The Court, The Croft
List entry for The Court: 1186122
List entry for The Court boundary wall: 1369346
The Court dates from the seventeenth century, and still has original leaded cross-casement windows and end stacks. It was just a three-bedroomed cottage until the late 1920s, when it was remodelled. It was described thus by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, published in 1939:
(272) The Court, house 200 yards S.S.W. of the church, is of two storeys with cellars and attics; the walls are of rubble and the roofs are tiled. It was built probably early in the 17th century but has been extensively modernised. In the hall is an original fireplace with moulded jambs and four-centred arch in a square head. Condition—Good.
This house was originally part of the Manor of Heddington. In the nineteenth century it was owned by the Latimer family of Headington House, then by Charles Tawney of Headington Lodge, and finally by the Wootten-Wootten family of Headington House. All three owners rented it out.
Was the Court formerly a pub?A view of the back of The Court in a painting by Malchair dated 19 May 1773 (Ashmolean Museum, WA 1925.26) shows an inn sign hanging from the side of the building at the end of the footpath between two trees. This suggests that the Court could then have been the Rose & Crown pub, and in the Headington Enclosure Award of 1804 the part of the Croft leading from Osler Road to Old High Street is described as passing “near the Public House called the Rose and Crown”. This name was sometimes shortened to The Crown, for instance when an auction was held here in 1811: it was then occupied by a Mr Bryant. In 1819 auctions are described variously as being held at both The Crown and the Rose & Crown, and in 1824 there was an auction at the Crown. In the 1841 census there is a listing for "Crown & Thistle House", which was occupied by the carpenter George Crickmay and his wife and their six children, plus a servant girl. Crickmay was described as a publican when hiis daughter Jane Jemima Crickmay was baptised at St Andrew's Church a month later. The pub was definitely in this area of the Croft, as the 1841 census lists Manor House Cottage in Osler Road, followed by six cottages described as being near the Crown & Thistle, and then "Crown & Thistle House" itself. This is followed by another five cottages again described as being near the pub, and then the entry for Miss Hanwell's Seminary in St Andrew's Road.) |
By 1850 the Court was occupied by William Wilkins, a butcher and dealer who came from Shipton in Gloucestershire. The Headington Rate Book of that year shows that Wilkins rented the house from Charles Tawney, and that its rateable value was then £20 and its gross estimated rental £24. Wilkins also then rented 24 acres of meadow to the north of the house from Miss Latimer (the eldest daughter of the recently deceased Edward & Elizabeth Latimer of Headington House).
At the time of the 1861 census, Wilkins (a butcher and grazier employing one man and two boys) can be seen living at The Court (not named, but described as being “Near the Pound”) with his wife Anne and six daughters one son, and a servant. By the time of the 1881 census, Wilkins was a widower, living in the Court in partnership with his 26-year-old son, William Robert Loder Wilkins (a butcher and farmer of 30 acres, employing one man and two boys), and his four unmarried daughters: Mary Claudine (30), Rose Fanny (28), Laura Elizabeth (24), and Minnie Angelina (22).
On 21 February 1891 a forthcoming auction of The Court was advertised as follows in Jackson's Oxford Journal:
Lot 1.—All that valuable and substantially-built Double-fronted RESIDENCE approached through a small Garden, and containing—On the ground floor: One large and two small sitting rooms, stone-paved kitchen with kitchener, capital dairy with brick floor, scullery with copper, w.c., &c. On the first floor: Three good bed rooms. On the second floor: Three large attics. Good cellarage in the basement.
Also the extensive range of OUTBUILDINGS, adapted for the Business of a Butcher, with paved Yard, and separate approach from the road, comprising a capital slaughter house, two-stall stable, cattle shed with pens, cart shed, harness room, large greenhouse &c.; pump and well of excellent water; and large piece of Garden Ground at the back, well stocked with fruit trees, &c., as now and for many years past in the occupation of Mr. Wilkins. Also a Stone-built Four-roomed COTTAGE adjoining, with small Garden.
Lot 2.—All that valuable Plot of FREEHOLD BUILDING LAND adjoining the above, having a frontage of about 132 feet to the main road, and extending an average depth of 110 feet, most pleasantly situate, overlooking the grounds of the Manor House and adjoining the Vicarage.
The above will be first offered as a whole in one lot, and if not so sold will be offered in two Lots, as above described.
At the time of the 1891 census William Wilkins (79), described as a farmer, was living at The Court with three of his daughters: Mary (34), who was a ladies’ companion, Minnie (26), and Laura (22).
William Wilkins died at the age of 80, and was buried at Headington Cemetery on 19 December 1893. According to Within Living Memory, the Misses Laura and Minnie Wilkins ran the farm as a dairy during the rest of the 1890s and sold butter and milk to the people of Old Headington.
From 1901 to 1909 the Wootten-Woottens owned The Court and used it to house their coachman, Joseph Hicks, who came from Woolstone in Berkshire. The 1901 census shows the Hicks family in residence: Joseph (47), his wife Mary (41) and their three children: Norah (17) was working as a housemaid, Ephraim (15) as a groom, and Dorothy (4) was at school. Another groom and probably a relation, Horace Hicks (21) was boarding with them.
When the Wootten estate was sold in 1914, Within Living Memory states that Miss Gertrude Drage bought the house, and that subsequently Mrs Dowdenay lived there, but there is no listing at this time in directories.
From 1925 to about 1929, Sholto Theodore Douglas, a bachelor who called himself “the last of the Stuarts”, is listed as living at the Court: he remodelled the house extensively and added a Roman Catholic chapel, which is now a bedroom. He then moved to The End House, 34 Highfield Avenue, Headington, where he died on 5 January 1943.
Mr R. Snow lived at the Court in 1933.
Henry Osborne Quin who was retired from the Indian Civil Service and his wife Mildred were living in The Court by 1935. He died aged 77 on 28 March 1938, and his widow continued to live there for a short time, but had moved to Haytor in Beech Road by the autumn of 1939.
The 1939 Register shows Harry Richardson Creswick, the Deputy Librarian of the Bodleian Library, living at The Court with his wife Agnes and a man who was their gardener & domestic help. In 1945 he was appointed Bodley's Librarian He remained at the house until he left the Bodleian in 1947.
In 1948 Gabriel Turville-Petre, the Vigfussen Professor of Ancient Icelandic Literature and Antiquities, and his wife Joan Elizabeth Blomfield moved in. He died on 17 February 1978, and his widow continued to live in The Croft until at least the 1980s.
