Burford's Buildings, Lower High Street
East Side: The Bridge to Church Lane
The miscellaneous buildings in this stretch of lower High Street reflect its varied social character, which included gentry and professionals alongside shopkeepers, tradesmen and craftsmen. Cottage accommodation survives at No. 1 (16th-century) and No. 23, and smart 18th-century façades at No. 2 (1790s) and 25 (1730s). Nos. 13 and 19 were inns, the latter sharing part of a long and elegant Georgian frontage which dominates this part of the street. Several other house-fronts conceal earlier buildings, which have been remodelled and in many cases sub-divided. The most notable are two medieval hall-houses, at Nos. 15–17 and 31.
Collection Items
In 1571 the Burford merchant Simon Wisdom granted a small cottage here to trustees for Burford Grammar school, rebuilding it as 3 cottages in 1576.
Although there is a 17th-century rear range, this stylish house was probably built in the 1790s (owner unknown).
This small cottage with its rubblestone front is of 17th-century origin, but has been increased in height.
This smart façade hides an earlier house, owned in 1685 by Richard Bartholomew.
These two small adjoining cottages, though of different date, were both altered in the 19th century, and their low ground-floor ceilings remain vis