29 Holywell Street dates from the early seventeenth century, with eighteenth-century additions. It is owned by Harris Manchester College and has a gateway to the right of the door which now leads to that college, but presumably used to lead to No. 29A.
It is a Grade II Listed Building (1369378), with the following description:
Nos 29 & 29A (Formerly listed as No 29) SP 5106 NE 6/200 12.1.54. II GV 2.
House. RCHM 202. Early C17 with C18 additions and refronted probably in C18-C19. Three-storeyed, rubble in the cellars and attics in gables. The attic floor is of stone and the rest is covered with a late stucco. The West side is of rubble and at the back on the West is a massive stack with a modern red brick shaft. At the first and second floors is a moulded stone course. The ground floor has a dripmould and a C18 three-light bay window in a reeded wood frame and this bay is carried up through the first and second floors. The doorway has a reeded wood frame with a rectangular fanlight over which, and to the East, of the bay window are, in the first and second floors, a restored two-light stone-framed casement window. In the gable is a three-light stone-framed window with a dripmould.
Interior: Includes a C17 staircase and three contemporary fireplaces.
(The opening to the livery stables between Nos. 29 and 30 on the left is sometimes given the number “29½”, but is dealt with under No. 30 where it more logically belongs.)
On 7 November 1868 Henry Houghton announced his move here in Jackson's Oxford Journal:
PIANOFORTE AND HARMONIUM WAREHOUSE
29, HOLYWELL STREET, OXFORD.
H. HOUGHTON having relinquished a portion of this trade, has REMOVED his Stock of Instruments from High-street to a spacious Saloon, which he has fitted up at 29, HOLYWELL STREET, where, his expenses being considerably reduced, he is enabled to offer PIANOFORTES & HARMONIUMS for SALE or HIRE at a price much lower than that usually charged.
Pianofortes & Harmoniums Tuned & Repaired.
In the early 1860s this house was an extension to the New College School boarding house at No. 28 next door, and had a large garden extending to the back of the University Parks. Then at the beginning of 1865, as this advertisement from Jackson’s Oxford Journal for 7 January that year shows, Mrs Gardner opened a boarding school for young ladies here:
This was the boarding house of New College School until 1864, and then Mrs Gardner’s Boarding School for Young Ladies for a few years from the beginning of 1865.
On 18 January 1868 Henry Houghton announced that he was moving here from larger premises in the High Street and would be selling and hiring pianofortes and harmoniums, and tuning and repairing them
The 1876 OS map shows that this house had greenhouses and a fountain in the back garden.
By 1891 this was a private house.
By the early 1930s this house was owned by Manchester College, which provided higher education to religious nonconformists. This had been founded as the Warrington Academy in 1757 before being refounded in Manchester in 1786 as the Manchester Academy, and after periods in York, Manchester a second time, and London, it finally moved to Oxford in 1893, changing its name to Harris Manchester College in 1996. They named this house Rathmell after Rathmell Academy, the oldest non-conformist seat of learning in the north of England.
The two crests on this house are those of Dr John Henry Felix (at various times Chair of the Board of Regents, member of the Governing Body, and Supernumerary Fellow) and Laurel Blossom (an American poet, member of the Board of Regents and a Foundation Fellow of the college).
29 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
Arthur Elvey (35), an organist, lived here with Ann (35); 15 boy choristers aged between 9 and 14; and two female servants.
1851
Stephen Elvey (45), a Professor of Music, lived here with his wife Louisa (36) and his niece Bertha Purdue (27) and his nephew Stephen Herbert Trous, a student in music. Sixteen choristers from New College were boarding with them in the house, including Stephen Elvey junior (8). They had one housemaid.
1861
William Tuckwell (31), Head master of New College School, lived here with his wife Rosa (30) and daughter Rose (1). Boarding with them were the Mathematics teacher and six of the boys at the school, aged from 9 to 13. They had five female servants. They are described as living in both 28 and 29 Holywell Street.
1871
Henry Houghton (30), a pianoforte dealer, lived here with his wife Ella (22). They had one elderly servant.
1881
Henry Houghton (40), now a widower, was still a pianoforte dealer living here with his nine-year-old twin daughters Ella and Mabel, plus his housekeeper.
1891
Edmund Ffoulkes (72), the Vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, lived here with his wife Anne (60) and their children Charles (22), who was an artist painter, and Sophia (21). They had three servants (a cook, parlourmaid, and housemaid).
1901
Frederick Armitage (73), a clergyman of the Church of England, lived here with his wife Katherine (66) and his unmarried daughter Diana (31). They had two servants (a cook and a housemaid).
1911
The house was occupied by a housemaid and parlourmaid.
1921
The Revd Alexander James Carlyle (59), Chaplain and Lecturer of University and Lincoln Colleges, lived here with his wife Rebecca (59) and hi daughter Margaret (24), who was secretary to the Reader in Egyptology at 11 Norham Gardens, and their cook and parlourmaid. A student was living in the house as a separate household.
1939 Register
The Principal of Manchester College, Robert Nichol Cross, was listed as living here with his wife Nellie.
Occupants of 29 Holywell Street listed in directories etc. |
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29 |
29A |
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1772 |
Mr Harris |
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1830–1864 |
New College School Boarding HouseGeorge Cox (1830) Stephen Elvey, D.M., Teacher of music (1839–1852) Revd William Tuckwell,
Master of the School in 1861 |
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1865-1866 |
Mrs Gardner’s Boarding School for Young Ladies (JOJ, January 1865) John Gardner (listed simply as the occupant in 1866 directory) |
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1868–1889 |
Henry Houghton (to 1889+) |
F. W. Spurling, |
Thomas Lucas (1885) |
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A. W. Wood |
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Duey [sic] Glanville, widow of Robert Staines Glanville |
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1891–1896 |
Edmund Ffoulkes, the Vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, to 1894 |
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1899–1901 |
Revd Frederick Armitage, M.A. |
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1905 |
Mrs Inge Fred Aplin, horse dealer, listed between Nos. 29 & 30 |
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1914–1930 |
Revd Alexander James Carlyle |
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1935–1938 |
Revd John Henry Weatherall |
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1939–1949 |
Revd R. Nicol Cross, M.A., Principal & Bursar, Manchester College |
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1951 |
Planning application 51/01924/A_H. Converted into three flats |
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1952–1956 |
Misses Carlyle
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Revd Sidney Spencer, M.A., |
1956–1966 |
Revd Lancelot Garrad at 29A |
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1967 |
M. Hester at 29A |
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1970 |
No listing |
J. McRae Duff at 29A |
1972–1976 |
M. Hester at 29A |
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Today |
Part of Harris Manchester College |
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