Bowlers Orchard

Why was the road at the top of Deanway called Bowlers Orchard and was there a "Bowler"?

In the 1840 Tithe Apportionment the Orchard (Piece 566) was owned by W Johnson, who probably lived in London and let it to W Curtis. By the 1904 valuation it was occupied by William Hearne and owned by the James Tyrell (Piece 255/6). In 1915 Jane Tyrell is listed as the Executor of W Johnson and it is still occupied by W Hearne (piece 421).

It was probably sold after that time and bought by one of the Bowler family which could give it its name. They had been in Chalfont St Giles since the mid 1800s but were labourers and carters and living in the Three Households area.

However a William Bowler appears in the 1935 and in the 1939 Kelly's Directories he is a Coal Merchant working from Narcot Lane.

Bowlers Orchard does not appear in the 1952 street directory although the shops and garage at the corner of Narcot Lane do exist so some of the original Orchard does seem to have been developed by that time

To get more detail one would have to look at the post war planning info at the council offices.

There is an alternative theory about the name which is that it is a corruption of Bowles Orchard after the farm of that name at the other end of Three Households. The name Bowles goes back some hundreds of years but there is no evidence of the orchard plot ever belonged to it.

REFERENCES. Unless otherwise specified, all references given above refer to catalogue references at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies at Aylesbury. (County Record Office)

This print is a section of the Chalfont History website.

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