18-20 High Street

Left to right: 20-16 High Street (Dec 2025)

18 High Street (centre of photo) belongs structurally with no.20 but for much of its history it has been associated with 16 High Street, while 20 High Street (on the left) was for a long time linked to 22 High Street. Please use this page in conjunction with the other two.

Listing for 18 High Street
Grade II. Shop with house above. One bay of C17 2-bay house, sharing central chimney stack with No. 20. Timber frame, exposed in rear gable, planked to front. Remainder of front rendered. Old tile thin brick stack. 2 storeys and attic. Projecting ground floor has lean-to slate roof, C20 glazed door to left and square bay shop window to right, First floor has 4-light wooden casement with C20 glazing. 4-light leaded casement in attic dormer.
Listing for 20 High Street
Grade II. Shop. One bay of C17 2-bay house, sharing central chimney stack with No. 18, concealed timber frame. Rendered front, old tile roof, thin brick stack with pilaster to right. 2 storeys and attic. C19 square bay shop window with cornice top to ground floor right, C19 3-light wooden casement to first floor, gabled dormer with paired barred wooden casement. Barred and glazed door to left with rectangular fanlight over.

18-20 with the southern part of 22 seem to occupy one of the medieval burgage plots, with access to Greyhound Lane at the rear (now partly blocked by modern development).

This plan based on the 1880 OS Map shows the properties involved in a dispute between Nicholas Merwin and Robert Gibbs in 1700. According to Merwin's bill of complaint:

Aaron Westley owned [probably since before 1663] a large tenement (18-22) with a large yard 10 poles long and outbuildings, occupied by himself and Joan Linney. It consisted of 5 bays and was about 60 feet long. There was a passage for horses and cattle through an entry from the street to the yard, 30 feet from the south end of the building. There was a well on the north side of the yard 15 feet from the house.

One bay on the south side, measuring 14-15 feet in width from north to south, was converted into a separate tenement occupied by Joan Linney and others (18). This house had an adjoining buttery (10 feet wide x 15 feet long) and cellar or drink house (10 feet wide x 7 feet long), each with an "ancient window", and an outhouse (10 feet x 18 feet). The buttery had a door leading into Westly's yard for fetching water from the well. In 1678 Westley sold to Linney 18 and part of his yard, 18 feet wide at the east end. Linney fenced off the ground, leaving a door for access to the well but no gate for horses or cattle. Linney sold the house to William Prentice. He used the outhouse as a stable and made a "dup and shutt gate" in the fence 22 feet east of the main building, so that he could bring a horse from the street through Westley's yard. In 1695 Prentice and Avis his wife sold 18 to Nicholas Merwin (already owner of 16; see above) for £80 16s. The sale was only validated by the manor court when Linney's title was proved. According to Merwin the house was not worth more than £40 without access to the well and free passage through the entry. [Linney and Prentice probably ran an inn there; Prentice "broke the assize of ale" in 1681, and he is described as an innkeeper.]

Westley sold 20 to Robert Gibbs (already owner of no.22) before 1684. In 1699 Merwin pulled down the buttery at 18 and replaced it at a cost of £30 with a new bay of building (later called "the tyled barn") which joined 16 on the south side and extended nearer to the northern edge of the property, with a window in the middle. Gibbs then obstructed Merwin from using the entry and the well, and ordered a new building on his own land which would block Merwin's new window and the old window in the drink house.

Merwin and Gibbs came to an agreement at the manor court in February 1701 by which Gibbs continued with his new building but had to leave a "chewar" to give Merwin access to the entry and the well.

After this 16 and 18 were in the same ownership until 1892. For the history of 18 in that period, see 16 High Street.

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18 High Street from 1892

Apparently bought by Thomas Walker in 1892 when it was sold separately from 16.

1910: Valuation (stamped Sep 30 1914)
No.542: High Street, house
Gross value £9. Rateable value £7
Occupier: May Fountain
Owner: Thos Walker, Winslow
Freehold
Tenancy: monthly
Actual Rent: £11 1s
Land Tax: 5s 3d paid by owner
Former sales: [blank] 
[in red] Reserved on T Walker Esq Market Sq Winslow 14.11.14
Description: Brick & tile house
3 bedrooms, 2 rooms down & kitchen
Brick & corrugated iron shed, yard
Rent £11          2 ½ poles, 660 sq ft
[stamp] ?15 Feb 1928             p32591 T. Walker dec.
Valuation: £150
Site: 12’ front x 55 ft = £45
Buildings & structures: £105

This photo (from the collection of the late Ruth Hall MBE) was taken on 24 April 1908. The man on the left is standing in front of 20-18.

