STREETS ITEM

Woodstock Road

The eastern boundary of the WMRA area.

Within Walton Manor are only the western (odd numbered) houses on the Woodstock Road; from the wall surrounding the Radcliffe Observatory and Green Templeton College up to Farndon Road.

Numbers 45-111 and Belsyre Court fall within the Walton Manor Conservation Area. Numbers 113-129 including the late twentieth century blocks of apartments at Butler Court and Stevens Close are within the North Oxford Victorian Suburb Conservation Area, as are most of the buildings on the eastern side of Woodstock Road- St Anne’s College, St Anthony’s College, SS Philip and James Church and its vicarage, many of which are listed buildings.

Woodstock Road itself is an ancient route northward from the City of Oxford- along with the Banbury Road it must have been one of the driest routes in and out of the mediaeval city and avoided the toll bridges eastwards at Magdalen Bridge (Pettypont), southwards at Folly Bridge (Grandpont) and westwards over Osney Bridge and the Botley Causeway although it would have been necessary to cross the Thames or Evenlode to go west to Worcester, or the Cherwell to go east towards London.

The history of the Woodstock Road tells the story of the city of Oxford’s development, in microcosm, and of the creation of North Oxford as a suburb.

The area to the north of the city starts to appear in maps of the city from 1769 and its northward expansion becomes visible in the 1832 Ordnance Survey map (with a few black blobs for buildings). St John’s Enclosure Award maps of the same year show a mix of cultivated land and some houses. Hoggar’s more detailed map of the City dated 1850 shows development up to Leckford Road with fields beyond. The Ordnance Survey 6 inches to the mile maps of 1878 (based on survey in 1876) show development as far north as St Margaret’s Road (then called Rackham’s Lane).

In the Tudor period provision was made for maintenance of the roads in and out of Oxford by the Oxford Mileways Act 1567 so that surrounding parishes had to contribute to the cost of maintaining the first mile from the City gates, in this case NorthGate. If anyone can work out where the Woodstock Road “milestone” is or was, please let us know!

By 1719 the Woodstock Road became part of the long-distance turnpike route from London via Stokenchurch. The distance milestones for the turnpike are still visible outside 12 Woodstock Road (opposite St Aloysius Roman Catholic church), marking 55 miles from London, no 243 (just north of Moreton Road-56 miles, and 1 mile from Oxford) and no 385 (south of First Turn-57 miles from London and 2 miles from Oxford). Responsibility for the part of Woodstock Road nearest to Oxford, along with the city streets, was taken over in 1771 by the Oxford Paving Commissioners- an early example of “town and gown” cooperating for mutual benefit. The green fields to the north of the city were now seen as part of it, with the Radcliffe Infirmary opening in 1770 and the Radcliffe Observatory being in use from 1773, both on land provided by St John’s College and the Duke of Marlborough. At this stage, this part of Woodstock Road was known as St Giles Road West, with Banbury Road known as St Giles Road East. These names lingered on maps til the 1870s.

It is likely that at this time the only building on Woodstock Road north of the Observatory (apart from “Observer’s House”, previously known as Osler House after the eminent physician Sir William Osler and now part of Green Templeton College along with the Observatory) was the Horse and Jockey inn. Development of housing northward from the Observatory started in the 1820s as will be described later.

As Oxford developed as a commercial centre following the arrival of the Oxford Canal (1790) and the railway (1850s), with the increasing population and demand for housing, and particularly the cholera epidemics of the 1850s, more powers were needed. The Paving Commissioners were superseded in 1865 by the Oxford Local Board of Health which, with typical Victorian energy, played an extremely important role in enabling the infrastructure of the growing city. For example, it initiated the widening and surfacing of Woodstock Road, re-numbering, the installation of pavements, surface water drainage and streetlighting, moving northwards as North Oxford was developed. It also imposed some building standards and monitored new developments although this did not amount to a town planning system as we know it today. When Oxford became a fully-fledged County Borough in 1889, the City Council absorbed the powers of the Local Board.

With the growth of motor traffic, and the creation of a network of trunk roads, Woodstock Road became part of the route from Reading to Birmingham via Oxford and Chipping Norton as the A42 in 1923 and then of the A34 long distance route from Southampton through Oxford to Birmingham via Woodstock and on to Manchester in 1935.

