Radley Village - History of the Bowyer Arms

History of the Bowyer Arms

The village pub, the Bowyer Arms, was built around the middle of the 19th century on the site of an earlier farmhouse, no doubt to provide hospitality services for users of the nearby railway station. The name derives from the Bowyer family who, at the time, owned the Radley Hall Estate and many properties in and around the village, having inherited them from the Stonhouse family in 1794. Morlands, the Abingdon brewers, originally rented the property from the Bowyer estate and eventually purchased it in 1882.


	The Bowyer Arms in July 2004

The present licensees, Eddie and Carol Cavanagh, took over the tenancy in 1991. With the demise of Morlands and the Abingdon Brewery in 1999, the pub passed into the hands of Greene King. Since then it has been extensively renovated both internally and externally and, particularly in summer when the many hanging baskets are in full bloom, provides an attractive centrepiece to the village. More information on the history of the Bowyer Arms can be found on the pub's own website.