High Street (west): No. 96 (former Rose and Crown)

From the late 18th century to c.1918 this was the Rose and Crown inn. The lean-to and stone plinth with windows above look late 19th-century, added perhaps when extra space was needed to cater for the burgeoning tourist trade; the front door bears the date 1915, with a rose and crown formed in nails. In origin, however, this was one of several houses built by the wealthy Burford merchant Simon Wisdom, whose mark, with the date 1578, can be seen in the spandrels of the stone doorway. A timber doorway of similar date survives at the rear, and another interesting feature of the period is the decorated lintel above the 5-light front window at first-floor level. In 2007 the building was a shop called Peter Rabbit and Friends.

See: M Laithwaite, 'The Buildings of Burford', in A Everitt, (ed), Perspectives in English Urban History (1973) 72, 75; R Moody, Inns of Burford (2007 edn) 60

(Photo by Jessica Brod, Oxfordshire Buildings Record)