The claim
Just south of the Thames bridge at Clifton Hampden, this low thatched inn is dated to 1352 and became famous when Jerome K. Jerome called it the quaintest, most old-world inn up the river in Three Men in a Boat. Henry Taunt photographed it in 1877. Today it is a dining pub popular with riverside walkers.
What the records show
The 1352 is carved on the building: the listing records a panel dated 1352 to the right of centre on the front, so the date is the house's own assertion rather than Historic England's dating of the cruck frame, which the listing leaves undated apart from C19 and C20 alterations. The thatched timber-framed building is read as mid-14th century, but its use as an inn is only documented much later, notably in Victorian Thames guides and Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat (1889).
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1352 | Claimed founding | The pub |
| c.1352 | Present building | Building fabric |
What to look for inside
- Praised in Three Men in a Boat (1889)
- Photographed by Henry Taunt in 1877
- Described as the best known of all Thames pubs
Visiting
The Barley Mow is in Clifton Hampden, England, at Clifton Hampden, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley_Mow,_Clifton_Hampden
- camra.org.uk/pubs/barley-mow-clifton-hampden-143668
- ratings.food.gov.uk/business/272006
- historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1047903
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
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