Headington Hill Hall
List entry for Headington Hill Hall: 1047044
Headington Hill Hall has always been in the ecclesiastical parish of St Clements, and its original main entrance was via the grand park gates near the foot of the hill. But now that its entrance is from the lodge at the top of the hill which is in St Andrew's parish, it can be considered part of Headington.
The original house was built in 1824 for the Morrell family, and was occupied by them for 114 years. Then Robert Maxwell leased what he described as the “best council house in the country” from Oxford City Council for 32 years. Since 1992 it has been leased to Oxford Brookes University
The Oxford brewer James Morrell senior (1773–1855) married Jane Wharton, a 17-year-old girl who lived in Headington, at St Andrew’s Church on 17 December 1807, and visits to her family may well have influenced his decision to live there himself after her early death in 1814. He bought some grazing land near the top of Headington Hill from the Savage family in 1817 in order to move his three surviving young children from the damp unhealthy atmosphere of Fisher Row to a healthy country estate in Headington.
The following advertisement appeared in Jackson's Oxford Journal on 4 December 1819 advertising an auction to be held on 17 December by W. Fisher at the Angel Inn in Oxford of the land that now comprises South Park:
FREEHOLD LAND
Of superior quality, free from Land Tax, eligibly situated for Buildings or Gardens, very near Oxford.
About Thirty-eight Lots of FREEHOLD LAND, each of a convenient size for erecting a commodious DWELLING HOUSE, leaving sufficient space for a yeard and good garden to the same, in the parish of St. Clement, adjoining the walk to Headington Hill, next beyond the road leading to Marston.
The situation is dry and healthy, commanding a beautiful view of Oxford and its vicinity.
The 38 anticipated houses never materialized, and it seems likely that James Morrell senior purchased the land as a park to his proposed new home.
The house that James Morrell senior completed in 1824 (left, viewed from back gardens) was relatively modest, but later he bought extra land extending all the way down to the Marston Road, comprising the present Headington Hill Park.
The new house alongside the old, from the front (above) and the garden (below).
Jackson's Oxford Journal of 5 March 1825 reports on a case held at the Oxford Assizes two days earlier which reveals the name of both the architect & builder of the original house and the man who supplied the bricks:
Savours v. Morrell.—This was a suit to recover £64 18s. 3d. for bricks used in the building of the defendant's house, on Headington Hill, near this city. The main question to be tried was, whether credit was given by the plaintiff for the bricks to the defendant, or his architect and builder, Mr. Garbett. AFter a long investigation of the case, and some conflicting testimony, a verdict was given for the plaintiff for the full amount of his bill.
The 1841 census shows James Morrell senior, described as a banker, at home with his sons James and Mark, who are both described as “independent”. By 1851 James Morrell senior was an old man of 77 living alone with a valet, cook, and two other servants.
Mallam's advertised an auction to be held on 1 May 1843 of over four acres of pasture land “adjoining the much-admired walk on Headington Hill” and also fronting the Marston Road, but then announced that it had been disposed of by private contract. It seems likely that James Morrell senior was the purchaser.
The new Italianate mansion (1856–1858)
James’s son James Morrell junior (1810–1863) had grander designs, and between 1856 and 1858 built an Italianate mansion: the architect was John Thomas and the builder Joseph Castle. This mansion eclipsed his father’s old house to such an extent that thenceforth the latter was only deemed suitable for a kitchen and nursery wing. This mansion is the present Headington Hill Hall.
On 8 November 1856, Jackson’s Oxford Journal (p. 5) reported:
The mansion now in the course of erection on Headington Hill for James Morrell, Esq, having been so far advanced that the roof is fixed, that gentleman celebrated the “roof rearing” by an entertainment, on Saturday night last, to all the workmen and boys employed directly or indirectly on the building.
This entertainment, to which 300 people were invited, took place in the Fives Court adjoining the St Clement's Baths, and guests included Mr Baxter, who had laid out the grounds; Mr. Summerbell, the. clerk of works; Mr Forbes, the foreman of the masons; and Mr Evetts, the foreman of the carpenters.
