The Development of Domestic Architecture in Oxford1

W. A. Pantin

doi:10.1017/S0003581500016796

The Development of Domestic Architecture in Oxford1

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 January 2012

W. A. Pantin

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The development of domestic architecture in Oxford during the late medieval and sub-medieval periods, that is to say, from the fourteenth century to the eighteenth century, will be discussed in the following paper, with a double purpose in view. The first purpose is to report on a certain amount of research work done on old Oxford houses during the last ten years, in which a good many people have taken part. The second purpose is to sketch a plan of campaign, or to indicate certain lines of investigation and classification, which might, I think, mutatis mutandis, be applied to other towns. We badly need a systematic survey of the old houses in various towns in England, with plans, elevations, sections, and analyses. This is particularly needed at a time when so much is in danger of destruction, and it is a work which one hopes the Society of Antiquaries may encourage.

Type: Research Article
Information: The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 27 , Issue 3-4 , October 1947 , pp. 120 - 150

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003581500016796 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1947

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^{page 120 note 2} Many thanks are due to all those who have helped, either by taking part in the surveying, or by lending plans, drawings, and photographs: in particular, to Mr. P. S. Spokes, F.S.A., Mr. J. N. L. Myres, F.S.A., Mr. E. T. Long, F.S.A., to the members of the Oxford University Archaeological Society, to Oxoniensia, to the Bodleian Library, to the National Buildings Record, to Mr. T. Rayson, F.S.A., Mr. Hubert Worthington, Miss Margaret Duffell, Mr. F. Russell Cox, Mr. H. Towner, Mr. S. H. H. Minn, and the Bursar of St. John's College, Oxford; and to the occupants of the houses concerned.

^{page 120 note 3} The London Survey has already nobly led the way, but on a rather more elaborate scale than one can hope to follow elsewhere. The Inventories of the Historical Monuments Commission are necessarily on a smaller scale, since they cover much larger areas. Perhaps the ideal scale for the purpose I have in mind can be seen in a foreign example: there have already appeared some thirty superb volumes of surveys of the old town houses of Switzerland, taken canton by canton, with numerous plans and photographs:—Das Bürgerhaus in der Schweiz, published by the Schweiz. Ingenieur-und Architectenverein (Orell Fussli Verlag, Zürich).

^{page 121 note 1} Bodleian MS. Don. A. 2–3; Brit. Mus. MS. Add. 36374–6. There is a valuable card-index of views of Oxford in the Bodleian.

^{page 121 note 2} Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities, Chapter i, §§ 8–10.

^{page 121 note 3} H. E. Salter, Medieval Oxford (O.H.S. c, 1936), p. 87.

^{page 121 note 4} Reproduced in Oriel College Records (O.H.S. lxxxv, 1926), and Oxford Balliol Deeds (O.H.S. lxiv, 1913).

^{page 123 note 1} Archaeological Journal, lxxx (1923), 331 and plans.

^{page 123 note 2} A. W. Clapham and W. H. Godfrey, Some Famous Buildings and Their Story, pp. 121 ff.

^{page 123 note 3} Archaeological Journal, lxxxiii (1926), 298 and plans.

^{page 123 note 4} Archaeologia, lxxii (1921–2), 243 ff.; cf. ibid. lxxi (1920–1), 17 ff; lxxiii (1922–3), 1 ff; lxxiv (1923–4), 137 ff., for other London houses,

^{page 123 note 5} Dr. H. E. Salter tells me that the Oxford properties which in Domesday belonged to bishops and nobles, by the year 1279 (Hundred Rolls) had been sold; in some cases they still paid a few pence quitrent, but the barons and bishops had no ownership. No abbots had a town house in Oxford.

^{page 127 note 1} Thus the mouldings on certain beams on the second floor give one the position of the windows.

^{page 130 note 1} Oxoniensia, ii, pl. xxi b.

^{page 130 note 2} Oxoniensia, ii, pl. xx a.

^{page 130 note 3} Oxford University Archives, Inventories, vol. ii (William Clarke, 1599); vol. iii (Richard Duckett, 1634).

^{page 131 note 1} Oxoniensia, ii, pl. xvii b.

^{page 131 note 2} Antony Wood, Life and Times (O.H.S. xix, 1891), i, 204 f.

^{page 132 note 1} Cf. D. F. Slothouwer, Amsterdamsche huizen, 1600–1800.

^{page 132 note 2} I have taken this house (omitting certain recent alterations) as typical of the street.

^{page 134 note 1} M. D. Legge, ‘William of Kingsmill. A Studies … presented to professor M. K. Pope, Fifteenth-century Teacher of French in Oxford’, in pp. 241 ff.

^{page 136 note 1} Oxford City Properties, ed. H. E. Salter (O.H.S. lxxxiii, 1926), pp. 132 ff.; strictly speaking, the name ‘Kemp Hall’ is incorrect.

^{page 136 note 2} Bodleian MS. Top. Oxon. a. 31, no. 5; cf. G. A. Oxon. a. 65, nos. 176–8.

^{page 136 note 3} Oxford University Archives, Inventories, vol. (William Bosvile, 1678).

^{page 139 note 1} Oxford University Archives, Inventories, vol ii: Inventory of Dr. Henry Bust, 1616: he leased Boster Hall in 1614 (Cartulary of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist (O.H.S. lxvi, 1914), i, 168.)

^{page 139 note 2} This cottage is mainly stone-built, but I have included it under this heading rather than the next in order to illustrate the type of plan.

^{page 147 note 1} Oxoniensia, i, 144.

^{page 147 note 2} Oxoniensia, ii, pl. xviii a, d.

^{page 147 note 3} For a study of some German timber-framed buildings see H. Walbe, Das Hessisch-Fränkische Fachwerk (Darmstadt, 1942).

^{page 147 note 4} Cart. of the Hosp. of St. John the Baptist, i, 149 f.

^{page 148 note 1} Kingesmyll' R.

^{page 148 note 2} Whiteleg' R.

^{page 148 note 3} vacuam AR, vetuam B.

^{page 148 note 4} in vico de Cattestrete A.

^{page 148 note 5} Cattestrete A.

^{page 148 note 6} astr' (for australe) A.

^{page 148 note 7} versus A, usque B.

^{page 148 note 8} borialem A.

^{page 148 note 9} solare B.

^{page 148 note 10} solar' A, soluc' B.

^{page 148 note 11} australe AR.

^{page 148 note 12} huiusmodi AR, huius B.

^{page 148 note 13} vij AR.

^{page 148 note 14} gruncelli AR.

^{page 148 note 15} xj AR.

^{page 148 note 16} fines A.

^{page 148 note 17} viij bemes A.

^{page 148 note 18} vij AR.

^{page 148 note 19} A adds: Item faciet ibidem punchions necessar', quorum quodlibet erit latitudinis vj poll' et densitatis iiij poll'. Item laces faciet ibidem latitudinis vj poll' et densitatis iiij poll'.

^{page 148 note 20} vij A.

^{page 148 note 21} reftres necessar' A.

^{page 148 note 22} densitatis—iiij pollic' repeated by mistake in B.

^{page 148 note 23} sideresenes A.

^{page 148 note 24} usque AR, versus B.

^{page 148 note 25} vanellam B, le lane A.

^{page 148 note 26} pincerna A.

^{page 148 note 27} erant B, omit A.

^{page 148 note 28} bene A.

^{page 148 note 29} j staundiswyndowe A.

^{page 148 note 30} Omit B.

^{page 149 note 1} The letters in brackets refer to the plans and sections in fig. 7 above. For Roger Acton's lease of this house see Oxford City Properties, p. 262.

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