Harberton Mead, Pullens Lane

History of Pullen’s Lane: Harberton Mead

It was only in the early 1930s that Harberton Mead was fully developed, and initially it was not considered to be a road in its own right, but a continuation of Pullen’s Lane.

In 1909 there were just three large houses in what is now known as Harberton Mead. To the west was Harberton House, occupied by Mrs Eales’ and to the east were St Catherine’s (occupied by Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge, Fellow of Balliol College) and Winshields, occupied by Francis John Haverfield, Camden Professor of Ancient History

Kelly’s Directory 1935

Pullen’s Lane

Harberton Mead: South side

Barna Brow: Leonard Percy Lord
Ridgeway: Sir Alan William Pim, K.C.I.E., K.B.E., C.S.I
Grensward: James Leslie Brierly, M.A., D.C.L., J.P.,
Fellow of All Souls & Chichele Professor of International Law and Diplomacy
Harberton House: Thomas Stuart-Menteath
Harberton House lodge: William Cadman
Julianstow: Thomas F. Hobson, M.A., F.S.A., J.P. and Miss M.G. HOBSON
The Cottage: Horace Smith, gardener to T. F. Hobson esq.

Harberton Mead: North side

St Catherine’s: Eustace Alex A. Joseph
Wester Ogil: Percy Comyn Lyon, C.S.I.
Thornhill: Edward S. Fry
Rusinurbe: Capt. Ernest K. Arbuthnot, D.S.O., R.N. (retired)

Most of the development of Harberton Mead took place in the period between the publication of the 1921 and 1939 Ordnance Survey maps that are shown below.

1921

Harberton Mead in 1921

1939

Harberton Mead in 1939

In 1942 the Air Ministry Code and Cipher School (part of the Oxford Clerk and Dispatch School) was at Harberton House in Harberton Mead.

The western part of Harberton Mead leading down to the Marston Road was originally known as Harberton Road.

The road’s old house names and modern numbering system are as follows:

	Kelly’s Directory 1954	Kelly’s Directory 1956	Today
S O U T H	Barna Brow	1	1
	Ridgway	3	3
	White House	5	5
	Silver How (formery Grensward)	7	7
	Harberton House: Dorset House School of Occupational Therapy (hostel)	11: Dorset House School of Occupational Therapy (hostel)	Destroyed by fire in 1972 and replaced by Rolfe Place
	Gateways	15	15
N O R T H	–	2	2: Convent of the Assumption
	Heronhill (formerly Western Ogil)	4	4
	Thornhill	6	6
	St Catherine’s	8	9
	Julianstow Cottage	10	10
	Julianstow (three flats)	12 (three flats)	12
	Milham Ford School for Girls, Harberton Road	Milham Ford School for Girls, Harberton Road	Oxford Brookes University School of Health & Social Care
	1 Harberton Road	1 Harberton Road	1 Milham Ford Cottages
	2 Harberton Road	2 Harberton Road	2 Milham Ford Cottages