Post-war, when the volumes of traffic through Oxford became unmanageable, the new western bypass, opened in 1962, became the A34 and the Woodstock Road was downgraded to its present status as the A4144.

Turning to development beside the road northwards from the Observatory: it is not surprising that the first housing spread up Woodstock Road rather than west towards the canal as it was obviously convenient for those working at either the Infirmary or the Observatory, and for access by carriage into the city. The area to the west was then occupied as kitchen gardens-“plantations”- with tracks rather than roads.

By the time of St John’s survey for Enclosure Award purposes in 1832, the brick-faced terrace of six houses at nos. 45-55 Woodstock Road was complete: the allottee was William Quarterman who had several other plots nearby (as tenant). They are visible, although not in detail, on the 1832 Ordnance Survey map and shown in more detail on the 1850 Hoggar map. On the 1832 map, there was no Observatory Street; by 1850 there was.

The eastern side of Woodstock Road was not developed until later, notably with the foundation of the (Anglican) Convent of the Sisters of Mercy by the redoubtable Sister Marian Hughes at nos.60-62 Woodstock Road in 1864-1868, on land acquired from St John’s. Those buildings are now part of St Anthony’s College, just to the north of Bevington Road.

The houses at nos.45-55 are listed by Historic England, Grade II, designated in 1954. The architect and builder are not identified. The houses are set back from the roadway, with elegant front gardens and a low brick wall, no doubt originally to distance the houses from the noise and mud of the road. This building line was continued as development spread northward. The 1878 Ordnance Survey map refers to this group as “St John’s Terrace”.

According to Kelly’s Directory for 1924, no 47 was occupied by John R. Earle, a surgeon and no 51 was occupied by Wilfred Toll, a masseur (probably what we would now call a physiotherapist). The other houses appear to have been occupied by private individuals. These houses are now student accommodation.

Moving north across Observatory Street, the large mixed-use block known as Belsyre Court provides quite a contrast. The site had previously been earmarked by St John’s for a theatre. The original design by JC Leeds was rejected, and the final block was designed by Ernest R. Barrow and completed in 1936. This was the first mansion block in Oxford and is also listed Grade II (designated in 2008). It consists of forty four apartments around a courtyard facing Observatory Street, with a row of six shops under a Tuscan colonnade facing Woodstock Road and offices in between, accessed from a side entrance. The offices have recently been refurbished by St Johns. An Inland Revenue office occupied part of the building from 1936 until the early 1990s. The architectural style is described by Historic England as “Jacobethan”.

Prior to Belsyre Court, there was a row of shops here with housing behind, visible on the 1850 map but not the 1832 enclosure survey. The 1878 Ordnance Survey map shows the Plume of Feathers pub (no.80 Observatory Street) behind and the St John’s Brewery in between. The shops appear from that map to have been called South Parade (which explains why North Parade is so called).

According to Kelly’s Directory for 1924, the shops were:

Nos.57/59 Miss Ada Dennison, refreshment rooms

Nos.61/63 Richard Anniss & Son, automobile engineers

No.65 Allen Organ, boot maker

No.67 Misses Bertha and Dorothy Day, fruiterers.

Next, across St Bernard’s Road, lies the former Horse and Jockey (no.69 Woodstock Road), which was probably the earliest building on this stretch of Woodstock Road. The original inn gave its name to Horse and Jockey Lane, the former name of St Bernard’s Road, which led to Walton Well and therefore to Port Meadow. The inn was for many years the headquarters of the Stewards of Oxford Races, which were held on Port Meadow. The pub had a bowling alley, and stabling behind. The 1878 Ordnance Survey map and a May 1877 photo of the old building show a “layby” in front so that coaches could halt, with a row of trees to separate that space from the road.

The Horse and Jockey dates to earlier than 1795 when the owner made a claim against the Paving Commissioners for compensation when they extracted gravel from behind the inn, presumably to repair the road. It was described on the 1832 Enclosure survey as an “old enclosure”, held by a Sarah Chandler. The Bodleian hold a copy of a rather dashing painting of about 1820 by J.Westell of The Worcester and London Royal Mail passing the Horse and Jockey and the Radcliffe Infirmary (which incidentally suggests that nos.45-55 had not then been built).

The racing on Port Meadow ceased after 1878 following a row between the race organisers and the commoners of Wolvercote. The old inn was demolished and rebuilt in Victorian brick as a pub in 1880. The landlord in 1924 was recorded by Kelly’s as John Busby Bernard (or possibly Bernard John Busby!).

