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THE STORY OF ROSE AND CROWN

Rose and Crown House with its two gabled dormers is described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as the best of the C17th and C18th houses in the Lower High Street

We do not know precisely when Rose and Crown House was built or whether there was a previous possibly timber house on the site. Chipping Campden was laid out as a new town in the late Norman period and although the house is built on one of the burgage plots laid out at right angles to the High Street, because of the speculative nature of the foundation not all the plots would have been  built upon in the early stages of the development of the town. This part of the Lower High Street was formerly known as Cowfair because of the cattle market held there until the early part of this Century.

What we do know is that the main part of the current house fronting onto the High Street is Jacobean. Percy Rushen in his "History of Campden" says that in 1628 the house was owned by William Gibbert a"collar maker" in other words a "ruffmaker" and occupied by William Russell.

The main part of the house is built of Westington stone on a wooden frame which would have been constructed first and can be seen through various rooms in the house. There is a stone slate roof with leaded dormer windows although it is unlikely that they would have contained glass in the early days as it was so expensive. Above the dormers  and at the ridge are stone crosses facing the sky to discourage evil spirits. The inglenook fireplace the Front Sitting Room would originally have been bread ovens and another very unusual feature is the early Eighteenth Century side sliding sash window in the present Dining Room, although unfortunately it no longer opens. The bubble glass in the windows is original and shows how Georgian window glass was made and because of its high cost every part was used.

The oak front door opens into the horse passage through which animals were led to the stables previously located  in what is now the Garden Room. It is possible to see the old door openings in the side wall. Behind the house is a walled garden through which at the far end flows the River Cam. Since the late Nineteenth Century it has been in culvert to prevent flooding. It is about eight feet below ground level and can be seen over the wall. 

When the house was used as an inn there was no bar counter and ale and cider were served from barrels in the Cellar which is now used as the Utility Room and  you can still see the raised platform where the barrels were placed. The Front Sitting Room was the "public" bar and the panelled Dining Room was the "Private" Bar.

In 1816 the property belonged to William Holmes of Westington from whom it descended to his nephews William Henry and George Keen. The earliest reference to the house as an inn is in the deeds of a nearby house in 1838 when Benjamin Blakeman was the landlord. Although the name Rose and Crown implies a tudor origin it is not thought that it was used as an inn prior to the Nineteenth Century.  Benjamin Blakeman was followed in 1843 by Michael Howley, in 1853 by Thomas Howley and in 1864 by Frederick Phipps.

In 1871 the inn was taken over by John Hartwell a timber and coal dealer and in the book "Inns and Aleshouses of Chipping Campden and Broad Campden" it is reported that when Hartwell applied to the Licensing Magistrates the Chairman said  "Don't you think you could do better than keep a public house?" to which he replied  " I will keep my house as it ought to be and if the company don't keep themselves right I'll stop the tap." The following year during the Hiring Fair he roasted a pig outside the Rose and Crown.

In 1874 there was a serious fire at Rose and Crown  when a chimney fire ignited two beams, smouldered all day and night and burst into flames damaging both Rose and Crown and the adjoining property.

In 1881 the innkeeper was John Waine and from 1891 until 1903 Frederick Timms was landlord. Sadly he killed himself when depressed over the loss of  a favourite horse. There is a photograph of the house at the turn of the century during his tenure when it was owned by Hitchman and Co, the brewers, which shows a number of signs the location of which can be seen to this day in the remains of the fixings above the Front door. One of the signs advertised  "good stabling."

In the book on the Guild of Handicraft  "The Simple Life " it is recorded that when    C R Ashbee brought the Guild to in 1902  a number of the guildsman lodged at the Rose and Crown Inn until they were found permanent accommodation elsewhere.

By 1918 the Rose and Crown was  a cider house and was one of six pubs in Campden which lost their licences. Mrs Ellen Bridge, the licensee, pleaded at the Petty Sessions that her husband away at the war in the Army and she had three children to support. Trade was good and she was dependent  on the licence. There were club meetings fortnightly with 58 members. Unfortunately she lost the case and the  licence was revoked for a  number of reasons including the entrance to the stables being through the house and there being no "jug and bottle" what today we would call an off licence. As the Great War ended  the inn finally closed and Mrs Bridge moved to the Red Lion.

Rose and Crown reverted to a private house and for part of the period was occupied as two separate houses with the Garden Room annex the home of Judge Cust. The conversion work carried out by the well known Cotswold architects Norman Jewson and H M Gimson at this time in an "Arts and Crafts" style can still be seen in the Garden Room Bedroom and in the Stained glass and unusual French windows in the Garden Room itself. During this Century the house passed through a number of hands until it was acquired by the present owners in 1972.