28 Cornmarket
The above picture taken in 2009 shows 28 Cornmarket Street (now occupied by Mobile Phones Direct).
This building probably dates from the fifteenth century, and was altered in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. It was restored by Thomas Rayson in 1952, and is Grade II listed.
In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. According to Salter, 28 Cornmarket was then in the occupation of Mr Constable, and had a frontage of 4 yards, 1 ft. and 9 in.
On 20 January 1844 the draper Henry Hatch announced in Jackson’s Oxford Journal that he was moving from 71 High Street to here at 28 Cornmarket Street.
In the Censuses
1841
The draper Henry Hatch (22) is living over the shop with Sarah Hatch (2) and Henry Hatch (1). A miller and one female servant also live with them.
1851
Nicholas Sweetman (37), a linen draper born in Reading, is living over the shop with his wife Mary Ann (26) and one assistant and one apprentice.
1861
Three young drapers’ assistants are living over the shop: John Law (18), Ellen Percy (20), and Sarah Rose (17). They have one female house servant, aged 23.
1881
Edwin J. Harvey (30), described as a tea dealer employing two hands, is living over the shop with his wife Charlotte (29) and daughter Mary (1). They have one general servant.
Occupants of 28 Cornmarket listed in directories etc. |
||
1839 |
Henry Hatch, Draper & silk merchant |
|
1846 |
Miss A. Dobney, Linen draper |
|
1852 |
Sweetman and Co. Draper &c and Straw hat warehouse |
|
1867 |
William John Biggs, Draper, mercer, & hosier |
|
1872 |
Lewis Solomon,Jeweller & tobacconist, and fancy bazaar |
|
1880–1914 |
Harvey Brothers, Tea and coffee dealers |
|
1921 |
Curry’s Cycle Co Ltd |
|
1928–1932 |
Penrose & Palmer, Photographers |
|
1935–1976 |
Speedwell Cleaning Co., Dyers & cleaners |
|
By 2008–2010 |
Mobile Phones Direct |
|
2011 |
Chequepoint |
|
Old pictures on other websites and in books
For a photograph of Harvey & Co’s shop in 1904 and an advertisement of 1888, see Michael L. Turner and David Vaisey, Oxford Shops and Shopping, p. 31, photographs 65 and 66.