High Street (east): Nos 35-39

In 1652 a house here was owned by William Elston and held by William Haynes; by 1685 the owner was William Lenthall esquire (of The Priory), and the tenant Richard George. The front of the 17th-century building was probably extended forwards in the 18th century, but there are few external clues. In the 1840s the occupier was a baker (hence the outline of a large bread-oven in the passageway to the side), and in the 1860s–80s the grocer, coal- and corn dealer Richard Hemming, who in 1881 farmed 25 acres. In 1901 it was a baker's and confectioner's, and in 1910 a cyclists’ restaurant. Bordered sash windows were inserted in the late 19th century, and the modern symmetrical shopfront (on the left) was perhaps made for the post office which was here in 1938. By then the house had probably been divided: its right-hand part was fronted by a small garden, and had a sash window with glazing bars, whose location is marked by irregular stonework and cement mortar. That was replaced by a separate shop window in the mid 20th century. In 2007 the building remained divided between the Priory Tea Rooms (left) and a gift shop (right).

See: RH Gretton, The Burford Records (1920) 448, 457; A Jewell, Burford in Old Photographs (1985) 124

(Photo by Heather Horner, Oxfordshire Buildings Record)