1911: Census

Emma Chapman Fountain	head	wid	40	Housekeeper - cook (domestic)	b. Marston Trussell, Northants
6 rooms

1921 Census: no entry

1929: Rating Valuation
18 High Street: House & garden
Owner: Sarah Walker [This seems to be Sarah Ann Walker (d.1942), daughter of Thomas, not Sarah J. Walker who owned no.20]
Occupier: May C. Fountain

1939: Almanack
18 High Street: Emma M. Fountain

1939: Register, 18 High Street

Emma Fountain	b. 15 Dec 1868	widow	Domestic pensioner retired
Emily E. Bawley	b. 2 Aug 1858	widow	Clergyman's widow retired

1943: National Probate Index
Walker, Sarah Ann of Northfield, Winslow, spinster, died 5 Dec 1942. Probate Oxford 16 March 1943 to Thomas Edwin Walker carpenter and William Norris Midgley solicitor's clerk. Effects £913 4s 9d.

1946: death of Emma Fountain aged 77

1946: Buckingham Advertiser, 13 July
[for sale by auction] No.18 High Street, containing five rooms, let on monthly tenancy of £16 5s 0d per annum (with every prospect of possession).

Sale brochure (D/WIG/2/8/399: vendor T. Walker, tenant E. Fountain)
LOT 1.With every prospect of Possession.
THE COMPACT SMALL HOUSE No. 18, HIGH STREET
Centrally situated, brick and tiled, with stucco front, and containing:-
Small lobby entrance with tiled floor. Front sitting room having square bay and cupboards, Lobby and Larder.
Living room fitted Abingdon range, Scullery with dresser, copper and sink.
Small landing.  Two bedrooms (1 with fireplace) on the first floor and attic bedroom above.
Gas connected.
At the back is a walled yard, with Staffordshire brick paths, approached along a passage between Nos. 20 and 22, High Street, and across the yard of No. 20.
Pump.  Brick and roofed W.C. and a timber and c(orrugated) i(ron) roofed lean-to coal shed.
Land tax 7/3.
In the occupation of the Representatives of the late Mrs. E. Fountain at £1 7s 1d. per calendar month, or £16 5s 0d. per annum. Landlord paying rates.
N.B.- The late tenant has recently died, and it is highly probable that when her affairs are settled by the Public Authorities they will desire to vacate the house.

1946: Buckingham Advertiser, 27 July
   Interest was created at Winslow on Monday by a property sale conducted by Messrs. George Wigley and Sons at the Bell Hotel, Winslow.  Lot 1, No. 18 High-street was purchased by Mr. P. W. Parker at £520...

It was used as an antiques shop until the Parkers moved to 26 High Street.

1958: Rate book
18 High Street: Shop & premises
Vacant

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20 High Street from c.1699

20 was in the same ownership as 22 from before 1684 (Robert Gibbs) until 1805 and from about 1812 to 1875. The southern part of 22 seems to have been treated as a separate property for a time (e.g. in 1765, see below, and in the Land Tax), and it is uncertain whether that or 20 is meant in some places. There is also a complication about the rear of the properties fronting Greyhound Lane, where the workshop which originally went with 20 was attached to 22 in 1875. This is now a separate property called The Old Coach House (made into a dwelling in 1976 after being used as an auctioneer's saleroom), which has also acquired some land from 22. See 22 High Street for the history of that building.

1729: death of Robert Gibbs. The manor court records for the year are incomplete, but it appears that 20-22 High Street passed to his son William Gibbs.

1748: Fire
William Gibbs maltster claimed £37 3s for damage to buildings.

