Oxford History: The High

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The main part of the Old Bank Hotel with its nine arches dates from the eighteenth century, but it was not all built at the same time: the original four bays on the right (No. 93) were built in 1775 while the five bays on the left (No. 92) were added to match in 1798.

The building is Grade II listed (List Entry No. 1047250). It has always been in the parish of St Mary-the-Virgin.

The earlier buildings on the site of 92 & 93 High Street were owned by Christ Church who leased them to Charles Holloway of the Inner Temple from 1638 to 1695 and then to John Dalby of Sutton Courtenay who was Holloway's executor. Dalby and his descendants held the lease of these properties until 1772, when the college sold them.

The occupants of these buildings were sublet as follows in the period up to the time they were rebuilt:

• The former 92 High Street (left)
  This was formerly Nevyle Hall. Christ Church leased this to the Fulkes and then the Macocks. The 1772 Survey of Oxford shows a Mr Couldrey occupying the former 92 High Street (with a frontage of 11 yards).\
  Earlier leases are listed here
  In 1798 No. 92 was rebuilt with four bays as it is today
• The former 93 High Street (right)
  This was formerly George Hall. At the time of the 1772 Survey of Oxford Mr Miller,  Mr Routledge and Mr Fletcher (presumably either William Fletcher or his cousin Stephen) all occupied the site now occupied by 93 High Street (with a joint frontage of 9 yards 3 ft 11in). In early 1775, Jackson’s Oxford Journal stated that the partnership of Wickham & Fletcher Mercers had been dissolved in July 1773, and that henceforth the business would be carried on by Fletcher alone.
  Earlier leases are listed here
  In 1775 No. 93 was rebuilt with five bays as it is today by William Fletcher..

On 24 March 1781 it was announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal that William Fletcher had entered into partnership with John Parsons senior but that initially their mercer's businesses would continue in both shops: Fletcher was in the rebuilt No. 93 and Parsons was probably still at 90 High Street.

By the 1790s Fletcher & Parsons were bankers as well as mercers: in the Universal British Directory of 1794 Fletcher, Parsons, & Co. were still described as linen drapers in Oxford, but Messrs Fletcher and Parsons were also listed there under the heading BANKERS, and it is stated that they drew on John Rose Drewe. It was probably around this time that they expanded into the former building at 92 High Street. Their premises were known as the “Old Bank” at a very early stage: a notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 7 May 1796 stated that "Subscriptions are received at the Old Bank, Messrs. Fletcher and Parsons”, and again on 18 November 1797 a notice reporting on the death of Robert Hoare (23) stated that he was "Clerk to the Old Bank, in this City”. In 1798 the former building at No. 92 on the left was rebuilt to match the present No. 93 on the right.

John Parsons senior died in 1814, and he left an interest in the Old Bank to his cousin, the gunsmith James Thomson, who had married his sister Sarah Parsons. The bank continued to be called Fletcher & Parsons until at least 1815.

William Fletcher's sister's son, the mercer Thomas Robinson, appears to have been made a partner, as in Pigot's Directory of 1823/4 “Fletcher, Parsons, Thomson & Robinson” are listed as bankers in the High Street, with no mention of drapery.

The Revd W. Tuckwell in his Reminiscences of Oxford describes the Old Bank back in the 1830s. He appears to have believed (probably wrongly) that the bank had been founded in c.1810; that Parsons was the brother (rather than the cousin) of the Master of Balliol; and that it had been founded by Thomson and Parsons, rather than Fletcher and Parsons:

The Old Bank stood where now it stands, already some twenty years old. It was founded by two tradesmen – Thomson, a gunsmith, and Parsons, a draper, the latter brother to Dr. Parsons, Master of Balliol and Bishop of Peterborough. Passing gallantly through the money panic of 1825, when Walter Scott was ruined and half the banks in England broke, it rose into high repute, obtained the deposits of all the Colleges and retains probably most of them to-day under the grandsons of its founders.

For a short while the bank was Fletcher, Hanwell, & Parsons, with Herbert Parsons (the cousin of John Parsons senior) listed as the banker. Two partners of the Old Bank died in 1839: Herbert Parsons on 18 January, and James Thomson, Esq. on 11 July at the age of 89.

Thomas Robinson now became the senior partner in the bank, which was renamed Robinson, Parsons, & Thomson.

At the time of the 1841 census the banker John Parsons junior (41), the son of Herbert Parsons, lived over Nos. 92 & 93 with his wife Eliza and their children Elizabeth and Sarah (aged around 15), John (6), and Guy (3), four people described as independent, and nine servants, some of whom were probably actually bank clerks. In 1851 he was here with his wife Eliza (45) and their children Herbert (29), who was also a banker, Elizabeth (27), Sarah (25), and Henry (7), plus eight servants. The death of his son Guy (16) at Rugby in 1853 was announced in The Times. In 1861 the bank clerk Joseph Phillips (65) described as a border, and the bank porter William Fanner (77) and his family were living over No. 92, which was described as the Old Bank, while John & Eliza Parsons were still living over No. 93 with just one of their sons, John junior, who was described as an assistant in the bank, plus seven servants.

At the time of the 1871 census the bank cashier William Rogers Phillips lived over No. 92 with his wife, three children, and two servants, while at No. 93 only the servants were at home. The situation was the same in 1881.

Until 1883 the Bank was listed in directories at No. 92, with No. 93 being occupied by the bank manager.

At the time of the 1891 census No. 92 was occupied by the banker's clerk William Haines (45) and his wife and three children plus two servants, with the banker's clerk Ernest H. Salter boarding at No. 93 with two servants.

In 1900 the bank at 92–93 High Street was taken over by Barclays. The 1901 census shows the bank cashier Francis Williams living over No. 92 with his wife, four children, and two servants, and the housekeeper Anna Cullum living over No. 93 with a banker’s clerk and a servant.

In 1911 only a cook, parlourmaid, and housemaid lived over No. 92, while the bank manager Richard Robus Hall (55) lived at No. 93 with the bank messenger and his wife and their servant.

Thge 1921 census shows Mary Caroline Church (63) living at No. 92 with two servants and . the bank messenger Joseph Garrett (54) living at No. 93 with his wife Hannah and their student son.

In about the 1980s the house next door (No. 94) became part of the Old Bank at Nos. 92 & 93.

This branch of Barclays Bank closed down in 1998 and permission was granted to turn the three houses then comprising the Old Bank into a hotel (98/00867/NFH).

In 2006 the Old Bank Hotel expanded into No. 91 to the east, so it now occupies the site of four houses in the High Street.

More information about this building:

• L. F. Bradburn, The Old Bank (92 and 93 High Street) Oxford (Oxford, 1977)

The barn behind the Old Bank Hotel (formerly stables) is Grade II listed (1107868). It is owned by Corpus Christi College and is accessed both from the hotel and from Magpie Lane. In March 2024 planning application 23/01819/LBC was approved to convert the barn to hotel spa facilities. The Design & Access statement under the Documents tab gives the history of the barn.