12 Holywell Street dates from the end of the seventeenth or beginning of the eighteenth century, but has been altered. It is owned by Merton College.
It is a Grade II Listed Building (1047267), with the following description:
No 12 SP 5106 NE 6/215 12.1.54. II GV 2.
House. RCHM 211. Probably originally C17-Cl8 but has been altered. Three-storeyed stuccoed timber-framing with cellars, a slight overhang at the first floor, a moulded eaves cornice, small parapet and a yellow brick stack. There are two sash windows in moulded wood frames having modillioned architraves and glazing bars. An early C19 doorframe. At the back on North is modern yellow brick extensions.
In Jackson’s Oxford Journal on 17 July 1841, Monsieur & Madame Colbrant advertised their French Academy here at 12 Holywell Street
In the late 1940s it was occupied by Hugo Dyson, one of the Inklings.
12 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
Christopher Ridley (25), a glover, lived here with his wife Harriet (25) and Elizabeth (60), who was probably his mother. They had one 15-year-old servant girl.
1851
Christopher Ridley (37), a glover, still lived here with his wife Harriet (40) and his children Christopher (8), Matthew (6), and Ann (5). They had one servant
1861
Christopher Ridley (47), now working as a clerk, still lived here with Harriet (50) and his children Christopher (19), who was also a clerk), Matthew (17), who was an apprentice cook), Anne (15), and John (10).
1871
Christopher Ridley (57), a clerk, still lived here with his wife Harriet (60) and their son John (20), who was now an ironmonger. They had one servant.
1881
Christopher Ridley (67), now specifically described as a butcher’s clerk, still lived here: he was now a widower, and lived alone with one domestic servant.
1891
Christopher Ridley (77), no longer listed with any occupation, still lived here with one servant. He died here at the age of 81 in September 1894.
1901
John Cox (39), a college servant, lived here with his wife Letitia (39), who was a lodging-house keeper, and his children Jessie (12), Elsie (11), Ethel (7), and Ida (3). They had one general servant.
1911
The household was away, and only a servant was in residence.
1921
John Arthur Ruskin Monro (57), the Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford (who described himself in the census as the Director of Education at there),lived here with his wife Margaret (44) and their five children, plus three servants.
1939 Register
Mrs Margaret Mitford is listed here with a child and Marianne Von-Kahler, plus a servant
Occupants of 12 Holywell Street listed in directories etc. |
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1758 |
Mr Luock |
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1772 |
Mr Reynolds |
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1839–1841 |
Thomas Hawkins |
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1841–1894 |
Christopher Ridley, Glover, later a clerk and then retired Also Edward Bartlett (Accountant in 1852 and lodging house keeper by 1861) |
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1896–1901 |
John Edward Cox |
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1905 |
No listing |
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1914 |
Guy Dickens, M.A. |
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1916 |
Keith Grahame Feiling, M.A. |
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1921 |
Arthur Munro |
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1926 |
Revd Cyril Carter, R.M.A. |
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1927–1933 |
Rev. Canon Frank Russell Barry |
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1935–1938 |
Mrs Drummond-Hay |
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1940–1945 |
The Vicar of St Mary the Virgin Church |
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1947–1949 |
Henry Victor Dyson Dyson, M.A., B.Litt. (known as Hugo Dyson) |
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1952–1964 |
Guy Edward Farquhar Chilver, M.A., D.Phil. |
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1966–1976 |
O. M. Godwin with R. Smith, Physician & surgeon in 1970–1972 |
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Today |
Merton College annexe |
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