1765: Will of William Gibbs the elder, husbandman (proved 1767)
I Give Devise and Bequeath unto my Son John Gibbs both those my Messuages or Tenements Situate Standing and being in Cow Street \in Winslow/ aforesaid and now in the Occupation of my said Son John Gibbs Together with the Malthouse and all Buildings and Appurtenances thereunto belonging (Excepting the Bay of Building call'd the Stall House as Aforesaid) ... [The Stall House next to the Back Lane was left to Richard Gibbs.]

1775: Fire started at 22 High Street, 14 Aug

1775: 11 September Sun Insurance 11936/240/358223

John Gibbs of Winslow maltster	£
On his now dwelling house only situate as aforesaid	80
Household goods therein only	50
Utensils and stock therein	20
Wearing apparel therein	10
Utensils and stock in his warehouse separate	40
Malthouse and barn under one roof separate	140
Utensils and stock (hay straw and corn unthrashed) therein	160
	__
	500

1781: Land Tax
John Gibbs Maltster (owner & occupier) 4s 1d

1786: Land Tax
John Gibbs Maltster (owner & occupier) 4s 5¼d

1790: Land Tax
John Gibbs' assessment of 13s 4½d included the Rose & Crown; the two properties were assessed together until 1810

1792:  Sun insurance LMA 11936/379/586316 Mich(aelma)s 1792 

John Gibbs and Mary Gibbs of Winslow in the County of Bucks, Maltsters & Milliners	£
On their now dwelling house & offices adjoining situate as aforesaid Brick & tiled	130
Household goods therein only	60
Utensils and stock (not hazardous) therein	100
Wearing apparel therein	30
Malthouse three Barns & Offices adjoin(in)g Brick & tiled	180
Utensils & Stock therein only	150
[Also includes the Rose & Crown and property in Great Horwood]

1798: Will of John Gibbs
He left to his wife Hannah Gibbs "two messuages since laid into one messuage and malthouse in Cow Street" and the Rose & Crown.

1805: Northampton Mercury, 12 Oct (also advertised in 1804 - it's not certain that this is John Gibbs' malthouse)
To Maltsters.
To be LETT, At WINSLOW, in the County of Bucks,
A Very neat and convenient MESSUAGE or TENEMENT, and MALTHOUSE, adjoining, capable of wetting 12 Quarters of Barley per Week, with two Barns, a Stable, and all other necessary Outbuildings, and a Yard and Garden walled in.
*** The above is a very eligible Situation for a Person who wishes to carry on the Malting Business, as there is a good Opening for a Maltster in the above Town.
*** The Whole of the Premises are in good Repair, and may be entered on immediately.
N.B. For further Particulars, apply to LANCELOT WYATT, Attorney at Law, in Winslow aforesaid.

1811: Will of Hannah Gibbs
She left her property to her brother James Morris for his life (and he seems to have lived briefly at 20), then to her three daughters "Ann the Wife of Thomas Morecraft Elizabeth Gibbs Spinster and Penelope Mayne Widow", but if Elizabeth wanted to buy out her siblings she could take "the whole of the Messuage or Tenement and Malthouse with the Appurtenances situate and being in Cow Street in Winslow aforesaid now in my own occupation".

1812: manor court
Hannah Gibbs of Winslow widow held 2 messuages now laid into one and a malthouse late in the occupation of James Morris, now Elizabeth Gibbs, to which she was admitted in 1798 as devisee of John Gibbs her husband.  By her will of 1803 she devised it to her brother James Morris for his life, then to her daughters Ann wife of Thomas Morecraft, Elizabeth Gibbs spinster & Penelope Mayne widow.  Elizabeth could buy the shares of the other two at an independent valuation.  Now Elizabeth, electing to take under the proviso, desires to be admitted.  Rent 2d, fine 5s. Ann Morecraft widow and James Hall of Winslow & Penelope his wife (late Penelope Mayne) surrendered all title to Elizabeth.

