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The original timber-framed building dating from the mid-sixteenth century hides behind the present eighteenth-century front of this house, which had twenty rooms. It is owned by Oxford City Council, who bought it from New College in 1921. It is a Grade II* listed building (list entry 1185643).

It was in the parish of St Martin's (Carfax) until that church was demolished in 1896, whereafter it was in the parish of St Martin's & All Saints until All Saints Church closed in 1971. It is now in the parish of St Michael-at-the-Northgate.

Early history of 3 & 4 Cornmarket Street

There was a medieval inn on the site of 3 and 4 Cornmarket, known first as Pate’s Inn. It then became Somenour’s Inn, which was owned in the fourteenth century by John de Stodley, followed by Sir Robert Treslian.

The property then passed to New College.

Nos. 3 & 4 Cornmarket were rebuilt in about 1500 as the Bull Inn. At some point before 1555 the property was divided into two separate houses.

Thomas Malyson had the lease of No. 3 in 1555, and Edmund Benet in 1560.

John Tatleton leased this house from 1564 until his death in 1581, and his initials were found over a fireplace in the back room upstairs. It was during this period that the famous wall paintings upstairs were executed. His widow Elizabeth remained in the house for another year until her death in 1582.

In 1583 the leaseholder was John Underhill, D.D. of Lincoln College (a relation of Joan Hough, née Underhill); and in 1592 the leaseholder was William Hough the younger, with the furrier William Hough the tenant.

By 1600 John Davenant and his wife Jane had moved to Oxford, and they took over this building at 3 Cornmarket in June 1603. In 1604 Davenant was awarded one of the three city licences to sell wine here.

William Shakespeare was rumoured to be the actual father of Davenant’s son William (baptised on 3 March 1605/6 at St Martin’s Church, Oxford), who became a poet and playwright. Certainly Shakespeare was his godfather, and Shakespeare did stay at this house. Anthony Wood wrote:

John Davenant was a sufficient vintner, kept the tavern now known by the name of the Crowne, … was mayor of the said city in the year 1621, … was a very grave and discreet citizen (yet an admirer of plays and play-makers, especially Shakespeare, who frequented his house in his journies between Warwickshire and London).…

John Aubrey also reported the same:

Mr William Shakespeare was wont to goe into Warwickshire once a yeare, and did commonly in his journey lye at this house in Oxon. where he was exceedingly respected.

Shakespeare died in 1615, and it may have been after this date that Davenant covered up the wall paintings with panelling.

John Davenant died on 19 April 1622 and was buried in All Saints' Church. His will, proved on 21 October 1622, made it clear that his intended successor was his servant Thomas Hallam:

In order that keeping my house as a tavern for the better support of my children may be more effective, and because my three daughters, being maidens, can hardly control a thing of such importance, I ask my sister Hatton (if she will) to come with her youngest son and sleep and eat at my house with my children for the better comfort and countenancing of my daughters until Thomas Hallom comes out of his years, knowing her always to have been loving, just and kind to me and my wife. She is to have her food etc free, and £5 pa in money. My two youngest daughters are to keep the bar by turns, and every night to set down the day’s takings in the sight of Thomas Hallom.
This book is to be properly kept for as long as the house remains a tavern, so that the income and expenditure may be calculated to avoid deceit and distrust (if necessary).... My two youngest daughters [Jane and Alice Davenant] are to keep the bar by turns, and every night to set down the day’s takings in the sight of Thomas Hallom.

His daughter Alice married a clergyman and moved away, but Jane Davenant married her father's former servant Thomas Hallam and they duly ran the tavern together. Thomas Hallam, described as a vintner, was buried at St Martin's Church on 1 October 1636. (His widow Jane Hallam was buried with him on 27 September 1667.)

The next landlord appears to have been Thomas Wood, but when he moved to 104 High Street in 1651 he took the Salutation Tavern's sign with him. The premises here were then renamed the Crown Tavern (not to be confused with the Crown Inn on the other side of the road at 59–61 Cornmarket).

Henry Southam was the landlord of the Crown Tavern until his death on 16 March 1658/9.

