Torbrex (later Pullens End), Pullens Lane
Pullens End, as its name implies, stands at the end of Pullens Lane, on the east side where it merges into Jack Straw’s Lane. It is a large red-brick house with an imposing tower set well back from the road in 1.7 acres of grounds. Known as Torbrex until 1930, the house has only had five owners in 165 years.
Left: Extract from 1899 map of Headington, showing Torbrex
The house was built in 1883/4 for Patrick Arkley Henderson (1841–1922), who was then a Fellow of Wadham College, and his initials and those of his wife Ann, together with the date 1883, can be seen in its porch. Henderson was born in Stirling in Scotland and presumably named the house Torbrex after his home area.
The Oxford Chronicle for 11 October 1884 (p. 7f) reports that:
On Headington Hill, to the left of Joe Pullen’s tree, a large villa has been erected for the Rev. J. [sic] Henderson.
Patrick Arkley Henderson had been living at 6 Norham Gardens since 1870, and while there he and his wife Ann Wood had five children baptised at St Giles' Church: Annie Gray (September 1871); Hamilton Frances (December 1872); Robert William (June 1874); John Ogilvy (July 1875). and Lilian Janet (April 1880).
The 1891 census shows Henderson at the age of 50 living in Torbrex with his wife Ann and his 11-year-old daughter Lilian; presumably the other children were away at school. The family had four servants (a ladies-maid, cook, table-maid, and a housemaid, all Scottish-born).
By 1897 Henderson had changed his surname to Wright-Henderson, and in addition to holding the posts of Chaplain and Fellow & Tutor in Divinity, was also Sub-Warden of Wadham College; he was later elected Warden. At the time of the 1901 census the house was left in the charge of the cook and parlourmaid.
In 1905 and 1907 Wright-Henderson appears to have let out the house, as a Major William Herbert Nicol is listed there in Kelly’s Directory); but he is listed there again in 1909 for the last time.
Chichester A. Bell is listed at Torbrex from 1909 to 1920, and A. J. Marriott from 1920 to 1928.
It appears to have been Francis E. Maitland, the owner from 1930, who changed the name of the house from Torbrex to Pullens End. He died in about 1966 and his widow Joan (listed simply as "J. T. Maitland" continued to live there until 1980, letting out the servants' quarters and the first floor of the house (which was closed off from the ground floor by a partition at the top of the grand staircase) to a long line of students. One of those students writes: "It was wonderful, as an impoverished student in the early seventies, to enjoy such splendour. Fully furnished we paid £15 per week … even then Mrs Maitland was seriously concerned that we might be struggling to meet this huge cost!"
The historian James Howard-Johnston and his wife, the novelist Angela Huth, lived at Pullens End from 1980 to 2006.
The Church of England planned to buy the house for £2.5 million for the Bishop of Oxford, but the deal fell through because a covenant prevented offices from being built in its garden, and it is now in private ownership.
- Angela Huth explains how she first tried to sell the house
- "£2.5 million pad fit for a bishop" (Oxford Mail, 20 January 2006)
- "Church to pay £2.5m for bishop’s new house " (Telegraph, 21 January 2006)
View of Pullens End from Pullens Lane