High Street
Oxford, OX1 4BG
See separate page for information about St John Street, Oxford.
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St John Street from Alfred Street, Oxford - cast iron 19th century boot scrapers along St John Street were manufactured at the Eagle Ironworks, Walton Street, Oxford
10 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper left side of doorway, situated on own stone block, property lease + plans August 1872(as with no 11) St John’s College Archive. 16th March 2011
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12 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper, right side of doorway step, showing caste iron grating to basement. Property lease + plans August 1873, St John’s College Archive.
16 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper, right side of doorway stone step. Property lease + plans February 1850, St John’s College Archive.
18 St John Street, Oxford simple, wrought iron boot scraper, left side of doorway affixed into wall and to pavement. Property lease + plans December 1873, St John’s College Archive. 16th March 2011
22 St John Street, Oxford
Cast iron boot scraper built into building recess.
24 St John Street, Oxford Robust cast boot scraper designed like a bridge, dimensions 6" across x 8" high left hand of doorway.
28 St John Street, Oxford. cast iron remains boot scraper right hand side of doorway, property lease + plans February 1873, St John’s College Archive.
16th March 2011
34 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper curtilege of building, external wall facing pavement, left hand side of doorway, 6" scraper across, 15 1/2" from pavement to top scraper. Property lease + plans April 1830, St John’s College Archive.16h March 2011
40 St John Street, Oxford cast iron boot scraper right hand side of doorway, situated in pavement.
16th March 2011
45 St John Street, Oxford cast iron boot scraper, right hand side of doorway, 6" across scraper x 4 1/2" from stone step to scraper. Property lease + plans December 1870, St John’s College Archive.
16th March 2011
54 St John Street, Oxford cast iron boot scraper, right hand side of doorway.
58 and 59 St John Street, Oxford
59 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper, right side of stone step. Owner said stone step had been replaced in 2009 and boot scraper put back. Property lease + plans August 1872, St John’s College Archive. 21st March 2011
St John Street meets Wellington Square at its northernmost end.
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"A plot sold in St John Street in April 1827 was the northernmost one on the east side. It was bounded on the north side by land belonging to the Guardians of the Poor, i.e. it was next to the House of Industry, or workhouse. Its proximity to this undesirable neighbour no doubt accounted for its being one of the earliest to sell in this street".(1)"Before the sixteenth century the established church and wealthy individuals provided relief for poor people in Oxford. Individual parishes subsequently set up workhouses to cater for their own paupers, but the scale of the problem in Oxford led in 1772 to the building of a workhouse for all the central parishes where Wellington Square now stands; this held 200 inmates and was administered by a Board of Guardians". (2)
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(1)"Building on the Beaumonts: An Example of Early 19th-Century (2)Housing Development" by Anson Osmond p.308
St John Street, from Wellington Square, south to north, towards Beaumont Street. All images for St John Street taken 28th March 2011 unless otherwise stated.
11 St John Street, remains of a cast iron boot scraper, cast. This boot scraper would have been similar to the boot scraper at 10 St John Street. 20th March 2011
16 and 17 St John Street, Oxford
Cast iron boot scrapers.
17 St John Street, Oxford, ornate, floral, fan design, cast iron 5 3/4" across x 8" high, left hand of stone step. Property lease + plans for property, November 1878 St John's College Archive.
Boot scraper, 21 St John Street, Oyster design, cast iron boot scraper, right side of doorway stone step.
16th March 2011
22 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper in curtilege of building right hand side of doorway - maybe perceived as a 'private' boot scraper for the residents of the house only.
27 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper Property lease + plans December 1873, St John’s College Archive. 16th March 2011
29 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper affixed into wall and pavement, left hand side of doorway, property lease + plans April 1836, St John’s College Archive.
39 St John Street, Oxford, partially mended boot scraper, cast iron boot scraper affixed into wall and pavement, right hand side of doorway, property lease + plans April 1836, St John’s College Archive. 16th March 2011
42 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper, 8" scraper x 3" to scraper from step, situated on stone step. Property lease + plans December 1894, St John’s College Archive. 16th March 2011
46, 49, 51 St John Street,
Oxford similar cast iron boot scrapers all right hand side of doorways. ​Property lease + plans no 46, July 1873, St John’s College Archive. 16th March 2011
55 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper, right hand side of doorway. nos. 55 and 56 were originally a school and then divided.
58 St John Street, Oxford, cast iron boot scraper right hand side of doorway, supplementary scraper on side. ​Property lease + plans August 1872, St John’s College Archive. 20th March 2011
St John Street, Oxford looking south to north
Daniel Miller suggests, ‘it is the fact that somewhere or something has remained the same and has not changed – it is the very ordinary, repetitive sameness that was itself, is what sustained relationships’ (1)
Daniel Miller, "The Comfort of Things", page 213, Polity, UK and USA 2008
Wrought iron boot scraper, attached to railings, similar boot scrapers at Nos 8 - 15 Wellington Square, Oxford. 26th April 2018