Back to gallery

The Barley Mow, Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire, England

This timber-framed building dates back to 1353 and is perhaps the most famous of all Thames-side pubs. The open timber work of the interior is impressive.

It isn't in the small village of Clifton Hampton itself, but just across the narrow, high-arched Victorian bridge that spans the River Thames that flows at the bottom of the pub’s grounds.

 

The Barley Mow was notably featured in chapter 18 of Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat, a short novel of the humorous misadventures of three men and a dog taking a two weeks rowing holiday from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford and considered a minor English classic. It's style is surprisingly modern and is still an enjoyable read today:

 

"If you stay the night on land at Clifton, you cannot do better than put up at the "Barley Mow." It is, without exception, I should say, the quaintest, most old-world inn up the river. It stands on the right of the bridge, quite away from the village. Its low-pitched gables and thatched roof and latticed windows give it quite a story-book appearance, while inside it is even still more once-upon-a-timeyfied."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Men_in_a_Boat

1,509 views
23 faves
6 comments
Uploaded on April 9, 2023
Taken on April 3, 2023