58 Holywell Street is probably a seventeenth-century house with a nineteenth-century refronting. It is owned by Merton College.
It is a Grade II Listed Building (1335918), with the following description:
No 58 SP 5106 NE 6/248 14.3.69. II GV 2.
House. A C19 refronting or rebuilding of what was probably a C17 house. Three-storeyed stuccoed brick with cellars, rusticated stone ground floor, a band at the first floor and a moulded eaves cornice. Behind the parapet are visible two gabled attic dormers, one larger than the other. There are brick stacks and three modern sash windows in plain stone reveals with stone cills.
This house was divided into two dwellings, Nos. 58 and 58A, from about 1861 to 1889, and the 1876 Streetmap appears to show a passageway down the middle.
t was then reunited as one property.
John Chessell Buckler, occupant from 1861 to 1889
On the wall of No. 58 is an Oxfordshire Blue Plaque (right) dedicated to the architect John Chessell Buckler (1793–1894), who moved into No. 58 in 1861.
Buckler worked on the University Church, and also designed the 1851 buildings of Magdalen College School. He produced many drawings of Oxford street views (of which the Bodleian Library has 145 that were made between 1810 and 1830).
Buckler remained here until 1889, when he moved to Melville in Cowley St John, and he died at the age of 100 in 1894.
By 1881 a separate part of the house given the number 58A was let to the college bedmaker Hannibal Johns.
The following On 15 April 1882 Jackson's Oxford Journal advertised a forthcoming auction of the lease of Nos. 58 & 58A:
Two substantially Brick-built and Slated PRIVATE DWELLING HOUSES, being Nos. 58 and 58A Holywell Street, Oxford.
The above are in the occupation of J. C. Buckler, Esq., and Mr. Johns, producing together an annual rental of £60, each containing 6 bed rooms, 2 sitting rooms, kitchen, pantry, w.c., and coal cellar, with yard at back.
This property is held by Lease from the Warden and Fellows of Merton College for a term of 40 years, from October 10th, 1854, subject to a reserve rent of 5s. 6d. and a Land Tax of 12s. per annum.
Both Buckler and Johns continued to live here after the sale.
On 8 September 1883 it was reported that Hannibal Johns had won second prize at the Bicester Agricultural Show for Black Spanish, Andalusians, and Leghorns (cock & hen), suggesting that he kept poultry in the back yard of this house. On 16 July 1887 an inquest was held here into the death of his 13-year-old servant girl, Laura Louisa Coppock of Headington Quarry. Johns remained here until at least 1891.
No. 58 became a lodging house after Buckler moved out, and was then a private residence. It is now an annexe of Merton College.
58 Holywell Street in the censuses
1841
Margaret Mallam, a laundress, is listed in the right area, and matches the entry in 1851. She lived here with her older brother John Mallam, who was a shoemaker, and a servant.
1851
Margaret Mallam (48), a laundress, is listed as the head of the household at No. 58, which comes immediately before the residence of the landlady of the Barley Mow pub at 59. She lived here with a different brother, Thomas Mallam (50), who was also a shoemaker, and their lodger.
1861
58: Hannibal Johns (43), a Cornish-born college servant, is listed at No. 58 with his wife Elizabeth (48), his mother-in-law Elizabeth Noon (85), and one female servant.
58A: John Chessell Buckler (67), a widower and architect, is listed in a separate household at No. 58 from Hannibal Johns with his two unmarried daughters Eliza (23) and Esther (17). They had one servant.
1871
58 (recorded as 57): Hannibal Johns (53), a college servant, lived here with his wife Elizabeth (60).
58A (recorded as 57½): John Chessell Buckler (77) was here on his own with one servant.
Then Edward Davies (43), a groom & publican, is also listed as living at No. 58 but this must be wrong: he appears to have been the landlord of the William IV pub at No. 57.
1881
58: John Chessell Buckler (87) is now listed at 58 rather than 58A. He lived with his unmarried daughters Eliza (43) and Esther (37), and they had one female servant.
58A: Hannibal Johns (63), a college bedmaker, is now listed at 58A rather than 58. He lived here with his wife Elizabeth (71) and a general servant.
1891
58: Elizabeth Dix (48), a widowed lodging-house keeper, lived here with her children Elizabeth (20), who was a dressmaker, Edward (17), who was a college servant, and Ellen (14).
She also had a lodger Miss Sarah Anne Hazel (75) who occupied two rooms in the house.58A: Hannibal Johns (73), who was still a college servant, continued to live here with his wife Elizabeth (80) and their 15-year-old servant girl.
1901
Frederick Alder (49), a college servant, lived here with his wife Emma (47), a lodging-house keeper, and his children George (20), a college servant; Mabel (16), a milliner’s apprentice); Dorothy (11), Eric (14), a railway clerk, and Elsie (8), plus his widowed mother-in-law Emma Hudson (77).
1911
Frederick Alder (58), a college servant, lived here with his wife Emma (52) and his daughters Dorothy (21), who was a milliner, and Elsie (18), who was a draper’s cashier.
1921
The university lodging-house keeper and Exeter College bedmaker Walter Edward Dore (47) lived here with his wife Agnes and their children Hilda (13) and Walter (10), and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Stevens (64), plus their servant. Four students were lodging with them.
1939 Register
The lodging-house keepers Walter Edward Dore and his wife Agnes were still listed here with their son and one lodger.
Occupants of 58 Holywell Street listed in directories etc. |
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1772 |
Mrs White |
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1839, 1841, |
No listing, suggesting it was empty during this period |
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1861–1889 |
58: J. C. & C. A. Buckler (John Chessell Buckler, and his son Charles Alban Buckler) 58A: Hannibal Johns, college servant |
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1891–1894 |
Mrs Dix, Lodging house Hannibal Johns was still at 58A at the time of the 1891 census, but died here at the age of 76 in October 1894. His widow Elizabeth died at 13 Leckford Road at the age of 89 on 26 May 1899. |
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1899–1914 |
Frederick Alder |
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1926–1958 |
Walter Edward Dore |
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1960–1966 |
John Piggot |
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1967 |
Donald Roberts |
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1970–1972 |
Alfred P. Cole |
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1973 |
Owain Waite |
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1976 |
No listing |
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Today |
Merton College annexe |
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