The Horse and Jockey closed in 2002 after falling takings and neighbour complaints. The buildings, including the former storage buildings behind, were converted to apartments, with some new buildings replacing the stables. The rather useful public toilet here was closed by the Council but is still visible.

A previous pub manager recalled that the Horse and Jockey was operated by Whitbread and the basement was refurbished as a “Tut N Shive” ale house in early 1994. (Tut and Shive are names for parts of a beer barrel). He also recalls that it was frequented by Bill Clinton (who lived in Leckford Road) in his student days. This building is not listed.

Adjoining the Horse and Jockey is the group of buildings at nos.71-79 Woodstock Road. For many years this row of buildings traded as Belsyre Garage, most recently a specialist Saab repairer. The property is now vacant and sold subject to contract (as at November 2023).

These buildings are listed by Historic England as Grade II, designated in 1954. This group of houses is apparent on the 1850 Hoggar map and is labelled on the 1878 Ordnance Survey map as “Blenheim Place”. Nos. 71-77 do not appear in the 1924 Kelly’s Directory so were presumably vacant at that time. No.79 was occupied by a Miss Dring. The use had presumably been as stables at some stage. The 1878 Ordnance Survey map shows a saw pit in the rear yard. The stucco finish is not usual in North Oxford and indicates a construction date of the 1840s or earlier.

Number 79A was later added at the northern end of the terrace, in the same style and finish. This house is not part of the listing and has the date it was completed, 1991, above the front door to record its age.

By contrast, nos.81/81A Woodstock Road, a standalone building tucked behind no.79A, is set well back from the road behind a gate. It is not listed. It appears on the 1850 Hoggar map. On the 1878 Ordnance Survey map (when of course no.79A had not been built) it is shown secluded behind trees and hemmed in by glasshouses. In the 1924 Kelly’s Directory, no.81 was a single house occupied by Thomas Lamberd, a cab proprietor.

Numbers 83/85 and 87/89 are later Victorian pairs of houses in the typical North Oxford four storey/buff brick style. Nos 83/85 are now student accommodation for St Anthony’s College across the road. On the 1878 Ordnance Survey map this group of houses was labelled “Blenheim Terrace”. In the 1924 Directory, the occupiers are listed as:

No.83 Misses Robertson

No.85 William Bayliss

No. 87 Mrs Cumberland Woodruff

No.89 Not specified.

Crossing Plantation Road, no.91 Woodstock Road is another standalone house, although linked to no. 93. It was designated Grade II in 1972.

Numbers 93-97 were also listed Grade II in 1972.

In the 1924 Kelly’s Directory, no. 91 was occupied by Julius Ottaway Sankey, a surgeon; no.93 by Madame H. Thalen, a masseuse; no.95 by Mark Sopote, a private tutor, and no.97 by Thomas S Whiting, a masseur.

These houses pre-date 1850 as they are visible on the Hoggar map. The houses further north are not.

The next set of houses, nos.99 to 111, revert to the later Victorian tall/brick style. One can start to see the more controlling influence of St John’s on the timing and design of the houses from this point onwards. Most plots were sold off by St Johns to a builder who would construct the house or houses and then either take the lease themselves or arrange for the lease to be granted to either an investor, who would let it out for rent, or an owner/occupier. St John’s records are not entirely complete but the Gazetteer in Tanis Hinchcliffe’s “North Oxford” provides an excellent source for the key dates and names where available. In some cases the architect is known, but not all.

Numbers 99 and 101 were built in 1865 by Josiah Watson, a local builder/contractor, and he was the first leaseholder. In 1924, no.99 was occupied by Richard Hanitsch, Ph. D (a German entomologist; previously Curator and then Director of the Raffles Museum in Singapore).

Numbers 103 and 105, also built in 1865, were both first leased to John Lovis, a commercial traveller. By 1924, no.103 was occupied by Mrs Blanche Hill, a nurse, and also by Mr Frank Aubrey Wyllie, a dentist. No.105 was not listed and presumably vacant.

