16th Century - Abingdon on Thames Town Council

No.55 with its neighbour No.51 are part of a timber framed row of rental properties built some time around 1500. They belonged to the Braunche family in the mid-sixteenth century. There were probably three cottages originally, the one to the south demolished in 1732 when No.57 was built.

There seems to have been a radical reconstruction of No.55 in the seventeenth century. A spine beam was inserted to support the first floor and a passage entry with one large room was created on the ground floor. It became the property of Christ’s Hospital and one of the occupants of this rebuilt house was their surgeon, Michael Adshed.

There was another major makeover in the eighteenth century, with the creation of a separate kitchen to the rear and the relocation of the fireplace and staircase. One of the upper floor rooms was given a new fire surround, and panelling was installed.

There have been further changes in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to provide extra space in the attic, but very little has been changed since it was sold by Christ’s Hospital in 1922. A notable twentieth-century occupant was Colin Winter, bishop of Damaraland (Namibia) who was exiled from his diocese for his opposition to the apartheid regime in the 1970s.

No.55 is private property and is not open to the public.

See Glossary for explanations of technical terms.

© AAAHS and contributors 2013

There was an inn on this site before 1554 when it was noted in a survey as The Bell. Its status as a major inn in the Bury or market area of the town is shown by the high rent paid by the lessee of the time, John Whitewell.

It seems to have been in the eighteenth century that the King’s Head was first added to its name. This may have been an attempt to connect the property with Charles I. Charles certainly made visits to Abingdon before and during the Civil War, but there is no direct evidence of his presence at The Bell. During the nineteen century the name reverted to The Bell or The Old Bell.

The present structure is mostly eighteenth century with some evidence of seventeenth century work. In 1801 there was stabling for thirty horses; by 1810 stabling for nearly a hundred was claimed. In the nineteenth century the inn supplied horses for the Volunteer Fire Brigade, though the recommendation was to pull the engine by hand if the fire was close by. For accommodation there were three parlours, a large dining room, and twelve sleeping rooms as well as attics above.

In May 1865 the Borough sold the premises to the brewers Carter and Morland who had also bought both the Abbey and Eagle Breweries in the town. The front was remodelled in or shortly before 1907 to its present appearance. The present version of the name, the King’s Head and Bell, probably dates from this remodelling.

See Glossary for explanations of technical terms.

55 East St Helen Street

King’s Head and Bell, 10 East St Helen Street

Archive for: 16th Century