He became an advisor to Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster and Pope Pius IX.

Bowyer paid for Our Lady and St Edmund's Church.

In 1857, the church was completed and blessed by Thomas Grant, Bishop of Southwark.

the church consisted of a chancel, south chapel, cloister and the presbytery.

In 1982, a former school building, called St Edmund’s Lodge, was turned to a parish hall.