1814: Land Tax
Elizabeth Gibbs late Mr Morris (owner & occupier) 6s 8d

1816: Land Tax
Elizabeth Gibbs late Mr Morris (owner & occupier) 6s 8d

1821 & 1823: Land Tax
Elizabeth Gibbs (owner) Francis Budd (occupier)  6s 8d

Francis Budd was postmaster. He was succeeded by his widow Mary in 1823. According to A.J. Clear, Buckingham Advertiser, 21 Dec 1929:
...  About the year 1800, the post office was situate in a little alley leading from High Street (then called Cow Street) to the lane now known as Willis’s Lane and at the top of which was a public house, The Greyhound, adjoining which was a very ancient building now a printing office, but then the property of Mr. Stephen Gibbs, the postmaster who resided in the house occupied by Miss S. Walker, and used part of the old building for making gloves.  ...
And in his 1932 Old Winslow lecture:
Where Miss Sarah Walker’s shop is [20 High Street] was the Post Office, owned and occupied by one of the old family of Gibbs, Stephen, a glover by trade, who owned all that block which includes Miss French’s and it had been said that the post office door was up the passage. 
He seems to have been wrong about Stephen Gibbs, but it's possible that the "cattle entry" shown on the plan above gave access to a building at the rear used as the Post Office.

1824: Directory
Francis Budd, postmaster

1828: Land Tax
Elizabeth Gibbs (owner) Mrs Budd (occupier)  6s 8d

1830: Directory
POST OFFICE, High-street, Mrs. Mary Budd, Post Mistress.

1832: Land Tax
Elizabeth Gibbs (owner) Mrs Budd (occupier) House & Garden, 6s 8d

1839: Directory
Budd, Mary Post Mistress

1839: death of Mary Budd, aged 63

Church Rate
1838: Mary Budd
1839: Mrs Hawley

1841: Census
Hannah Hawley, 79, independent means
Elizabeth Fowler, 86, independent means
Emma Woodward, 24, servant

1842: will of Elizabeth Gibbs (proved 1846)
Leaves her copyhold property to her niece Mary Mayne.

1844: death of Hannah Hawley (widow of George Hawley d.1837)

1846: manor court
Mary Mayne was admitted to (as well as 22): 2 messuages now laid into one in Cow Street formerly in the occupation of James Morris late of Elizabeth Gibbs now of Elizabeth Eyre

Church Rate
1842-48: Mrs Eyre (marked "left" 1847-48)
This seems to be when Mary Mayne moved from 22 to 20.

1851: Census

Mary Mayne	head	unm	52	Milliner	b. Winslow
Anne Harpur	sister	wid	50	Milliner	ditto

1853: Directory
Mayne, Mary milliner & dressmaker High Street

1861: Census (assuming that the entries for 20 and 22 are in reverse order)

Mary Mayne	head	unm	69	Proprietor of houses	b. Winslow
Mary Harpur	niece		12	Scholar	b. London
Hannah Horn	head	wid	76	Independent	b. Swanbourne
Mary Dover	niece	unm	30		b. Thornton

1864: Directory
Mayne, Miss High Street

1871: Oxfordshire Telegraph, 21 June
WINSLOW DIVISION PETTY SESSIONS, JUNE 14.
  Magistrates present:  E. W. S. Lowndes, R. W. S. Lowndes, and John Lane, Esqrs.
  OBSTRUCTING ROAD AT WINSLOW.- Mary Mayne was charged with obstructing the road by having a dung pit standing from the wall 4 feet, at the back of her premises.- It appears that the road [Greyhound Lane] is used by the owners and occupiers of the premises near; some of them, viz., Mr. French, Mrs. Hutt, and others, having stables at the back.  The road when not obstructed is 15ft. 11in. wide, but the obstruction complained of reduced it to 11ft. 8in.- The Bench ordered defendant to remove the dung pit and to pay the costs of the case 4s.
In her will the premises at the back (the printing office) were left to Mary Mayne's half-brother (see below), and then attached to 22.

1871: Census (the order of the entries for 18-22 appears to have been confused; this household is listed where you would expect 18)

Mary Mayne	head	unm	77	Independent	b. Winslow
Ann Harpur	sister	wid	75	ditto	ditto
Ann Colton	-	unm	52	Lace maker	b. Great Linford

1873: manor court [mortgage; includes 22]
Conditional surrender: Mary Mayne of Winslow spinster on 28 Aug 1873 for £150 + 4.5% interest payable on 28 Feb next
To David Thomas Willis of Winslow & Henry William Bradford of no.86 Eccleston Square Belgravia esquire
... And also two messuages now laid into one messuage in Cow Street formerly in the occupation of James Morris, afterwards of Elizabeth Gibbs, late of Elizabeth Eyre and now of Mary Mayne.
Mary Mayne admitted 1846 as devisee of Elizabeth Gibbs.

