24 Holywell Street dates from the seventeenth century, and has an eighteenth-century roughcast rubble front. It is owned by Harris Manchester College. Brazier's Yard used to run along the east side of this house, but this disappeared when Mansfield Road was created.
It is a Grade II Listed Building (1087060), with the following description:
No 24 SP 5106 NE 6/206 12.1.54. II GV 2.
House. RCHM 205. Cl7 with a C18 three-storeyed roughcast rubble front with a moulded eaves cornice, parapet and brick stacks. The ground floor has a segmental bay shop front with a modern tiled pent roof over it. The first and second floors have each a three-sided wood bay window with casements.
No, 24was occupied by Mr Piddington in 1772, and he is probably the Richard Piddington who had a shop here when it was advertised for sale on 19 September 1795. It is still a shop today.
In 2012 Harris Manchester College was granted permission to demolish the rear section of this building and erect a three-storey student accommodation block with clock tower (12/01792/LBC), as shown below. Three windows were also inserted into the east side of this house.
24 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
Thomas Whitlock (40), a grocer, lived here with Ann (30), Emily (10), and Laura (6). They had one lodger.
1851
William Pratley (58), a college servant, lived here with his wife Mary (43) and his children Elizabeth (17), William (14), Mary (12), Kate (10), Sarah (7), Henry (5), and Louisa (1), and a lodger.
1861
Henry Godfrey (26), a college servant, lived here with his wife Mary Ann (21) and his daughter Florence (1).
1871
Miss Mary Eliza Merritt (38), a schoolmistress, lived here with her brother Joseph Merritt (32), who was a tailor and her niece Alice Merritt (15). They had one lodger
1881
Miss Mary Eliza Merritt (48), now described as a stationer and teacher of music, lived here with her two nieces Alice Merritt (25), who was a stationer’s assistant, and Edith (13) who was still at school. She also had a retired college bedmaker as her lodger.
1891
Miss Mary Eliza Merritt (58) was still a stationer here, and her niece Alice Merritt (35) continued to assist her in the business.
1901
Mary E. Merritt (68) still lived here, running a stationer and bookseller’s shop, helped by her niece Alice (45), who is described as a shop assistant.
1911
Mary Eliza Merritt (79) and her niece Alice (55) were still stationers here.
1921
Francis Percival Hall (37), a civilian clerk at the Royal Army Ordnance Corps at Didcot, lived here with his wife Nellie (33), who was a dressmaker, and their son Max.
1939 Register
No one was listed as living here.
Occupants of 24 Holywell Street listed in directories etc. |
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1772 |
Mr Piddington |
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1830–1846 |
Thomas Whitlock or Whitelock |
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1851–1852 |
William Pratley |
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1861 |
Henry Godfrey |
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1866 |
Thomas O. James, tobacconist |
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1871–1914 |
Miss Mary Eliza Merritt |
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1926–1927 |
Holywell Cash Bookshop |
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1928–1930 |
B. H. Blackwell Ltd |
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1933–1936 |
Ronald M. Osborne,
Confectioner |
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1940–1967 |
Maes & Co, Confectioners + + H. B. D. Duke-Woolley, architect, in 1938 |
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1970–1976 |
No listing |
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1987 |
Permission granted to Harris Manchester College |
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Today |
Alternative Tuck Shop |
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