8 Holywell Street dates from the end of the eighteenth or beginning of the nineteenth century, and is owned by Merton College.
It is a Grade II Listed Building (1047266), with the following description:
No 8 SP 5106 NE 6/218 12.1.54. II GV 2.
House. RCHM 214. A Cl8-19 three-storeyed stuccoed and roughcast timber-framed front on a stone base with cellars, modillioned eaves cornice and a small parapet. A not visible Welsh slate roof and the stacks are of brick. The two sash windows in the first floor have moulded wood frames and cornices and glazing bars. The front doorway, which is coupled with No 9 on the West, has a modern wood bracketed hood. On the East side is a gabled attic dormer and two roughcast projecting stone stacks, probably of an earlier build.
William Rogers, the butler of Corpus Christi College, lived here from 1841 to 1852. It was put up for sale while he lived there, and was described as “a spacious and convenient family residence, with large garden attached, extending to the Parks. The full advertisement appeared in Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 3 January 1852:
A convenient and well-arranged FAMILY RESIDENCE, No. 8, Holywell-street; comprising a dining room and two sitting rooms on the ground floor; drawing room, sitting room, two bed rooms, and water closet, on the first floor, and four bed rooms over; a capital cellar, kitchen, larder, and other domestic offices, with two large walled gardens at the back, planted with numerous wall and standard fruit trees, in excellent bearing, with doorway opening to the path leading from the Parks to Holywell Church.
The property is held by lease under Merton College for a term of 40 years, from Michaelmas 1835, subject to an annual Quit Rent of 13s., and a Land Tax of 17s. 6d.
From 1861 until his death on 4 October 1864 this house was occupied by James Dawson, a retired servant of Magdalen College. His widow remained here until 1870, and on 18 June that year a forthcoming auction of her furniture was advertised, as she was moving to north Oxford.
On 24 February 1872 the house was again advertised for sale by auction:
A FAMILY RESIDENCE, known as No. 8, Holywell-street, a 12-roomed House, with all suitable domestic offices, and two large gardens, extending backwards to the Parks Road, in the occupation of the Rev. Sackett Hope, on a repairing lease for five years from Midsummer, 1870, at the low rent of £40 per annum.
8 Holywell Street in the censuses
1841
The 1841 census for Holywell does not give house numbers, but it is possible to deduce where people listed that year lived by examining directory entries between 1839 and 1842 and later censuses
William Rogers (45), a college servant, lived here with Sarah (4) and William (13), Sarah (12), ?Guest (9), Clara (8), and Ellen (5). Also in the household were Jane Harris (50) and one female servant.
1851
William Rogers, the butler of Corpus Christi College, still lived here, but was not at home on census night: the house was occupied by his children Sarah (20), Clara (16), Alfred (8), and Harry (7), plus one servant.
1861
James Dawson (75), a retired college servant, lived here with his wife Rebecca (57) and his son James (19), who was a chemist. They had a servant girl of 16.
1871
Sackett Hope (30), the Curate of Holywell, lived here with his wife Katherine (31) and their children Mary (5), George (3), and Beatrice (seven months), and his unmarried sister Sarah Hope (35). They had three servants (a housemaid, cook, and nurse).
1881
George Laughton (48), a lodging-house keeper, lived here with his wife Elizabeth (45) and his children Bessie (7), Frank (6), and Mary (4). They have just one undergraduate lodging with them, and one domestic servant.
1891
George Laughton (58) was still a lodging-house keeper here with his wife Elizabeth (55) and their children Bessie (17), who was a pupil teacher, Frank (16), who was a wine merchant's clerk, and Mary (14). He died here at the age of 62 in July 1894.
1901
Elizabeth Laughton (65), now a widowed lodging-house keeper, lived here with her children Bessie (27), who was a certificated elementary school teacher, and Mary (24), who acted as her mother’s housekeeper. They had one general servant.
1911
Susan Baker (60), a widowed lodging-house keeper, lived here with her daughter Mary and one boarder.
1921
Julian Sorrell Huxley (34), a Fellow of New College and Senior Demonstrator in Science at the University Museum, lived here with his wife Marie-Juliette (24) and their six-month-old son, and his widowed mother-in-law Melanie Baillot (56), plus their servant.
1939 Register
The physician & X-ray specialist David T. Barnes was listed here with his wife Florence and their two children, plus a servant.
Occupants of 8 Holywell Street listed in directories etc. |
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1758 |
Mr Cobb |
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1772 |
Mr Dod senior |
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1841–1851 |
William Rogers |
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1852 |
No listing |
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1861–1870 |
James Dawson |
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1870–1876 |
Revd Sackett Hope |
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1884–1901 |
George Laughton to 1889 |
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1905–1914 |
Mrs Susan Baker |
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1916–1921 |
Henry Julian Cunningham Mrs Cunningham by 1921 |
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1926–1976 |
David Thomas Barnes, D.S.O., M.D., D.M.R.E. |
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Today |
Merton College annexe |
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