The Crown Hotel, also known as the Crown Inn, is a
timber-framed
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
, black-and-white hotel and public house located at 24 High Street in the town of
Nantwich
Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...
in
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
, England. The present building dates from shortly after 1583. One of three buildings in Nantwich to be listed at
grade I
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
, the listing describes the Crown Hotel as "an important late C16 building."
The existing hotel was built on the site of an earlier inn of the same name, destroyed in the Great Fire of Nantwich of 1583. This appears to have been constructed on an earlier industrial site, including a medieval
tannery
Tanning may refer to:
*Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather
*Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin
**Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun
**Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...
and an 11–12th century
salt working. The area has also been speculated to have been the location of
Nantwich Castle
Nantwich Castle was a Norman castle in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, built before 1180 to guard a ford across the River Weaver. The castle is first documented in 1288. It was last recorded in 1462, and was in ruins by 1485. No trace now remains abov ...
.
Archaeological findings
It has been speculated that the site, which forms a high point in the town adjacent to the river, might have been the location of
Nantwich Castle
Nantwich Castle was a Norman castle in Nantwich, Cheshire, England, built before 1180 to guard a ford across the River Weaver. The castle is first documented in 1288. It was last recorded in 1462, and was in ruins by 1485. No trace now remains abov ...
, which was built before 1180. Excavations behind the Crown Hotel in 1978 found evidence of terracing, perhaps representing a platform or mound, as well as a pre-medieval ditch, which might have formed the outer
bailey of the castle.
Roman pottery
Pottery was produced in enormous quantities in ancient Rome, mostly for utilitarian purposes. It is found all over the former Roman Empire and beyond. Monte Testaccio is a huge waste mound in Rome made almost entirely of broken amphorae used for ...
was also found in these excavations, including
Samian ware
Terra sigillata is a term with at least three distinct meanings: as a description of medieval medicinal earth; in archaeology, as a general term for some of the fine red Ancient Roman pottery with glossy surface slips made in specific areas of t ...
and roof tiles.
[McNeil Sale R. ''et al.'', pp. ?]
The excavations of 1978 found
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
leather shoes and numerous leather offcuts, suggesting a
tannery
Tanning may refer to:
*Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather
*Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin
**Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun
**Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...
was located on the site during this period. A D-shaped oak timber was found which might have formed part of a tanning bench, as well as wooden bowls and platters and medieval pottery.
Large amounts of burnt charcoal, coal and clay dating from the early post-Medieval period were uncovered; they are believed to represent an 11–12th century
salt working on the site.
History
![Crown Inn, Nantwich (detail)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Crown_Inn%2C_Nantwich_%28detail%29.jpg)
The Crown was formerly the principal inn of Nantwich.
Landlord Roger Crockett was murdered in a brawl on 19 December 1572, in a case that involved many of the town's gentry and was heard in the
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber (Latin: ''Camera stellata'') was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (c. 1641), and was composed of Privy Counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judic ...
. The original "Crowne" was one of seven inns destroyed in the Great Fire of Nantwich of 1583. The proprietor at the time of the fire was Robert Crockett.
[Hall, p. 105]
The present building is known to have been rebuilt shortly after the date of the fire.
[Pevsner & Hubbard, p. 287] The cost of £313 13
s 4
d was the greatest of all the buildings rebuilt at that time; £240 was contributed by Crockett.
[Lake, pp. 119–20] The rebuilt Crown was a
coaching inn
The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...
on the
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
to London road.
[Simpson, plate 93] During the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, the inn was used as a place of worship, while the
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
was a prison.
The
Duke of Monmouth
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...
dined at the Crown in 1682.
During part of the 18th century, the inn was known as the "Crown and Sceptre". The "Crown Inn Lodge", Nantwich's second
Masonic Lodge
A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...
, was founded in 1794 by
Sir Robert Salusbury Cotton, MP for the county of Cheshire, and presumably met at the Crown; it had 28 members in 1799. Plays were put on in the inn's
assembly room
In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there wer ...
until a theatre was built in the early 19th century. The Crown is described in an 1874 directory as a "Commercial Inn and Posting House", one of two in the town (the other being the
Lamb Hotel on Hospital Street). The Crown was run by the Piggott family for over 30 years from the late 1870s. Thomas Piggott, landlord in 1881, was the great grandfather of well-known jockey
Lester Piggott
Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest f ...
.
Description
The Crown Hotel is a black-and-white,
timber-framed
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
and plaster three-storey building with a tiled roof.
The street-facing front, described by
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
as "impressive", is flat and features
close studding
Close studding is a form of timber work used in timber-framed buildings in which vertical timbers ( studs) are set close together, dividing the wall into narrow panels. Rather than being a structural feature, the primary aim of close studding is to ...
with a middle rail.
Unlike many buildings of a similar date in the town, it lacks ornamental panelling.
[McKenna, p. 18] Each storey has small overhangs, with carved
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...
s (brackets).
All three storeys have restored
mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
ed and
transomed windows in oak.
The second (top) floor features unusual continuous windows along the entire front.
[Bethell, p. 204]
To the left of the street front is a covered passage known as Crown Mews, which was the entrance to the inn's stables at the rear. On the left of the passage is a recessed shop front; formerly a coffee shop, as of 2009 it houses a jeweller's.
The interior is in good condition. The ground floor features an 18th-century enclosed bar and a wall panel showing the original
wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...
construction.
A large beam supported by scrollwork forms an archway to the rear, where there is an 18th-century
assembly room
In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there wer ...
.
An iron
mantrap is mounted on the wall to the rear of the archway.
The second storey was originally a single gallery and was partitioned, probably in the 18th century.
Modern hotel
As of 2009, the Crown is an eighteen-bedroom hotel and public house and restaurant. It renovated its restaurant to a grill restaurant in January 2016 and now serves a range of grilled meats, fish and other dishes. The Crown is licensed for civil wedding ceremonies.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Nantwich, Cheshire
*
Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire
The county of Cheshire is divided into four unitary authorities: Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East, Warrington, and Halton.
As there are 142 Grade I listed buildings in the county they have been split into separate lists for each uni ...
References
Sources
*Bethell D. ''Portrait of Cheshire'' (Robert Hale; 1979) ()
*Boyd D. ''A Bibliographical Dictionary of Racehorse Trainers in Berkshire 1850–1939'' (1998)
*Garton E. ''Nantwich in the 18th Century: A Study of 18th Century Life and Affairs'' (Cheshire County Council; 1978)
*Hall J. ''A History of the Town and Parish of Nantwich, or Wich Malbank, in the County Palatine of Chester'' (2nd edn) (E. J. Morten; 1972) ()
*Lake J. ''The Great Fire of Nantwich'' (Shiva Publishing; 1983) ()
*
Pevsner N.,
Hubbard E. ''The Buildings of England: Cheshire'', p. 287 (Penguin Books; 1971) ()
*McKenna L. ''Timber Framed Buildings in Cheshire'' (Cheshire County Council; 1994) ()
*Simpson R. ''Crewe and Nantwich: A Pictorial History'' (Phillimore; 1991) ({{ISBN, 0-85033-724-0)
*McNeil Sale R. ''et al.'' ''Archaeology in Nantwich: Crown Car Park Excavations'' (Bemrose Press; 1978)
External links
Crown Hotel, Nantwich
Buildings and structures completed in 1583
Grade I listed pubs in Cheshire
Hotels in Cheshire
Buildings and structures in Nantwich
Timber framed buildings in Cheshire