion that it was undesirable to enter upon any scheme for the permanent development of the site until the whole of the existing leases have expired, and recommend that the Estates Surveyor prepare plans for the erection of sculleries at the back of the houses Nos. 9, 10, 11, and 12, at a cost not exceeding 200l.
The report was agreed to, after a protest by Mr. C. UNDERHILL against throwing 200l. away upon this property, considering the bad state in which the property was, and the fact that the houses would have to come down in a few years.
Ald. GRAY pointed out that the repair of the houses was included in the outlay.
Various repairs were done over the years, especially to the outbuildings behind, and in 1894 the City decided it would be better off without these four houses. The council’s General Purposes Committee considered demolishing the four houses and taking in an agreed 25 feet of frontage (i.e. the site of Bodicote House) from Mr Horn next door and building anew, but decided that an exchange with New College for property in Cornmarket and Queen Street was a better option; but this deal fell through, and the city continued its piecemeal repairs to the backs of the houses.
An exchange eventually took place in 1921, and these four houses are now an annexe of New College.
Occupants of 9, 10, 11, & 12 Long Wall Street listed in directories etc. |
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No. 9 |
No. 10 |
No. 11 |
No. 12 |
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1846 |
Thomas Masslen |
Matilda Betteris |
William Cross Mrs Cross (1861) |
Richard Piere Blake |
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1851 |
Samuel Bailey |
John Bossom |
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1861 |
Miss Walton |
Joseph Dubber |
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1866 |
Edward Bellamy |
Julian Drummond
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Miss Bolland |
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1871 |
Charles Godfrey |
Frederick Hastings |
Charles Mansell (1870) Mrs Charles E. Mansell (Matilda) Listed as unoccupied in 1881 census Registry Office for Servants (1889) University lodging house (1899) |
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1881 |
D. Andrews |
John Durran |
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1889–1891 |
Mrs Sarah Davis |
Edward Hine |
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1899 |
Wilson Frederick Bateman Mrs Bateman by 1945 |
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1911 |
Mrs Barnes |
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1914 |
Mrs Larner |
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1927–1943 |
Mrs Shillingford |
Miss Smith
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1945–1947 |
Francis A.R. Mortimer |
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1949–1956 |
Miss L.E. Nash |
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1956–1958 |
Percival C. Harvey |
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1960 |
No listing |
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1962 |
Mrs E. Hancock |
Christopher Wheway |
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1964 |
Mrs D. Lewis |
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1966–1967 |
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1972–1973 |
Alan Ryan |
No listing |
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1976 |
Miss L. E. Nash |
Charles J. Williams |
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At 9–12 Long Wall Street today |
New College annexe |
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9, 10, 11, & 12 Long Wall Street 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. 9 James Dawson (50), a college servant, appears to have lived here with Rebecca (35) and Elizabeth (14) and Jane (3). They had one servant.
No. 10
William Gunstone (35), a college servant, appears to have lived here with Eliza (35) and William (8), Harriet (6), Eliza (2),and Richard (8 months). They had one servant.No. 11
Richard Cartwright (40), an upholsterer, appears to have lived here with Matilda (35) and Richard (15), Frederick (14), Henry (11), Francis (9), and Charles (6). They had one servant.No. 12
Richard Blake (40), a college servant, appears to have lived here with Mary (40) and an independent gentleman Edward Chapman (20). They had one servant.
1851
No. 9
Thomas Maslen (36), a college servant, lived here with his wife Eliza (42) and their son George (3). They had a lodger and one servant girl.No. 10
Samuel Bailey (41), a college servant, lived here with his wife Elizabeth (32) and his children Elizabeth (16), Henry (14), Joseph (11). They had one male and one female servant, a a gentleman lodger.No. 11
William Cross (56), a college servant, lived here with his wife Patience (45) and his daughter Emily (8). They had a 17-year-old servant girl.No. 12
John Bossom (54), the Porter of Brasenose College, lived here with his wife Lucy (47) and his children Lucy Victoria (10) and Celici (7). His wife’s unmarried brother, Levi Nicholls (46), who was a coach-trimmer, also lived with them, and they had a 15-year-old servant girl.
1861
No. 9
Emily F. Walton, an independent London-born spinster of 37, lived here.No. 10
Samuel Bailey, a Cumnor-born college servant, lived here with his wife Elizabeth and children James (12), John (9), and Frank (7). The family had a 17-year-old servant girl.No. 11
Patience Cross (59), a widowed laundress, lived here with her milliner daughter Emily (17). They had an undergraduate lodger and a 14-year-old servant girl.No. 12
Unoccupied.
1871
No. 9
Charles Godfrey (43), a college servant, lived here with his wife Caroline (48) and his niece Annie Jones (12). They had one servant.No. 10
Frederick Hastings (29), a college servant, lived here with his wife Mary (29) and their children Frederick (4), Alice (2), and Amelia (7 months). They had one servant.No. 11
Julian Drummond (41), a portrait painter, lived here with his wife Mary (35) and his son Julian (5). They had one servant.No. 12
Charles Mansell (29), a printer, lived here with his wife Matilda (28) and his daughter Kate (3). They had one servant.
1881
No. 9
Daniel Andrews (34), a college gate porter, lived here with his wife Maria (33) and his children Ada Jane (9), Annie (7), Henry (3), and Frederick (1). They had one servant.No. 10
John Durran (45), a retired ironmonger, lived here with his wife Martha (55).
As a separate household at No. 10, Job Durran (59), a cab proprietor, lived with his wife Ellen (47).No. 11
Julian Drummond (53), a portrait painter, still lived here with his wife Mary (45) and his children Julian (15) and Philip (9). They had one servant.No. 12
Unoccupied.
1891
No. 9
Daniel Andrews (44), a college porter, still lived here with his wife Maria (44) and his children Ada (19), Henry (13), Frederick (11), Albert (7), Percy 94), and Reginald (2).No. 10
Sarah Davis (60), a widowed lodging house keeper lived here with her daughter Kate (20) and one boarder (a student of theology).No. 11
Edward Hine (39), a tailor, lived here with his German wife Christina (39) and their children Efa (7), Hubert (6), Elise (3), and Rudolph (21), as well as his niece Adele Hine (16).No. 12
Matilda Mansell (47), a widowed lodging house keeper, lived here with her daughter Kate (23).
1901
No. 9
Wilson F. Bateman (36), an organ builder, lived here with his wife Ellen (37).No. 10
Sarah Davis (68), a widowed lodging house keeper, still lived here with a lodger, Mrs Catherine Cole (49).No. 11
Edward Hine (49), a tailor, still lived here with his German wife Christina (49) and his children Christina (17), Herbert (16), Elie (13), and Ferdinand (12).No. 12
Matilda Mansell (57), a lodging house keeper, still lived here with one servant.
1911
No. 9
Wilson F. Bateman (46), an organ builder, still lived here with his wife Ellen (47) and his niece Elsie Nash (9).No. 10
Jane Barnes (47), a widowed lodging-house keeper, lived here with her married sister Maria Lardner (5). They had one servantNo. 11
Edward Hine (59), a tailor, lived here with his German wife Christine (59) and his daughter Elise (23).No. 12
Matilda Mansell (65), a widowed lodging-house keeper, now lived here with her married daughter Katie Alden (43) and two servants.