Thus by 1858 the small country house had become a 51-room mansion housing 19 indoor servants. James Morrell junior also developed the exotic gardens that are now Headington Hill Park, and they were laid out by a Mr Baxter. The house eventually had four lodges, and its laundry building was built well out of sight on the other side of the London Road, near Gipsy Lane. Its vegetable garden was also situated away from the house, just to the east of Cheney Lane, so as not to spoil the landscape.
The 1861 census shows James Morrell junior (51) living at Headington Hill Hall with his wife Alicia Harriet (39) and their daughter Emily Alicia (7), and they had 18 servants (including a billiard marker and a page). But the couple only had about five years in their new mansion: James died in 1863, and Alicia in 1864. Their only child Emily Alicia Morrell (1854–1938) was left an orphan at the age of ten, so the Morrell Trustees took over responsibility for the Hall. The wealth of the child Emily was enormous: at the age of 19 she is listed in the Return of Owners of Land of 1873 as owning over 569 acres in Oxfordshire with an estimated rental income of £2,046.
The trustees let Headington Hill Hall out to Richard Corbet, a blind landowner from Shropshire, and the 1871 census shows him living there with his wife Eleanor (both aged 66), three of their children, and ten servants. He is described as a Justice of the Peace.
On 12 October 1872 Jackson's Oxford Journal reported that 18-year-old Emily was back living at the Hall and that renovations had taken place:
HEADINGTON HILL HOUSE.
Extensive renovation of the interior of this mansion has been effected by Messrs. Wyatt and Son, from the design of Mr. Wilkinson, architect, of Beaumont-street. This property has been let for some years past, but it is now occupied by Miss Morrell, the owner.
In 1874 young Emily Alicia Morrell married her third cousin George Herbert Morrell (1845–1906) and returned with him to her family home. The interior of the house was extensively remodelled at this time by William Wilkinson, the architect who also designed the Randolph Hotel and much of north Oxford.
In 1876 the family of the deceased Tyrrell Knapp were planning to sell the farmland attached to his home at the Rise in Cheney Lane to developers, and the Morrell Trustees stepped in to purchase the land, thus doubling the size of the couple’s estate. The Morrells linked this land to Headington Hill Hall by a bridge over the road. Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 12 October 1878 (p. 8c) reported:
A new set of stables have been built near “Joe Pullin’s” tree, Headington Hill, for G. Morrell, Esq., by Mr. G. Castle. In their construction the latest improvements have been introduced, and they are considered some of the best stables in the County. Accommodation is provided for 17 horses, and there are ten coach houses, harness rooms, &c., with buildings for coachmen and grooms. A handsome bridge now connects the old portion of the estate with that purchased from the Knapp family, and this is also the work of Mr. G. Castle.
The enlarged garden was described in detail in the Gardeners’ Magazine of 1880. The new part of the garden comprised the present South Park as well as the area covered by Morrell Avenue, a road of high-standard council houses which was built in South Park in 1929–31.
The formal garden in 1900
In 1881 George Herbert Morrell (36) was at home in the Hall with his wife Emily (27) and their eleven servants. By 1891 they had two sons James (8) and George (6), plus thirteen servants: a butler, three footmen, three housemaids, two nurses, a kitchen maid, a scullery maid, a ladies maid, and a housekeeper. In 1901 the two sons were at Eton and there were now eleven servants (the nurses being no longer required).
George Herbert Morrell died in 1906, and at the time of the 1911 census the Hall was occupied only by seven servants: Miss Rhoda Lilian King (36), who was its housekeeper, and two head housemaids, a kitchenmaid, scullery maid, 1st footman, and hall boy.
Mrs Emily Morrell died at the age of 84 in September 1938. A year later the government requisitioned the Hall for use as a military hospital, and its contents were sold. After the war the Hall became a rehabilitation centre run by the Red Cross and the Order of St John.
In 1953 Emily’s elder son, James Morrell III, sold Headington Hill Hall to Oxford City Council for a mere £13,700: this price included 37 acres of land, as well as its four lodges and outbuildings, and there was applause in the council chamber when the purchase was announced. The rehabilitation centre continued to use the building until 1958.
