43: Simply Sewing
No. 43 is the right-hand half of this timber-framed building, which dates from the sixteenth or seventeenth century (although the front was modernized in the eighteenth century). It is Grade II listed (ref. 1485/414).
The building is owned by The Queen’s College, and the back has been incorporated into the Queen’s Lane quad behind: this can be glimpsed through the gate between the two shops. Fidler’s Court used to be behind these shops.
In 1696 Thomas Higgs paid tax on 14 windows of this whole house.
Mary Bellamy, a widow of 50 and the bookbinder here, was living over the shop at the time of the 1851 census with her five sons, of whom three were bookbinders and the other two at school. She was still here in 1861, when she is described as a “bookbinder & stationer employing 7 men, 5 women, & 4 boys”.
At the time of the 1881 census, No. 43 was occupied by a bookseller called Charles Bacon, who lived over the shop with his wife and six children.
In 1886, when the landlord of the Link Lodgings was Norman E. Minty (the cabinet maker at Nos. 44 and 45) most of the rooms were converted into business premises, although two sets of rooms continued to be licensed to be let at rents of 28s. and 23s. per week.
| Occupiers of 43 High Street | |
| 1839 | C.B.
Chadwell Cutler |
| 1846 | H.
Alden Bookseller & printer |
| By 1852–1876 | Mrs Maria Bellamy Bookseller & stationer then A. Bellamy Bookbinder (jointly at No. 44) |
| 1880–1890 | Charles
Bacon (later Mrs Bacon) Bookseller, stationer, & printer |
| 1890–1901 | Miss
Beesley Stationer |
| 1902–1913 | Miss
Tregilgas Stationer |
| 1913–1920 | Alfred
F. Briscoe Stationer |
| 1921–1941 | Slatter
& Rose Ltd Stationers |
| 1943–1960 | Edgar
Herbert Kirk Vacuum cleaning contractor later known as Kirk’s Vacuum-cleaning specialists and then Vactric |
| 1962–1966 | Jarman
& Clogg Chartered surveyors, auctioneers, & estate agents |
| 1970–1980+ | J.
P. Stott Caterer |
| By 1998 | A Taste of Ecuador Hat shop |
| 2000–present | Simply Sewing |