No. 47: Former shop/house
No. 47 Broad Street was the thirteenth house from the right of the group thirteen houses dating from the first half of the seventeenth century that were demolished to make way for the New Bodleian Library (now the Weston Library) in 1937. It was situated next to the present Blackwell's bookshop.
This house belonged to the city from 1569 to the 1930s, and detailed records remain of its early leases:
- 1581 1594: Thomas Acton, cook
- 1616: Roger Acton, Manciple of Exeter College
- 1634: Stephen Hawes, cook
- 1652: Edward Sellwood, cook
In 1667 a lease was again granted to Edward Sellwood, but it was noted that the house was occupied by William Ellis. Anthony Wood mentions musical evenings here at William Ellis's house from 1656 onwards.
The next leases were granted as follows:
- 1682/3, 1695/6: John Taylor, limner
(occupied by Dr John Luffe in 1683 and Thomas Swift in 1696)
1709: John Taylor, painter (occupied by John Gibbons, victualler) - 1723, 1737: Henry Wise, mercer, and John Taylor, gent.
(occupied by Daniel Shilfox, tailor, in,1723 and Charles Stephens, cook in 1737) - 1751: Charles Stevens, cook.
In 1765 a lease was granted to the Revd Samuel Forster, D.LL., and No. 47 was still in his occupation in 1772 when a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. The frontage measured 6 yards 2 feet 4 inches.
The next leases of No. 47 were as follows:
- 1779: Anne Cleeve, spinster
- 1793, 1807, & 1821: William Fletcher, mercer
He lived at 46 next door and let this house out: it was occupied by Mrs Wickham in 1793 and 1807,
and by Mrs Collis in 1821
William Fletcher died at the end of 1826, and in 1835 the city granted a lease of No. 47 to his two trustees Joseph Parker, Esq. and the banker Thomas Robinson, who let it out that year to John Parkins [sic], winemerchant, for a rent of 20s. and two capons, and a fine of £45. The 1841 census duly shows John Perkins, a wine merchant, living here with his wife Elizabeth and their four grown-up children, plus a servant. By the time of the 1851 census the business was run by his widow, Mrs Elizabeth Perkins (aged 77), who lived over the shop with her daughter Sarah, together with a house servant and a porter. Elizabeth Perkins died in 1852, and on 27 November that year her son W. F. Perkins announced his intention to carry on their wine & spirit business here.
On 24 February 1855 Thomas Tame announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal that he had taken over Mr Perkins's wine business. The 1861 census shows Tame (misspelt Thame) living here with his wife Mary, their two grown up children, and their servant. Tame was described as a college servant, although directories list him as a wine merchant here. Both he and his wife Mary died in 1865.
At the time of the 1871 census his son Thomas Tame junior (32), described as a wine & spirit merchant, was living at 47 Broad Street with his wife Elizabeth, their six-year-old, son, and his sister Sarah Thame, plus a general servant. On 31 December 1871 Sarah Tame married t he music teacher William Howell Allchin.
On 19 September 1874 the house was advertised for sale thus in Jackson's Oxford Journal
All that very desirable FAMILY RESIDENCE and BUSINESS PREMISES, known as No. 47, BROAD STREET, Oxford, where the Business of a Wine Merchant has been carried on for many years, containing on the ground floor entrance hall; office, 18 ft. by 15 ft.; spacious dining room, 20 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 6 in.; kitchen with bed room over, pantry, larder, and other conveniences; on the first floor, large drawing room, 19 ft. by 19 ft; bed room, 20 ft. by 12 ft.; large linen closet and w.c.; on the second floor, three good bed rooms and large closet; in the basement, spacious front and back cellars (40 ft. by 15 ft.), containing 36 wine bins, capable of holding upwards of 1000 dozens of wine. The out-buildings in the rear comprise large bottling yard and warehouse, wood-house, fowl-house, &c.; together with a large garden and summer-house, or music room, 18 ft. [by] 16 ft., altogether possessing a frontage to the street of 20 ft. and extending a depth of about 250 ft., admirably adapted for business purposes, or as a residence for those requiring a home in close proximity to all the principal University Buildings. The Premises are held by lease under the Corporation of Oxford for 40 years, from Lady Day, 1863, subject to the following out-goings; Reserved rent, £1 7s. 6d.; capon money, 4s.; and acquittance, 8d.
An announcement was made in the following week's newspaper that it had been sold for £1,010.
By 1878 William Howell Allchin had moved with his wife Sarah into her former home here at 47 Broad Street, and the 1881 census shows them living there with their four children, looked after by a governess, nursemaid, and general servant. Allchin died here at the age of 39 on 8 January 1893.
At the time of the 1891 census Sarah Allchin, a widow of 55, was living on her own means at 47 Broad Street with her daughter Gwladys (12), plus a lodger and a general servant. She is listed here in this nine-roomed house in the 1901, 1911, and 1921 censuses, and died here at the age of 92 in January 1927.
In the 1920s there was a detached room at the north end of the garden known as the Music Room.
The architect Thomas Rayson lived here from 1930 to 1936 with various other tenants. The house was then demolished.
|
Occupants of 47 Broad Street listed in directories |
|
1830–1852 |
John Perkins, Wine Merchant |
1855–1874 |
Thomas Tame, Wine & spirit merchant |
1876–1929 |
William Howell Allchin, Music Bach.,
Professor [= teacher] of Music (to 1882) |
1930–1936 |
Thomas Rayson, FRIBA,
Architect |
Demolished with twelve neighbouring
houses in 1937 |
|
See the bound typescript in the Bodleian Library entitled “The
Demolished Houses
of Broad Street and the Freeborn Family”
(1943), attributed to Emily Sarah Freeborn,
and the webpage by Alan Simpson which reproduces some of the material in it.