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Arrow is known chiefly because it contains Ragley Hall. However, during the Middle Ages the parish of Arrow consisted of three manors, viz.Ragley, Arrow and Kingley (as well as Oversley on the other side of the river) By A.D. 1600 these three had united into one estate under the Conway family and it has remained a Conway - Seymour manor until the present day ,centred on Ragley Hall. In earlier days there were three manor houses: besides Ragley Hall (the present house of 1680 replacing the original manor house) there was the Arrow manor house (thought to have occupied the site of Arrow Lodge) and the house at Kingley,
The three manors used Arrow church as their parish church but since 1600 it has been almost a private chapel to the masters of Ragley.
Arrow has always been a farming parish, with any industry closely related to farming. In the 19th century ,however ,there were three newcomers, viz. the tollhouse (still extant), the coachbuilding firm of George Clarke and the waterwheel and borehole which were the power house of the Alcester Waterworks Company.
Today, Arrow is the village which people go through to get to Bidford, Evesham and Ragley Hall. Much of the acreage of the Parish is taken up by Ragley Park, which provides a beautiful setting for the classical splendour of the Hall.
© G.E. Saville 1992