51: The Rose Tea Shop
No. 51 is second from the right of a long, mock-Tudor range (see picture below) rebuilt by Magdalen College in 1901.
The group is jointly Grade II listed (ref. 1485/729). It is built of brick covered with rough-cast, and has Brize Norton stone roof tiles. The architect was E. P. Warren and the builder Messrs Benfield & Loxley.
There is an archway in the middle leading to the St Edmund Hall buildings behind.
As four large shops fronts replaced six smaller old ones, the numbers 53 and 54 High Street disappeared for ever in the process.
"Dee’s Passage" used to run between the former Nos. 51 and 52 High Street, referring to the landlord of the Lighthorseman pub from 1832 to 1871. The passage and the pub disappeared when this row was rebuilt. John Durran, the ironmonger next door to the pub in 1876, moved up to brand new premises in Rosslyn Villa in Windmill Road, Headington in the late 1880s.
At the time of the 1881 census, four families lived in Light Horse Yard behind. The present Nos. 50 and 51 have a passage running between them, leading to college accommodation. This was the "splendid entrance" to the Masonic Hall; the entrance to the Light Horse Yard was once almost at this exact spot. A directory of 1861 states "Black Horse Court" intersects between the former No. 51 and 52, suggesting that the Black Horse could have been another name for the Lighthorseman.
| Occupiers of the
site of 51 High Street Grey background = former buildings on this site, now demolished In 1901 this range of buildings was rebuilt, with six shops becoming just four, so it is not possible to correlate the premises in the nineteenth century with those in the twentieth. It is assumed here that the present No. 51 occupies the old No. 52, plus part of the old No. 53 |
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| Date | Former 52 High Street |
Part
of the former 53 High Street |
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| 1832–1899 | Lighthorseman Landlords: James Dee (1832–71) George Talbot (1872–6) George Lineham (1880) Thomas Thornton (1882–7) John Samuel Ward (1889–99) |
John
Durran Ironmonger, smith, & bell-hanger (1866–1880) Thomas Fenemore Ironmonger (1881–1899) |
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| Present 51 High Street | |||
| 1904–1906 | Agnos Tobacco Co. (1904
only) then Angelo Lamprides Tobacco manufacturer University lodging house (Mrs Ellen Davis) |
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| 1907–1952 | James Rogers Craftsman in wood later James Rogers & Sons Ltd, Sculptors (later described as Heraldic artists & cabinet makers) Upstairs: Magdalen College lodgings |
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| 1954- 1975 | Roland B. Bennett Jeweller |
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| 1976 | Cherwell Antiques | ||
| Early 1980s | Music Market | ||
| By 1985–present | The Rose (formerly
Rosie Lee) Tea shop |
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