On 29 September 1659 the council granted to a widow, Mrs Anne Turton, the licence formerly held by Southam to sell wines for ten years at a rent of £10 per year. Very soon afterwards William Morrell married Mrs Turton, and on 14 September 1660 he requested that his new wife’s city wine licence be made over to him, and on 8 June 1663 he took up the lease from New College of their tenement in St Martin's parish “now commonly knowne or called by ye name of ye Salutacon Tavern”. From 1665 William & Ann Morrell ran the tavern here at 3 Cornmarket Street, and in that year Morrell paid tax on nine hearths at the building. William Morrell died on 25 August 1679 and was described in the register as being “of ye Crowne Tavern”. In a codicil to his will he devised the reversion of his wine licence to his wife Anne.

When Mrs Anne Morrell died on 6 March 1695/6, she left the lease of the Crown Tavern to her daughter-in-law Mrs Joan Turton, the widow of William Turton (Mrs Morrell’s son by her earlier marriage) with the proviso that at the time of renewing it should be taken in the name of her grandson William Turton junior.

Between 1658 and 1691, Anthony Wood recorded over fifty visits to the Crown Tavern: on 2 January 1667/8 he met John Aubrey here, and on 1 February 1670 he wrote that he and his friends went to "Morrell's" in the evening.

It ceased to be a tavern in about 1750 and became a shop.

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The wall paintings in the Painted Room

At some point between 1603 and 1622 John Davenant erected oak panelling was installed to hide the old-fashioned wall-paintings. The panelling was in turn was covered with canvas and paper, and the paintings were not rediscovered until 1927. The 1630 oak panels have now been put on rollers so they can be pushed aside to reveal the wall paintings when the room is opened to visitors.

The frieze that runs along the top of the north wall and finishes beside the chimney breast on the east wall (above and below) reads: “And last of the rest be thou / gods servante for that hold i best / In the mornynge earlye / serve god Devoutlye / Fear god above allthynge”.

The brickwork of the fireplace (below) dates from 1350, and the letters over the fireplace from about 1450. These are either “ΙΗΣ” (the first three letters for Jesus (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ) in the Greek alphabet) or “IHS”, an abbreviation for the Latin Iesus Hominum Salvator (Jesus, Saviour of Mankind).

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The shop at 3 Cornmarket Street: Late eighteenth century to the present

3 Cornmarket can be seen in
the middle of this group in c.1900

In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. According to H. E. Salter, 3 Cornmarket was then in the occupation of the mercer Alderman John Austin and had a frontage of 9yd 1ft 7in. Austin's shop was regularly visited by Parson Woodforde. Austin died in 1775.

James Clark was a tailor here by 1783. On 11 January 1794 in an advertisement in Jackson's Oxford Journal Hannah, Mary, & Sarah Clarke and James Purbrick stated that they were successors to his business.

James Purbrick died at the age of 65 in October 1826, and his widow Hannah Purbrick announced that her sons would continue to conduct the business with Sarah Clarke: they ran a woollen & linen drapery, hatting, and funeral business, with James Clarke Purbrick looking after the tailoring side,

Ten years later in November 1836 Purbrick & Clarke announced that they had declined business in favour of Richard P. Hookham, who had worked as their assistant for four years. On 30 September 1837 he announced: “having commenced business with limited capital, he cannot follow the general practice of the place, in giving extensive credit”. The business flourished, and remained a tailor's shop in the hands of the Hookham family (with varying partners) for the next hundred years.

The 1881 census shows the robemaker Frank J. Gadney as the resident partner here with his family, and he stated that the firm employed 40 to 50 assistants. (Since at least 1868 Richard P. Hookham had been living at Summertown House.) The Gadney family was still here at the time of the 1891 census.

The 1911 census shows James House, a police constable, living here with his wife Ethel and their two children.

 

In 1921 the property was sold by New College to the City of Oxford.

In 1934 the rear of the old tavern was demolished.

For fifty years until the late 1970s it was a Lyon’s café.

The Oxford Preservation Trust had its offices upstairs until 1972, and its meetings were held in the Painted Room.

On 1 December 2012 the building was sold for £5,900,000.