Red Lion, Grantchester

History of the Red Lion Grantchester

1777 – 1809  Axe and Saw

The pub then alternated between ‘The Axe and Saw’ and ‘The Red Lion’ until 1922 when the name Red Lion was applied for the last time.

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19th cent pub owned by Banks and Taylor which had tea garden and bowling green

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1895 (August)

Inquest held into death of Francis Iltid Nicholl, of Clare College, by drowning. He had been rowing at Byron’s Pool with fellow undergraduate Thomas Knight. The boat capsized. Verdict of ‘accidentally drowned.’

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1936 current Red Lion built (designed for Greene King by the architect Basil Oliver, who also designed the Portland Arms in Cambridge)

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1941

Jack Overhill records in his diary 23rd June:

While at the Red Lion at Grantchester, we joined the crowd listening to Churchill’s broadcast on the war situation; he surprised me by saying we were going all out to help Russia.

Grantchester Pubs