The original plan of the city council was to demolish the Hall and build council offices on the site, but finances did not allow this, and so the council appropriated 20 acres to form Headington Hill Park and offered the rest of the estate on a 21-year lease to the highest bidder.
This proved to be Robert Maxwell, Director of Pergamon Press, with a tender of £2,400 a year, and Pergamon Press moved in in 1959. Initially he rented the estate purely as business premises for the Press, but soon he and his wife Betty and eight children took up residence in the Hall, relegating the Press to the old stables. Maxwell restored the house, which had become dilapidated, ripping a 150-year-old chimney piece out of the old Pergamon offices in Fitzroy Square, London to put in his new home. He filled shelves with dummy books, and installed cinema-screen televisions in most of the rooms.
The original Victorian stained-glass window on the stairs had been damaged during the Second World War, and in 1966 Robert Maxwell replaced it with a new window (left).
It depicts Samson walking off with the town gates of Gaza, and was created by the Israeli sculptor and ceramicist Nehemia Azaz, it is believed to show Robert Maxwell himself as Samson, who has around his neck a large pendant, which is supposed to depict the head of Penelope and to indicate that behind every successful man there is a strong female presence. (This seems rather odd, in view of the damage Delilah did to Samson, and the fact that Penelope is a figure from Greek myth, not the Old Testament….)
The grounds, meanwhile, were becoming littered with ugly prefabs to house Pergamon Press, and when Maxwell requested a longer lease in 1962, one of the conditions was attached was that he must erect,
“within a period of 36 months from the granting of the lease, a new building of a type and design and on a site approved by the Council, to replace the existing five temporary huts, and within three months of the completion of this building, to demolish the five huts, clear their concrete bases, and reinstate the sites to their original condition”.
In exchange for his original 21-year lease, he was granted 75 years’ tenure at an annual rent of £4,500, to remain fixed for the entire term (an incredible decision by the city council at a period of inflation). Maxwell did build a new office block, but the other promises he made (that he would make more of the Hall grounds available to the general public; that staff would have to use a new entrance at the back of the estate; and that no Pergamon cars would be allowed to use the main driveway, which would become a public footpath) were ignored.
In 1978 Maxwell managed to extend his lease yet again, to 99 years, with the annual rent increased to £7,600 until 2002 (when there would be an annual increment until it reached £14,540 per year in 2076).With nearly a hundred years of security ahead of him, Maxwell turned the Headington Hill Hall site into a fortress. Guards were posted at the main entrance, the fence was reinforced with barbed wire, and video cameras were fixed to trees. Staff were kept away from the main house and its swimming pool and tennis court, although the old kitchen wing of the mansion was used as offices. Speakers were fitted to every office so that Maxwell could make announcements to the staff, who called the firm they worked for “Purgatory Press”.
In March 1991 Maxwell sold Pergamon Press to Elsevier, and on 5 November that year Maxwell’s body was found in the sea. On 20 December Grant Thornton announced that they had been appointed receivers to 33 properties owned by PHL Estates Ltd (part of the Maxwell Group), including the 84 remaining years of the lease of Headington Hill Hall.
At the end of 1992 Headington Hill Hall with 14 acres of grounds, an annexe, a stable block, the lodge, and 50,000 sq. ft, of offce building were advertised for sale. The article below appeared in The Times (of London) on 9 December 1992:
The following year, 1993, Oxford City Council sold Headington Hill Hall with an 84-year lease to Oxford Brookes University at a rumoured price of £5 million. (Mrs Maxwell, who had a sublease to 1999, was still in residence at first: see news report in the Independent.)
Headington Hill Hall now forms part of Oxford Brookes University. It has handsome function rooms, and is the only place in Headington licensed to hold civil wedding ceremonies.
Not to be confused with Headington Hall
Headington Hill Hall should not be confused with Headington Hall at Sandhills. This Victorian House owned by a Mr Dell was originally named Headington End, but when Mr Bursill, the estate developer, moved into it during development of the estate, he changed its name. It was demolished to make way for Burdell Avenue (which combines the names of both of those house owners).