Numbers 107, 109 and 111 were built in 1866. The first leaseholder of no.107 (known as Thornleigh) was William Lucy, described as an iron founder- the same Lucy whose name adorned the company behind the Eagle Works in Walton Well Road. He died of tuberculosis in 1873, aged only 35. His wife Alice, nee Jennings, survived him by 64 years, dying at no.107 in 1937 aged 96. They are both buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery-by the former Eagle Works- together with 3 of their children who died as infants. Their daughter Catherine Susanna Lucy (born 1869) also lived at no.107 until she married a Mr Pollard in 1894 (at SS Philip and James, of course) and moved to Putney. Her diaries for 1884-1894 are in the Oxfordshire History Centre. Her husband later became a Professor of English History at the University of London. She died at Milford-on-Sea in 1934.Her younger sister Edith (born 1871/2) married Abel Greenidge, a Fellow of Hertford College, also at SS Philip and James, in 1895. Her husband died in 1905 and she died in 1906 leaving her mother Alice to bring up their two sons John (then aged 11) and Terence (then aged 9) at no.107, with the help of three servants. The 1924 Directory shows Mrs Lucy as the occupier.

The first leaseholder of no.109 was Catherine Lucy, William’s widowed stepmother. She married again in 1868 to a Mr Henry Boswell. She probably never lived at no.109 as Mr Boswell’s house was in Park Place. She died in 1888. By 1924, the occupier was Frank John Robertshaw Harris.

Number 111, a particularly large house named as Earls Croome (after a small village in Worcestershire) on the 1878 Ordnance Survey map, was designed by William Wilkinson, St John’s favourite architect, and designer of the Randolph Hotel, St Edward’s School and many other houses in North Oxford.

The first leaseholder of no.111 was Robert Hills, a successful photographer- originally a hairdresser- whose business at 16 Cornmarket Street called Hills and Saunders specialised in portrait photographs, including the future Edward VII as an undergraduate. He received a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria in 1867. He may have bought this house as an investment rather than for his own use. According to the 1861 census he and his family lived above the shop in Cornmarket Street. He also bought 5 houses in Kingston Road in 1872, and another in 1881. The photography business- which had branches in Cambridge, Eton and Winchester as well as Oxford-was absorbed into Gillman and Soame who hold the photographic archives. Robert, his first and second wives, both called Ann, his son Henry James who took over the Oxford business and several children who died as infants are all buried in St Sepulchre’s Cemetery.

This house had a large fountain in the front garden, the frame of which is still visible. The garden also includes a number of specimen trees, and to the rear a very large ash tree which is the only tree in Woodstock Road specifically protected by a Tree Preservation Order.

By 1924, the house at no.111 was occupied by Frederick Gelderd-Somervell, a J.P. who had been Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1918-19.

Number 107 is now student accommodation for St Anthony’s College and no. 111 is divided into flats for student accommodation for St John’s.

Leckford Road is the tidemark, for the side roads to the west, between the rather “ad hoc” development of (originally) working class dwellings along roads laid out in the 1830s and 1840s – which now comprise the Walton Manor Conservation Area- and the more planned development to the north authorised by St John’s forming part of the North Oxford Victorian Suburb, along roads laid out in the 1860s and 1870s (and, beyond Kingston Road towards the canal, the 1880s).

The large houses on Woodstock Road north of Leckford Road have mostly been demolished and replaced by blocks of flats since the 1960s: Butler Close (blocks of private flats, accessed from Leckford Road, replacing nos.113-119 Woodstock Road), Stevens Close (Jesus College accommodation, replacing nos.125-131 Leckford Road) and, on the north side of Farndon Road, Farndon Court (Reuben College accommodation) at nos.133-135 Woodstock Road. On the 1878 Ordnance Survey map, the large houses at nos.113, 115 and 117 were called Newton Lodge (no.113), Burnham House (no.115) and Albert Villa (no.117).

Number 113, Newton Lodge, was also designed by William Wilkinson, in 1863, for the wine merchant Edwin Butler. By 1924, no.113 was occupied by Arthur Hyde Watson.

Number 115 was built in 1869 and the first leaseholder was Titus Wray, a grocer. By 1924, it was occupied by St Faith’s Secondary School for Girls (in connection with the Convent of the Sisters of Mercy, on the other side of Woodstock Road). The school moved here in 1920, and continued until 1965.

Number 117 was built in 1865 and the first leaseholder was Henry Yule, Esquire. The occupier in 1924 was John Platford Raby.

