85: Antiques on High
No. 85 is a timber-framed house of the seventeenth or eighteenth century that was enlarged in the early nineteenth century. It is owned by University College, and there is student accommodation upstairs. It is a Grade II listed building (ref. 1485/417).
This site was originally owned by The Queen’s College, and the Saracen’s Head stood here by 1442.
In 1772 a survey of every house in the city was taken in consequence of the Mileways Act of 1771. No. 85 was then in the occupation of Mrs Horn, and its frontage measured 7 yards 1 foot 7 inches
During the early part of the nineteenth century the house was occupied by the Hickman father and son, both plumbers. At the time of the 1851 census, Mrs Lucy Hickman, a widow of 47 described as a "plumber and glazier", lived here alone with one servant. In Jackson's Oxford Journal of 20 April 1850 she thanked people for help with a fire that destroyed the workshop behind this building, and threatened her home and shop.
In 1861 the building was occupied by George Webb, a gun maker, and his family.
In 1881, Richard Beesley, a lodging house keeper, lived here with his wife and niece.
This shop was part of the Co-op cafe next door until 1956, when it became a Co-op grocer’s shop. This survived until 1970.
In 1971 the City of Oxford Motor Services moved in, but in 1976 they moved to their present home at No. 83, just next door but one.
In 1984 No. 84 next door became the Frank Cooper shop again, and it took over this shop for its office, museum, and storage premises.
In the early 1970s, a transfer of property between The Queen’s College and University College brought this shop at No. 85 under the same ownership as its neighbours to the east and the upper floors of Nos. 83–85 were made into a single unit, which has been occupied by students of University College since that date.
| Occupiers of 85 High Street | |
| 1839, 1846, 1852 | Charles R. Hickman, Plumber
&c. (1839, 1846) Lucy Hickman, Painter & glazier (1851/2) |
| 1861–1869 | George Webb |
| 1871–1876 | James
Brown Ale & porter merchant |
| 1880–1885 | Mr Beesley |
| 1887–1907 | Mrs
Elizabeth Parker University lodgings |
| 1909–1916 | James
C. Leed Tobacconist and Mrs J. C. Leed, University lodgings |
| 1918–1935 | George
E. Weeks & Co. Bakers |
| 1936–1945 | Russell
Butler, Peto & Marks Auctioneers & estate agents |
| 1949–1954 | Part of Co-op Café at Nos. 83 and 84 |
| 1958–1970 | Co-operative Grocery |
| 1971–1976 | City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd |
| 1984–c.1990 | Frank Cooper Ltd Museum (and at 84) |
| 1998–present | Antiques on High |