9A, 9, & 11 Windmill Road
Left to right: 9A, 9, & 11 Windmill Road in 2018
The shop at 9A Windmill Road on the left of the group is the narrowest one in Headington. It was built in the driveway of No. 9 in 1955. The driveway of No. 11 on the right still survives
Left: This detail from a postcard shows Nos. 9 and 11 Windmill Road when they a pair of new semi-detached houses with bay windows. They were built in 1912 in the large garden of Rosslyn Villa, and were originally called Cuddesdon Villas 1 and 2.
The photograph below shows the three buildings in July 2007. The bay-windows on the ground-floor of Nos. 9 and 11 have been replaced by flat plate-glass shop windows. Each still has a large and a small window at first-floor level.
Left to right: 9A, 9, & 11 Windmill Road in c.2000
Left to right: 9A, 9, & 11 Windmill Road in c.2007
No. 9A was a photographer’s shop for six years, and then a jeweller’s shop for 45 years. From 1985 to 2007 it was “Time & Elegance”, and its proprietors, Jill & Frank Cummings, were pillars of the Headington Business Association. They inaugurated the Christmas FunDay in 1985 and the Headington Christmas lights in 2000.
No. 9 was a private house until 1955. In that year planning permission was obtained to turn its two ground-floor rooms into a shop, and to build another shop, to be known as 9A, against its north side. It has since been changed from a retail shop to an estate agent, and then back to a shop again.
No. 11 remained a private house until 1961, when the long occupation of the plumber Alfred William Smith came to an end. In 1960 permission for change of use from residential to shop and/or offices refused on the grounds that
“The property is in an area zoned for residential purposes in the approved Town Map and any further extension of the business area along Windmill Road which at this point is narrow and frequently congested would be undesirable and likely to be a source of nuisance to users of the highway by reason of parked and waiting vehicles”.
Another application in 1961 (61/11080/A_H) to redevelop Nos. 9, 11, and 13 to form two small shops, a supermarket, a chiropodist and two flats was also refused. In 1962, however, permission was finally granted to turn No. 11 into a shop like its next-door neighbour, and it has since changed from a retail shop to a coffee house to a hairdresser.
No. 9A (left) |
Occupier |
1955 |
55/04735/A_H: Application for an extension to No. 9 Windmill Road to form another shop approved |
1956–1962 |
E.A. Grant, Photographer |
1962–1985 |
Lily Crane, Jeweller |
1985–2007 |
Time & Elegance, Jewellers |
2007–2017 |
Black Mamba Tattoos (with Recycled Bikes downstairs to 2016) |
2018–2019 |
Innovation Group |
2020–2024 |
Vacant |
2024– |
Silver Spa original Thai massage |
No. 9 (middle) |
Ground floor occupier |
Upstairs occupier (“9B”) |
1913 |
William Morley |
|
1928–1954 |
Frederick William Barnard |
|
1955 |
55/04302/A_H: Application by J. Dines for change of use of two downstairs rooms to shop approved |
|
1956 |
John L. Crabb |
|
1958 |
Quinion Surgical Appliances |
Miss J.N. Whittaker, |
1960 |
R. Wenborn & Sons, Cutlers |
|
1962–1966 |
[Only Lily Crane at 9A listed] |
|
1966 |
66/17134/A_H: Application by Dines & Gill for change of use from shop to estate agent’s office and formation of front and offices with separate access to first-floor offices approved |
|
1968–1976+ |
Dines & Gill Ltd, Estate Agents |
|
1980s |
Mr Truman’s card shop |
Dines & Gill, Estate Agents Jones, Dines & Gill by 1993 |
1993–1998 |
Forget-me-Not (1998) |
|
c.2000 |
Just Cards |
Spire Properties |
c.2001–2006 |
CardFair card shop |
|
2007–2018 |
Daisy Chain card shop |
|
2019 |
Il Botanico |
|
No. 11 (right) |
Occupier of ground floor |
1913 |
William Eden, Police constable |
1926–1930 |
Edgar Tratt |
1932–1960 |
Alfred William Smith, Plumber |
1962 |
Vacant |
1964–1975 |
Self Service Launderettes (Kelvinator Launderama) |
1976 |
Just Plants |
1977 |
77/00747/A_H: Application for change of use from greengrocer’s to coffee house approved; but permission does not seem to have been used |
1988–1996 |
Hummingbird (later known as Frames & Art) |
1999–c.2003 |
Headington Beds |
c.2003–2009 |
McGills Hairdressing |
2009–2023 |
Isis Hair, later renamed Ice Hairdressing |
2023 |
Vacant |
Advertisement from Kelly’s Directory, 1937
