The three former Fox pubs at Barton
The first Fox in Barton Village Road (to 1935)
The first Fox was a beerhouse in a late seventeenth-century cottage at the north-west end of Barton Village Road.
PictureOxon has a good drawing of the original Fox beerhouse dating from the 1920s.
In the photograph below (which dates from before 1905), the sign of the Fox can just be seen in the distance almost at the very top of the road.
The above photograph also shows two surviving buildings nearer the camera
Barton Manor and then Barton's other former pub, the Princes Castle.
The Fox in Barton was owned by Joseph Pates, a baker who lived at 1 & 2 North Place off Old High Street where he had his bakery. He died on 20 September 1833 and left the Fox to his widow Sarah. It is described thus in his will:
and the House and Orchard at Barton witch is eld under Magdalen Colledge and Close witch is joining witch is about four eakers and a ½ eaker on the Comon and strip of that the West end of the Garden as in Mr. Whorwood olden and the housel goods and stock of flour wheat pigs book depts and intress of money witch is out at youse witch is Hundred & twenty pound at Mr Richardsons in St Clemens near City of of Oxford
Mrs Sarah Pates remained the owner until her death in June 1848, and then her daughter Ann Pates (1822–1886), who never married, inherited the Fox. The Headington rate book of 1850 shows the beerhouse in the ownership of Miss Ann Pates, but it was then in the occupation of George Phillips. It was described as having an estimated extent of three acres, and a gross estimated rental of £6 8s. and a rateable value of £6 7s. 6d. The 1851 census shows George Phillips, who was described as a carrier, living in Barton (presumably at the Fox) with his wife Mary and their four unmarried adult children. He died at Barton just over a year later at the age of 62 and was buried in St Andrew's churchyard on 8 July 1852.
Around this time William Pates, the brother of the owner, became the keeper of the Fox beerhouse, and his second daughter Sarah was born in Barton near the beginning of 1857. On 2 January 1858 he was fined for keeping his beerhouse open after hours.
William Pates died at the age of 37 in June 1858 and his widow Mrs Ann Pates took over the beerhouse, and she too was fined in November 1859 for opening after hours.
On 17 July 1858 the original Fox was advertised for sale thus:
BARTON, HEADINGTON, near OXFORD.
NOTICE of SALE, by Mr. CHARLES COX, of capital FREE PUBLIC HOUSE, called the Fox, with large yard, skittle ground, barn, garden, stable, &c.
It evidently did not sell in 1858, and it was still in the occupation of Mrs Ann Pates when another auction was advertised on 1 September 1860:
At the time of the 1861 census Mrs Ann Pates, a widow of 40, was the sole occupant of the Fox pub. In 1864 in Oxford she married her second husband John Elkerton.
The next landlord was George Cooper, and in the 1871 census when he was aged 44, he described himself as a bricklayer & publican and was living in the Fox with his wife Ann, who was a laundress, and their son John (17), who was a carrier. .
At the time of the 1881 census the landlord was Thomas Gurl, who lived at the Fox with his wife Sarah Emma Gurl, née Briscoe: they were newlyweds who had been married at Holy Trinity Church on 4 December 1880.
In 1891 Edwin Markham (56), described as a publican and gardener, lived at the Fox with his wife Eliza and his son Samuel (15), who assisted him. The family was still there in 1901, but Edwin now described himself as just a beer retailer, and Samuel was now working as a dairyman.
The 1921 census shows Leonard Boyce (26), a farm labourer working for Edward Roase at Stowford Farm, living at The Fox with his wife Susan and their baby daughter. The address of the pub was now 1 The Village, Barton Road.
The old cottage ceased to serve as the pub in 1935, but it survived and is described thus in the Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Oxford, published in 1939:
(280) The Fox Inn, on the W. side of the road, 30 yards W. of (279), is modern, but an outhouse, formerly a cottage, is of the 17th century;
it has rubble walls and a doorway with a four-centred head, now blocked.
Condition—Fairly good.
Some landlords of the original Fox pub
- By 1850–1852: George Phillips
- By 1857–1858: William Pates
- By 1858–1861: His widow Mrs Ann Pates
- By 1871: George Cooper
- By 1881: Thomas Gurl
- By 1891–1909: Edwin Markham or Marcham
- 1910–1921: John Henry Stevens
- 1921–1923: Leonard Boyce
- 1925–1932 (last landlord before demolition): William Heritage
The second Fox in Barton Village Road (1932–1967)
In about 1932 Morrells Brewery built a much larger pub at the southern end of the site. The Architect's Journal for 13 July 1952 under the heading “Three Inns in Oxfordshire designed by Gilbert T. Gardner” has a photograph of this pub, and the text underneath reads:
THE FOX, BARTON
This and the two inns illustrated overleaf [the White Horse and the Royal Standard, also in Headington] have been erected during the past twelvemonth to replace existing public-houses that had been condemned as no longer suitable. In designing the elevation an attempt has been made to avoid the time-honoured public-house type, but at the same time to afford an indication of the character of licensed premises. The walls are surfaced externally with white cement and sand, a warm colour, with a stucco finish
The floor plans below show the ground floor with a saloon, bar, and toilets, and a hall, living room, scullery, private toilet and coal cellar behind, and the first floor with four bedrooms, a bathroom, and toilet, plus a club room behind. The text under the floor plans reads:
The public rooms have been designed to meet the particular wishes of the Bench is regard to easy supervision from the servery. A feature of the first floor is the large club-0room, with windows on three sides. All internal woodwork is of Columbian pine, stained nut-brown and wax-polished.
Its surroundings changed when the northern bypass was built in 1935.
Its address remained 1 The Village, Barton Road, but after some renumbering in about 1952 this changed to 1 Barton Village Road).
These two photographs were taken by Richard Self
William Heritage continued as landlord of the newly built pub until 1936, and then William Henry Russen was the landlord until 1956.
This Fox was demolished in 1967 when the bypass was turned into a dual carriageway, and the current landlords, Fred and Joyce Walters, moved to the new pub in North Way..
The third Fox at North Way (1967 to 2002)
The third Fox with Morrell's Brewery as the prospective licensee was built in the late 1960s on North Way at the junction with Edgecombe Road:
- Approved planning application 65/16699/A_H: “ New Public House (to replace the Fox)”
The new pub opened in 1967 and closed for the last time in 2002. On 11 August 2004 planning permission was granted for 49 flats on the site of the pub (04/00802/FUL).
Photographs of the Fox can be seen in The Changing Faces of Headington, Book 1, p. 114.
