Home > Hampshire > Botley > Catherine Wheel Catherine Wheel

Picture source: Colin Emery

The Catherine Wheel was situated on the High Street and was probably the first public house in Botley. Like other inns in the village it was a coaching inn, as the arched entrance at the side testifies. It is first mentioned in records of 1545 and was listed in the early nineteenth century trade directories as one of five public houses trading in the square. It was bought by the Church of England Temperance Society in 1882, with major contributions from Mrs Lee, the Rector's wife, and Henry Jenkyns of Botley Hill House, and was rebuilt and enlarged to become a temperance hotel and coffee house. During the Second World War the accommodation was used for troops and evacuees. The grocery and sweet shop, which it had become under the supervision of Bert Earwicker, continued to prosper under the new owners, Mr and Mrs Taylor. In 1980 it was bought by Mr Peter Fagg and was converted to a bakery and remained very popular until it closed in 2003. Some of the stones used in the building are claimed to have been brought to Botley by river barges, which used them as ballast!

I remember about 60 or so years ago my father showing me “hangman’s corner” on the way from Botley to Swanwick. Apparently the local lore has it that a highwayman was caught there and taken to Botley and then hung at the Catherine Wheel.

Geoff Dimmick (January 2020)

I am currently going through my great grandfather's journals and came across a slightly odd story about the Catherine Wheel in Botley, Hampshire..... "there is a true and tragic yarn about this village, the inhabitants of which do not like to be reminded about. Just below the Dolphin Hotel is an inn called the Catherine Wheel. In this house, some years ago, were assembled a party of men who, by way of a little diversion, hit upon the practise of 'playing at hanging'. They singled out a man who they prepared for the process and placing the stool under his feet, triced him up to the beam by the neck. It happened just at this moment that a band passed the window and this being an unusual sight for Botley, the occupants of the Inn became so excited that they rushed out to see the fun, leaving the victim still hanging. In the meantime, he, in his struggles to free himself, kicked away the stool, with the tragic result that he was properly hanged. When the men returned, he was found stone dead." C Tibbits 24th June 1897 I guess this was considered entertainment in the days before TV!!

Will Tibbits (April 2025)

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Other Photos

Picture source: Barry Taylor