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The Old Crown Inn Deritend

This is a very early photo of the Crown if the date is to be believed 1857 and I believe that is about as early as commercial photos get. It shows the crown as a series of shops and I don't think one of them is a pub.

Phil
Replacement photo which I am pretty sure is same as original
DeritendCrown1857.jpg

Deritend%20Crown 1857.jpg
 
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Phil
Certainly J A Wheeler & Solomon Wilkes were listed there in 1855 and 1858. Can;t fit the Thomas xxx to the right of the Crown name . the landlord in 1855 was
Thomas Dayson, so maybe that was it, though it doesn't look like Dayson to me. There is a Thomas Franks , furniture broker at 183, but I reckon that would be too far along to be shown in the photo.
mike
 
Amazing how good some of the early photo's are. If that is 1857 then it is clear that the Old Crown was very old then. It's history is not clear and it was probably modified and refurbished even by this time. The overhanging portico though seems to suggest that it may have been used to offload things from wagons and they possibly may have been beer barrels. I am not sure but think that the Golden Lion had a similar appendage. I would have thought that deliveries would have been out back though. Anyway, if a guild hall at one time, that may have moved to the Guild Hall Of The Holy Cross in New Street (don't remember when...1500s or so?)....well that later building was gone way before this time to be replaced by two buildings by 1857...and yet the Old Crown still stood as it's no doubt refurbished version does today. Still very much the same landmark that Shakespeare might have seen. Surely he must have visited Brum on occasion. Maybe he stayed at the actors temple on Temple Row; if it was there in his day.
 
Is the Old Crown still there? I did a few gigs at the pub in the 50s with the 'Johnny Kaula' band,Lots of laffs! Hawiian music in an old English pub! We all wore the shirts and even had a hula girl. John Crump OldBrit Parker. Co USA
 
Is the Old Crown still there?

Yes it's still there. The Old Crown official website


The Old Crown, Digbeth by ell brown, on Flickr

The Old Crown Inn was built in the late 15th century by the Guild of St John the Baptist of Deritend, one of the two guilds in Birmingham, religious orders to which only the town's richest citizens could belong. Such guilds flourished as a link between the church and secular society, and as well as spiritual support provided members with a form of social security and welfare benefit. This building was originally the Guildhall, where members of the guild met and prayed, and was also a school for the children of the guild members. The Guildhall was timber-built, infilled with wattle and daub, and the original ground floor contains a large meeting hall and smaller master's room. The building was turned into an inn in the 19th century, and has recently been restored.

Above info from Walks Through History: Birmingham by John Wilks

186, 187 and 188, Birmingham

HIGH STREET
1.
5104
Deritend B12
The Old Crown Public House
and Nos 186, 187 and 188
(formerly listed as Crown
Inn)
SP 08 NE 7/54 25.4.52
II*
2.
Claimed to date from 1368 but more probably early C16. Timber framed with plaster
infill; tile roof. Two storeys (and always so), the upper one jettied; 5 bays, the
centre on an advanced and gabled porch wing, coved and carried on simple modillion
brackets, the outer 2 with larger though less advanced gables with carved bressummers.
The ground floor with a central large entrance, public house windows on the left and 2
shop windows and doors on the right. First floor windows all C19 3-light each outer
gable and one either side of the porch.



Listing NGR: SP0801886323​
Source: English Heritage
Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence: PSI Click-use licence number C2008002006.
 
This Guildhall may have been in Aston when built...on the side of the Rea that it is. Perhaps the reason for the other one in Birmingham. The boundaries changed over time.
 
Phil
As i have stated before, the date on some of the earlier directories are sometimes not exactly correct, but, in the 1855 post office directory Solomon Wilkes is a stone mason in Heath mill lane, and Joseph wheeler a butcher at 186 High st deritend . However in Slaters 1852 directory ther is no Joseph wheeler butcher mentioned and Solomon wilkes, stone mason is listed as at 33 Green St (the other side of deritend). Although the uncertainty of the dates of the directories doesn't make it definite, this would seem to give some support to the 1857 date
mike
 
this i think is my favourite on of the old crown..taken in the winter time...dated 1938

old_crown_winter_1938.jpg
 
Now this is possibly a silly question. But is the whole of the building the Crown Inn? Or is only part of it (i.e the end nearest Heath Mill Lane on the left-hand side?) The reason I ask is that the various photos seem to show the right-hand side section of the building has had other functions e.g. cafe in Lyn's post and greengrocers(?) in Phil's post. I know it started out way back as one whole building/hall, but in later years did the Crown Inn occupy only the left half of the building? My guess is the right-hand side (street level) has, over time, but sublet to other people. Viv.
 
Gorgeous Lyn. I never cease to be amazed that this place is still standing, especially given the town planning 1970s track record. Externally, it must be almost unaltered since, well maybe a few hundred years. Pure delight, thanks Lyn excellent quality photo which nicely shows off the building's assets. Viv.
 
Came across this 1929 painting of the Old Crown by William Albert Green. All the views we've seen of this place over the centuries never seem to change much at all. Now we can't often say that about a place these days can we? We can even see the recognisable buildings on the corner of Heath Mill Lane in this view. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1345323444.592349.jpg
And the view today.
561f68fa-02dd-4d7d.jpg
 
anybody remember using The Old Crown Cafe in the 60's with 3d Jukebox,it's where i first heard Deck of Cards - Wink Martindale.
Wal.
 
Have spent many a happy lunch hour and after work in the Old Crown. Used to work in Deritend in the 1970's and it was always a pie and half a lager lunch time and sometimes after work drinks, before doing the town after work. I do not remember the well then but there were function rooms upstairs. The licensees were great, an Irish couple cannot remember the names but possibly the female was Mary (really cannot remember but a lovely couple). Very happy memories of the Old Crown.
 
Reference #33 I wonder if this is the gentleman referred to?

Benjamin TILLEY Head U 42 M Teacher of Music Birmingham-War
Anna TILLEY Moth W 70 F Teacher of Music Dudley-Wor
Martha TILLEY Sis U 28 F Teacher of Music Birmingham-War
Emma STANNAY Vist U 26 F Pattern Card Maker Birmingham-War
Address: 67 Moseley St, Deritend
Census Place: Aston Aston, Warwickshire
 
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