 | The Old Black Horse Inn Oxford The Old Black Horse Inn, 102 St Clements Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX4 1AR "he hotel is located some five minutes walk from the centre of Oxford City just beyond the world famous High. The historic buildings of the city and university are nearby and Magdalen College with its beautiful Deer Park is just across the river from the hotel." |
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The Old Black 17th Century Coaching Inn
102 St Clements Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX4 1ARTelephone: 01865 244691
Fax: 01865 242771
English Tourism Council 4 Stars
The hotel is located some five minutes walk from the centre of Oxford City just beyond the world famous "High". The historic buildings of the city and university are nearby and Magdalen College with its beautiful Deer Park is just across the river from the hotel. The building is listed as being of historic and architectural interest and is believed to be of 16th century origin.  All the bedrooms are en-suite and equipped with remote control television, direct dial telephone and tea and coffee making facilities. All the rooms have their own individual character but keep with the general theme of the hotel, leading to the rooms are winding staircases, split level floors and various heights to the ceilings, all in all adding to the 'oldy-worldy' features of this unique building. The lounge with its wing armchairs offers a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere to enjoy a drink or just to read and chat with friends. The guest bar has comfortable armchairs where you can enjoy locally brewed beers. Snacks are available at the bar.  A Full English Breakfast is served in our dining room between 7:30 - 8:30 am (Weekdays) and 8.15am - 9.15am (Weekends and Bank Holidays).  Special dietary requirements can be catered for if requested in advance. There are a variety of restaurants adjacent to the Hotel offering a wide range of styles and International cuisine in addition to those in the City Centre. Touring is a pleasure with grand houses such as Blenheim Palace, Warwick Castle and Windsor Castle contrasting sleepy Cotswold villages. A visit to The Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon is always a rewarding experience.  There is a large and secure car park at the rear of the hotel. |
| History The Old Black Horse Hotel lies on the corner of St. Clements Street to the north, at its entrance, & Dawson Street to the east, and it is very much a survivor of ancient St. Clements, which was originally so-called after the mediaeval church and churchyard of the same name, standing in the middle of what is now known as 'The Plain'. In the Middle Ages St. Edmunds Well was beside the church, and miracles were believed to occur there. Nevertheless, the Bishop of Lincoln forbid the veneration of the Well both in 1240 and again in 1304. St. Clements Old Church, its "little whitened tower, adorned with pinnacles," was taken down in 1829, having been replaced by a new St. Clements Church further to the east, and so the area literally became "a plain", that is an open space surrounded by buildings. Most of St. Clements formed part of land granted by King Ethelred's Charter to St. Frideswide's, (which means Bond of Peace), Priory in 1004. St. Clements chapel was not given to St. Frideswide's until 1122, but was probably in existence much earlier. At this time the district was known as Bruggeset (Bridset or Bridgeset), or Bolshipton (with alternative spellings - a shippon being a cattle-byre), and the name of St. Clements did not come into use until the seventeenth century.The Bolshipton House stood opposite the Old Black Horse Inn, and the Bolles family, whose house it was, were farmers in the locality in the thirteenth century when St. Clements was largely rural. In 1643, at the time of The Civil War, the house was pulled down to make way for the erection of fortifications between the Royalist Defenders and the opposing Parliamentarians during their siege of Oxford; in fact St. Clements suffered very greatly because not only was a whole street destroyed, but many other houses on the fringes were also levelled to prevent the enemy from using them for cover. As a consequence the early seventeenth century Black Horse Inn, now a Hotel, built originally on the site of Green Croft (No. 102 St. Clements) is almost the only local building to have survived the ravages of the Civil War. Dawson Street is named after Thomas Dawson of Reading, the son of an Oxford Alderman, who left land in trust to the church in 1521. Similar by Boulter Street, close by, is so-called after Edward Boulter, the heir of his great-uncle Sir John Cutler, who gave a sum of money in 1736 to build Armhouses in St. Clements for "six poor neat, honest men". In 1786 a house was added to the Cutler-Boulter Armhouses for the use of an apothecary. It was to be the earliest dispensary in Oxford, and served this purpose for over fifty years, until 1844. St. Clements lay, of course, on the main road to London. And was therefore also much used for the carriage of stone from Headington Quarry and wood from the Shotover Royal Forest (where, indeed, the people of St. Clements had forest rights until the early nineteenth century), but the cost of maintaining the road fell heavily upon the parishioners, amongst whom there was considerable poverty. Although some money was given for improvement, notably by Cardinal Wolsey when materials were being carried by way of the road for the building of his Cardinal's College (now Christchurch College), poverty was such in St. Clements that many did not go to church, because they could not afford decent clothes. Moreover, increasing numbers of poor people were moving into the area, as their homes were demolished to make way for college building development. In the circumstances it is no surprise that the cholera epidemic of 1832 spread very quickly here. Despite the depradations of the Civil War, by 1675 there were more houses in St. Clements than before, largely because tradesmen then found it a convenient place from which to conduct trade with the city market, while avoiding the regulations and fees imposed by the city freemen. John Knibb (1650-1722), a legendary English clockmaker, began his business here and by the eighteenth century a whole variety of shopkeepers and tradesmen were all trading around the surviving seventeenth century Black Horse Inn, and many college servants were living in the vicinity also. In 1746 Jackson first published his "Oxford Flying Weekly Journal" (which preceded "Jackson's Oxford Journal") in St. Clements, and Parkers Bookshop started up at about the same time as an open-air stall, also close beside the Old Inn. The Court of the lords of the Manor of Headington was convened at the Inn in earlier times and there were then, conveniently, stocks on the cobbles outside, which did not go unused. From the seventeenth century onwards there was bull and bear baiting, frequently attended by Members of the University, and it is recorded that in 1871 a man was gored by a bull. A fair, too, was held just in front of the Black Horse for toys and trinkets each Thursday before Michaelmas in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and this continued annually as a Michaelmas Pleasure Fair until the 1930's. Over the centuries the fortunes of St. Clements have varied very considerably, but the one surviving constant seems to be the Old Black Horse Hotel itself, which is still serving its patrons as well as it ever has done for nearly 400 years. |
| TARIFF SINGLE £65.00 DOUBLE OR TWIN £95.00 FAMILY (1 Double, 1 Single) £110.00 SINGLE OCCUPANCY £80.00 Room price includes Full English Breakfast and VAT. SELF CATERING PRICES 1 Bed £675.00 per week 2 Bed £775.00 per week VISA, SWITCH & DELTA card are welcome All our rooms are en-suite, have remote control colour television, direct dial telephone as well as tea and coffee making facilities. |
| Conditions of Booking All accommodation is offered subject to availability at time of receipt of deposit and at the tariffs applicable according to season. Rooms must be vacated by 10.30am on the morning of departure. The proprietor cannot accept responsibility for loss of guests' property unless handed in for safe custody. Accounts must be paid before departure unless arrangements have been made at the time of booking and we have written confirmation of this. Cheques will be accepted within the limit of their guarantee card, which must accompany them. In the event of cancellation or curtailment, the person whose name appears on the booking form or any letter of confirmation will be liable to pay the total cost as per the reservation less an allowance for food, service and VAT for any period which is no re-let. (This amounts to 70% of the quoted price). Deposits are not refundable but will be deducted from any claim for compensation arising out of any curtailment of the contract. The proprietors reserve the right to amend, curtail or terminate any contract should the conduct of any person who is part to the contract cause any detriment to the well being or comfort of other guests. |
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