The Grange is a large nineteenth-century mansion off Larkin’s Lane standing in five acres of grounds. It cannot be seen from the road.

Only its boundary wall and gate piers are listed.

List entry for wall and gate piers
of The Grange: 1369386

The Grange was probably built around the mid-nineteenth century. It had two earlier names: Elmbank and Headington Villa. The map below shows The Grange in 1899:

It is difficult to identify The Grange in directories until the Post Office Directory of 1877, where it is named as Elmbank, and its occupant was then Mrs Popham. She put the house up for sale in 1880, and it was described thus in the notice of a forthcoming auction that appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 24 April 1880:

All that valuable and desirable FREEHOLD PROPERTY, known as “ELMBANK,” comprising a substantially-built and well-arranged FAMILY RESIDENCE, and 3A. 3R. 7P. (more or less), of excellent LAND, including Flower and Kitchen Gardens, Lawn, and well-timbered Meadow.
   The House contains, on the ground floor, entrance hall, two staircases, dining, drawing, and morning rooms, study, and spacious kitchen, pantry, and usual offices; and, on the first floor, seven bed rooms and w.c. The Outbuildings comprise a coachhouse, stable, and greenhouse. There is a never-failing supply of pure spring water on the premises, and the drainage is perfect.
   This very desirable Property stands high, and has the most extensive and picturesque view in the neighbourhood. It is also most conveniently situated, being three minutes' walk only from the Parish Church and Post Office of Headington, and under two miles from Oxford.
   The Premises are in the occupation of the owner, and are in a perfect state of repair. Possession may be had at Midsummer next.

Mrs Popham was stated to be still living in the house when on 2 October 1880 a notice of an auction of her furniture appeared in the same paper.

The next occupant, listed in directories from 1883, was William Michael Wylie, MA, FRSA. He had been an undergraduate at Merton College fifty years earlier, obtaining his BA in 1833, and had previously lived with his wife at Hawley in Hampshire. He died in Headington at the age of 76 on 16 February 1887 and was buried at Yately, Southampton. His personal estate came to £21,310. .

His widow Mrs Anne Wylie remained in the house after 1887, and from that date it was known as Headington Villa. At the time of the 1891 census she lived here with four live-in servants (a cook, lady’s maid, housemaid, and a gardener). When she died in Headington on 28 May 1894 at the age of 91 she left the house to her companion, Miss Louisa Boss, for her lifetime, and then to her nephew, Robert William Wylie. She was buried at Yately with her husband.

Louisa Boss, who gave the house its present name of The Grange, also owned land on the site of Barton Park, opposite Lower Farm. She is listed in directories at the The Grange from 1895 to 1922, but does not appear to have spent much time there and lived in London. At the time of the 1921 census only her gardener (Robert Cross) and her caretaker (Fanny Cross) were listed at the house. Miss Boss died at 1 Devonport Street, Hyde Park at the age of 84 on 3 February 1922, leaving effects of over £14,573.

By 1921 the lane leading to the house was called Grange Lane, and later in the 1920s it was given its present name of Larkins Lane.

Robert William Wylie, a barrister who had waited 28 years to inherit The Grange, came to live in the house and is listed there in directories from 1925. He became involved in Headington affairs and was one of the directors of Headington Sports Ground Ltd when they bought the Manor Ground for the recreational use of the people of Headington. The 1939 Register shows Robert Wylie (born 1867 and described as a retired barrister-at-law) living at the Grange with Bernard Sharp (a trust officer at Barclays Bank) & his wife and a schoolteacher, plus their servants. His wife Margaret Wells Wylie died at The Grange at the age of 69 on 1 December 1945 and following her funeral at St Andrew's Church was cremated. Robert William Wylie was still living at The Grange when he died at St Andrew's Hospital in Northampton on 2 March 1949. His funeral was at St Andrew's Church in Headington on 7 March 1949 and he was buried in Headington Cemetery (F138). His effects came to £48,536.

From 1949 until his death on 5 August 1972 the house was occupied by Arthur Elliot-Smith, the senior consultant surgeon to the United Oxford Hospitals who founded the Elliot-Smith Clinic (which was originally at the Churchill Hospital).

On 18 April 2024 planning permission was granted for the “partial demolition and alterations to listed boundary wall to form a wider entrance” to Meadow Larkins (a newer house with its own entrance in the listed wall, to the south of the main entrance shown above): 23/02801/FUL