65-67 High Street, Oxford House

  • 65-67 High Street, Oxford House as a general store in c. 1910
  • 65-67 High Street, Oxford House
  • 2018. 65-67 High Street, Oxford House
  • 1988. School of English as shown in the Centenary booklet
  • School of English staff
  • School of English staff and pupils
  • The building extension to the rear. This is shown on the 1910 map
  • Oxford House with its rear extension. New windows were added to the east-facing part of this which was previously windowless
  • School of English staff and pupils
  • 1995, Oxford House magazine
  • 25 May 2004 with Boris Johnson, MP for Henley
  • School of English staff and pupils
  • School of English staff and pupils
  • School of English staff and pupils
  • School of English staff and pupils
  • School of English staff and pupils
  • Date not known but before the upper was painted
  • 1916 or before
Archive Notes:

Photos of Oxford House as a general store, established 1866. At one stage it was a grocery store run by Ted and/or Joseph Shepherd (the latter appears in the 1899 Kelly directory). In 1911, Charles and Emily Mold, both aged 36, ran this living here with their two sons, aged 8 and 7, and a domestic servant, so business was presumably brisk. In 1911, Charles and Emily Mold, both aged 36, lived with their two sons, aged 8 and 7, and a domestic servant, so business was presumably brisk. However, they were tenants of Frederick Stamp, who owned a business opposite. In the 1930s, Bax were drapers and outfitters, sold boots, and had a car hire business on Church Road. After WW2 it was run by Evan Bax and Edith Bax who also sold second-hand clothes, and they owned and ran the property to the rear on Church Road as Bax garage. In 2020 it is Bryants Garage. Oxford House in 2020 is run as the Centre of English Studies.

65 High Street. A Tudor cottage stood here. In the 1950s, this was replaced by a modern building as a shop with a flat above, at first a bookmaker’s, then a dress shop, later a travel agency, Bradshaws who constructed the two sloping roofs before selling it to the Oxford House Language School in 1983. It is now part of the Centre of English Studies.

67 High Street. It is not clear what stood on this site before it became Oxford House, a double-fronted clothes shop in 1866. It may be that the previous building burned down but it is a moot point as to whether this was an inn. In 1982 it was bought by the Vernede family and converted into its current use (2018) as an English School.

Listing details state 'Two houses, now college. C18. Limestone rubble with squared quoins and stuccoed front; old plain-tile roof with brick stacks. 4-unit range with rear wing. 2 storeys. 6-window front has two entrances with 6-panel doors between 16-pane sashes and similar but smaller sashes at first floor. Early C19 stucco includes rusticated quoins, moulded string and plain architraves to windows and doors. Hipped roof with lateral stacks to rear. Sides, rear and large rear wing are in rubble with C20 casements. Interior not inspected'.

Several undated photos from the time when the Vernedes ran this as a English School from 1983 onwards.

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