1875: Will of Mary Mayne
... I devise the house garden and premises in Winslow aforesaid now occupied by me and also the building at the back now occupied by a Printing Office \by/ my half Brother James Gibbs Hall To my said half Brother James Gibbs Hall and his assigns for his life And from and after his decease I devise the same hereditaments and premises to his Wife Marian and her assigns for her life subject nevertheless to his and her insuring and keeping insured the same house and buildings against loss or damage by fire to the full value in the names or name of the Trustees or Trustee for the time being of this my Will and also keeping the same in good repair and condition (reasonable wear and tear excepted) And from and after the decease of the survivor of them the said James Gibbs Hall and Marian his Wife I devise the hereditaments to my Great nieces Mary Mayne Gibbs Harper and Annie Eliza Gibbs Harper and their respective heirs and assigns absolutely as tenants in common ...

1875: manor court
Admission of Mary Mayne's trustees to 22 refers to "the adjoining premises in the occupation of Daniel Davies".

1881: Census

Daniel Davis	head	mar	36	Tailor	b. Finmere
Elizabeth ditto	wife	mar	39		b. Bicester
Thomas G. ditto	son		13	Shop boy mess(enge)r	b. Buckingham
Mary Ann ditto	dau		11	scholar	b. Buckingham
Susan ditto	dau		9	ditto	b. Winslow
Rose ditto	dau		8	ditto	ditto
James ditto	son		7	ditto	ditto
William ditto	son		5	ditto	ditto

20 High Street (far right of photo), probably 1890s

1891: Census

Arthur Clear	head	mar	58	Registrar Births & Deaths	b. St Andrew the Less, Cambs
Caroline C. ditto	wife	mar	59		b. Milton, Northants

1901 Census: unoccupied

20-16 High Street viewed from the church tower, early 1900s. Photo from the collection of the late Ruth Hall MBE.

1910: Valuation (stamped Sep 30 1914)
No.181. High Street. House & Shop
Gross value £12. Rateable value £9 12s 6d.
Occupier: Mr Bendigo Walker
Owner: Miss S. Walker, 167 Hoxton Str, Hoxton, London
Freehold
[added in pencil] Also Miss Sarah J. Walker, ?High St.
Occupier's tenancy: yearly. Rent £12.
Land Tax 7/6. Owner exempt.
Tenant pays rates, landlord pays insurance.
Former sale: Dec 23rd 1909 £300
[added in red] Reserved on Miss S Walker, 167 Hoxton St., Hoxton, London, 14.11.14
Brick & tile house & shop
Shop, living room & scullery.
2 bedrooms & 2 attics.
Brick & tile shed & garden at back. 11 poles.
Valuation £280: site £55, buildings £205, easements £20.

1911: Census

Bendigo Walker	head	mar	71	Fruiterer, employer	b. Winslow
Ruth Walker	wife	mar	66	married 43 years, 6 ch, 5 living	b. Winslow
Josiah Walker	son	unm	41	Fishmonger, worker	b. Winslow
Sarah Jane Walker	dau	unm	38	Assistant	b. Winslow
Henry Robinson	grandson		8		b. London
5 rooms

20 and 18 (on the right), c.1920. The name on the shop front of 20 is "S. Walker".

1921: Census

Sarah Jane Walker	head	unm	48y 8m	Greengrocer, own account	b. Winslow
3 rooms

1929: Rating Valuation
20 High Street: House & shop
Owner & occupier: Sarah J. Walker

1939: Almanack
20 High Street: Sarah J. Walker

1939: Register, 20 High Street

Sarah Jane Walker	b.18 Oct 1872	single	invalid
Netta E. Walker	b. 23 June 1913	single	Shop keeper

1941: death of Sarah Walker (Netta Walker was her niece, daughter of Josiah)

1958: Rate book
20 High Street: Shop, house & premises
Owner & occupier: Miss N. Walker to 12.6.58 Mrs E.J. Beddows from 11.7.58

Mrs Beddows ran the shop as a greengrocer's and florist's, under the name "Elsie's" or "Elsie the Florist".