Number 119 was built in 1863 and the first leaseholder was Robert Hawkins, a solicitor. The occupier in 1924 was not identified in the Directory.

Numbers 121-123 have not been demolished. These were actually the first building leases granted by the College, in October 1856, after it had obtained a Private Act of Parliament a year earlier enabling it to grant 99 year leases rather than the previous maximum of 40 years which was not sufficient to enable developers to obtain funding. The original first lessee of both was John Dyne who was not able to finish the job. The houses were finished by a local builder, Thomas Winterbourne. The first occupiers were Rev Henry Renton (no.123) in 1859 and Louisa Pryor (no.121) in 1861. This property is not listed. On the 1878 Ordnance Survey map, the houses are labelled Southbourne and Northbourne.

This large Italianate villa was intended to be the first part of a scheme for the whole of St John’s Walton Manor Estate promoted by Samuel Lipscomb Seckham, who was also developing Park Town.

Seckham’s ambitious scheme failed and the area from Leckford Road northwards was developed by a variety of developers and builders, with William Wilkinson having a key role in approving designs both in Walton Manor and in the Norham Manor estate east of Banbury Road until he retired in 1886.

By 1924, no.121 was occupied by a Mrs Wallis and no.123 was occupied by Edwin Morton, M.D. etc, a physician and medical officer of health for North Oxford.

Numbers 125 and 127 were built in 1868 and designed by Edward G. Bruton, an architect, who took the lease of no.125 himself, the first leaseholder of no.127 being Alexander Hurford, a gentleman. Numbers 129 and 131 were built in 1869 to designs by John Galpin who was secretary and surveyor to the Oxford Building and Investment Company. The first leaseholder of no.129 was John Dover, a builder, and of no.131 Philip Tyrwhitt, a Commander in the Royal Navy.

Since then, Jesus College has taken over nos.121-123 as student accommodation. The south wings of no.121 have been demolished (hence the building looks rather unbalanced) and the house converted into eight flats. Number 123 has been converted into four flats.

Jesus College has also built Stevens Close as purpose-built student accommodation, replacing earlier accommodation blocks which had previously in turn replaced two pairs of semi-detached Victorian villas labelled on the 1878 Ordnance Survey map as Wychbourne (no.125), Bardwell Villa (no.127), and Scotter (no.131). Number 129 was not labelled, and had probably not been sold, and therefore named, by the time of the Ordnance Survey’s survey in 1876.

The occupiers in 1924 were:

No.125 Henry Lewis

No.127 Miss Creed

No.129 Mrs Wells

No.131 Mrs Warington.

Farndon Close at nos.133-135 Woodstock Road, north of Farndon Road, was developed in around 1969 by the YWCA and then acquired by Catalyst Housing as women-only flats. It was sold to the University in 2018 and is now used by Reuben College as ninety-six graduate rooms. That building replaced two pairs of Victorian semi-detached villas numbered 133, 135,137 and 139 (labelled Surreycote, Riversdale and Allendale Villas on the 1878 Ordnance Survey map) built by Symm in 1870/1871 and 1884. As the names perhaps indicate, these respectable suburban homes were on a more domestic scale than the very large detached villa in extensive grounds across Woodstock Road called “The Shrubbery” and built for Thomas Mallam, a local auctioneer, in the 1840s (nicknamed “Quidville” at the time). That is numbered 72 Woodstock Road and is now the Principal’s lodgings for St Hugh’s College.

As indicated earlier, the development of housing northward along the western side of Woodstock Road over the period from around 1840 to around 1880 epitomised the growth of the suburbs of Walton Manor to the west and North Oxford to the east which followed once the side streets had been laid out. The occupiers, both as new and in 1924 appear to be solidly middle-class (although it is possible some were used as boarding houses for students). The only commercial uses were the shops at South Parade, then Belsyre Court. The houses on Woodstock Road south of Leckford Road are a mixture of classic mid Victorian tall houses and a rather random collection of earlier styles, with the intrusion of the eclectic 1930s Belsyre Court and shops; many of the houses north of Leckford Road have been demolished and replaced by blocks of student or private accommodation. The creation of the Walton Manor Conservation Area and the expansion of the North Oxford Victorian Suburb Conservation Area in 1975 to include Woodstock Road have preserved the remaining original houses although many are used for student accommodation rather than for their original purpose as family houses. The houses generally are grander than those to the west.

Posted - January 18, 2024