A TOUR OF OLNEY MARKET PLACE - NUMBER 20

Woosters and Rose Court
No 20 Market Place, 2005
Number 20 Market Place may well have belonged to the Smith family, but was occasionally occupied by tenants. William Smith was there in 1801 and 1810/11 but John Litchfield was there in 1833 and Millicent Litchfield ran a 'Pot Shop' in 1841 and Hannah Litchfield advertises her eating house in 1844. A sketch of the property made in 1862, shows a 'Smith, Builder" signboard, and Eli Smith and son were still there 25 years later.

The 20th century saw many changes, the property seeming to be used as a springboard to greater things, as the next four occupiers all removed to larger premises. Charles Dimmock had his Cycle Store there in 1900 and a year later Olney Co-operative Society opened a grocery and coal shop. By 1924 the Marshall Brothers had begun their hairdressing business and by 1935 Wilfred Vincent Turner had started his hardware business from these premises. In 1936 Emily Minard and Winifred Perkins are recorded as living there.