Crown Hotel History
Previously the Dower House, belonging to the Manor
1605 - 1608 as a coaching house on the main stretch of road to London.
The coaching house was also used as a courthouse and trials were held there by the infamous Judge Jeffries during the Bloody Assizes. It was also home for the Judge while the trials were being held there. Jeffries was a harsh Judge and would hang people for the smallest of crimes. The prisoners would be held in the mansion house which was used as a prison and was across the road from the then courthouse. The prisoners would be lead from the prison to the courthouse through an underground passageway which linked the two buildings together. They were then held in a small underground room at the end of the passage till it was their turn to face the Judge. Once they had been found guilty they would then be led outside to the front of the courthouse and hanged. There are still gallows where they would have stood today which holds the Hotels sign.
According to the following record, the Inn was built in the 1700s- Seeing as the Bloody Assizes took place in 1685, and Judge Jeffries was dead by 1689, it seems highly unlikely that the present building was used for this purpose.
Inn. Early C18. Painted brickwork with slate roof. Two storeys, basement and attics, 4 bays. Central two bays recessed behind single bay wings. Pedimented doorcase in left recessed bay over 5 steps. Paned timber windows. End bays are set forward, that to left has canted bay window to ground floor, and wing to right has two blank arches. Roofs hipped, with central dormer and dormer to each wing. Further two dormers on south return elevation. Twelve- paned sashes. Plat band, and moulded eaves. Sun Insurance Fire mark No 109250. Interior: Not seen, may be of interest.
1748- According to Parish Registers, home of Alicia, wife of Charles Bennet, Lord Ossulston (later 3rd earl of Tankerville), a daughter of Sir John Astley (d. 1771).
1790- Converted to present use
9th Jan 1792- appeared in Salisbury and Winchester Journal- “last Tuesday night, three men met at the Crown Inn, Everley and for a trifling wager, ate 60 red herrings with three half-gallon loaves and drank six gallons of beer”
1826- While he was excavating the barrows on the surrounding downs, Sir Richard Colt Hoare also sojourned at the "Crown" and describes it thus: "A good site on the verge of very fine down, and from its tranquillity and retirement, most admirably suited to the studies of an antiquary."
August 27th, 1826- William Cobbett stayed here. In his famous Rural Rides, he writes: "This inn is one of the nicest, and in summer one of the pleasantest in England: for I think that my experience in this way will justify me in speaking thus positively. The house is large, the stables good, the landlord a farmer also, and therefore no cribbing your horses in hay or straw, and yourself in eggs and cream. The garden which adjoins the south side of the house is large, of a good shape, consists of well disposed clumps of shrubs and flowers, and of short grass very neatly kept. In the lower part of the garden there are high trees, and amongst these, the tulip tree and the live oak. Beyond the garden is a large clump of lofty sycamores and in these a most populous rookery".
1851- Census entry- George Miles- Publican married to Elizabeth Miles. 2 Servants listed- Mary A Bendall (21) and Daniel Shirman (18). Three Agricultural labourers listed- Harvey Humber (59), Henry Humber (15) and Charles Crown (29)
1861- George and Elizabeth Miles still there- had had 5 children in those 10 years- Joseph (9), Robert (8), Alice (6), Emma (4) and Arthur (1). 4 Servants listed- Elizabeth Hart (17), Charlotte Bowe (16), Susan Hawkins (12), Andrew Walton (14)
1871- Between the two censuses, George died. Elizabeth still there, with two children listed- Joseph and Alice. Also 1 barmaid (Mary Sherman (18)) and 3 Servants listed (Martha Heath (21), Katy Harden (13) and Frank Rich (14))
1881- Pub in hands of Thomas and Sarah Smith. Thomas listed as a ‘Hotelkeeper’. 2 Servants listed- Sarah Cowdry (22), Housemaid, and Sarah J Bowley (15), Kitchenmaid. Three visitors listed in entry- John Frost (29), Falconer, William H St Quinton (29), J.P. for East Riding, Yorkshire, and Rancisdary Newcome, 29, J.P. for Norfolk- Lieut artillery Militia Norfolk. Hints at Crown being used for sporting pursuits such as Hawkery.
1891- Thomas Smith listed as licensee- Widower. Two Nieces listed as barmaids- Emily L Willis (20) and Annie M Willis (18). 7 Visitors listed, Benjamin R H Jones, (32) a retired Lieutenant in the 6th Dragoon Guards Samuel J Mayser (31), Groom Domestic Servant, William Pennington (24), Valet Domestic Servant, George Oxer (28), Falconer Domestic Servant, William Collman (29), Under Falconer Domestic Servant, Richard Jackson (19), Groom Domestic Servant and Mary Ballard (58), Cook.
1901- Thomas John Lewis and his Wife Rosetta listed as Hotel Keeper with their son George Frederick (10). 2 Visitors listed (Emma Warlock (44) and George F L Thompson (22)). Listed also are 4 boarders, including George Oxer (37) and William Coleman (39), both listed as falconers. Both of these two were listed in 1891 as being here. George Oxer married within the previous 10 years, however, William Coleman’s wife passed away during the same period. Also boarding are Harry Hawtin (39), and Richard Jackson (29), both listed as grooms. Finally listed here are 5 servants- Alice Carter (33), housemaid domestic, Alice Amor (19), Annie Mary Nash (17) and E Daisy Louise Kent (14), general domestic, and Harry Underwood, (15), Boots at Hotel.
1947- Included in the list of buildings of architectural and historical interest prepared in accordance with Section 30 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947.
