44 Village home complete with piggery goes under the hammer at auction - Nostalgia - Banbury Guardian

44 Village home complete with piggery goes under the hammer at auction - Nostalgia - Banbury Guardian

Auctions of property are often occasions on which to get detailed descriptions of historically significant buildings.

The evening sale at the Unicorn Hotel in Deddington Market Place on Tuesday, July 30 1907 was no exception. A substantial stone built house together with a large farmyard and associated structures owned by Mr Isaac Gibbs came under the hammer of Paxton and Holiday who were auctioneers, valuers and estate agents in the Bicester, Banbury and Chipping Norton areas.

Anyone looking for clues concerning the state of the property market at that time would have been best advised to check on the outcomes of an earlier auction held in the commercial room of Banbury’s Red Lion Hotel. The principal attraction at this sale had been a farm of over 69 acres at King’s Sutton. The bidding was brisk and it was eventually knocked down to Mr R. Spencer from Bolton who also acquired a house and associated premises located in the centre of the village.

On the poster used to advertise the Deddington event much was made of the village’s position in relation to Banbury and the presence of nearby railway stations.

The market town was only about six miles away but closer at hand were train stations at Aynho, Adderbury and King’s Sutton. As for the Unicorn, this like the Red Lion in Banbury was a survivor from a different transport era – the age of the rumbling stage coaches. In particular ‘the Queen’ a coach on the Oxford run called there morning and evening. Travellers would have found a mid-17th century inn but with late 18th and early 19th century alterations.