Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

7116, Ock Street similarly began as a C17th half-timbered house with wallsof lath and plaster and in other places, brick infilling between the timbers.The C19th alterations included heightening to the attic storey and rebuildingof the front in orange brick with vitrified headers. Nos. 18 - 20 werebuilt in the mid-C18th but the structure was refronted in the Victorianperiod. The drive leads to a long yard lined on one side by late C18th orearly C19th warehousing. The Conservation Area was extended to includethis range of buildings and it seems that the street frontage is to stayas it is but the shops may well be converted back into houses.8-10 LONDON ROAD, Bicester - Ival Hornbrook and John SteaneA Public Inquiry held in the Summer of 1977 resulted in a decision bythe Secretary of State for the Environment to demolish Nos. 8-10 LondonRoad, Bicester. An investigation to record these listed buildings wascarried out by RCHM (England) and by Ival Hornbrook and John Steane. No. 8was a two-bay house of mid-C17th date jettied at first floor level withcarved motifs on the ends of the projecting beam ends. The upper storeywas timber-framed behind modern stucco. The ground floor front room whichhad been adapted in the C19th to enable a shop front to be inserted stillretained the stubs of the bressumer that carried the original jettying.The ground floor rear room, no doubt formerly the kitchen, had clear indicationsof two former fireplaces lying behind the most recent one. Duringthe C18th the upper floor had been converted into an assembly room withtwo free-standing pillars of timber and plaster with Corinthian capitalsand other pieces of plaster decoration. Also, an L-shaped extension witha datestnne KGE 1770, with windows of the sliding casement type, was addedwith a frontage facing onto London Road. A magnificent staircase withmahogany handrail, Ionic fluted columns and carved bannisters had been inserted.This was taken out by the County Highways Department and has beendeposited in the County Museum at Woodstock. During the Victorian periodthe house was divided into two, and a small staircase with servant's roomat the head of it was inserted in the assembly room.OLD VICARAGE, Ardington (PRN 11,146) - Ival Hornbrook and John SteaneExtensive alterations proposed to modernise the listed building calledthe Old Vicarage led to a record being made of the house while the floorsand ceilings were exposed. Three phases of construction were noticed: Inc.1750 a four-bay house in chequered brickwork (now stucco-covered) wasbuilt facing the parish church of Holy Trinity. The fine door with case ofpanelled pilasters and dentilled cornice hood supported on carved scrollbrackets is set assymetrically in the front elevation. The originalstaircase appears to have been immediately behind the door. In phase 2,c.1775, a capacious wing was added to take a splendid staircase with sugarstickbalusters and an arched frame leading to the first floor landing.The partitions between the lower rooms of studding, lath and plaster fixedinto cill beams, perhaps unexpected in what is otherwise a solid brick-builthouse, apart from the gable-ends which are half-timbered and hung with overlappingscaletiles. Phase 3, c.1850, saw an additional bay added to therear. Interesting information can be collected about constructional detailsof Oxfordshire houses if the Museum is informed about drastic restorationssuch as this house experienced. The best time for such survey work to takeplace is while the builders are engaged in the preliminary stages of thereconstruction.