High Street (east), No. 107

The rendered façade of this tall narrow building hides a medieval timber-framed house, owned in 1489 by John Bishop. The rear wing is late 15th-century, but was cut off c.1600 when the present 3-storey front range was built, originally with a jetty. Possible candidates for the rebuilding are Robert Silvester, Edward Reynolds, and Edmond Serrell, recorded as owners or occupiers between 1577 and 1630. A further refronting in the 18th century destroyed the jetty. By then the house was almost certainly let to tradesmen, and in the 19th and 20th centuries variously accommodated an apothecary, a grocer and linen draper, a cabinet maker, and (from the 1870s) booksellers, stationers and printers, including the long-lived stationery business of George Packer & Son (recorded c.1900–39). In 2007 it was a newsagent’s. The shopfront is late Victorian, though the building was damaged by fire in 1982 and has been reconstructed.

See: South Midland Archaeology 13 (1983), 88–90; RH Gretton, The Burford Records (1920) ,319, 428–9, 433, 435, 450, 454