The Rose and Crown Public House Upper Caldecote

 
Housing on the site of the Rose & Crown in July 2007

The Rose & Crown Public House: Hitchin Road, Upper Caldecote [formerly The Rose]

The Rose & Crown public house is first mentioned in any document held by Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service in a licensing register in 1822 [CLP13]. The countywide licensing register of 1876 states that it had been licensed for over a hundred years.

In 1834 the house was conveyed, with many other properties, from Robert Lindsell and William Hogg to William Lindsell and Frederick Hogg. It was then described as the Rose at Over Caldecote, with an orchard, adjoining cottage, 4.75 acres of newly allotted ground and a further 2 acres, 1 rood, 18 perches of adjoining land. Lindsell and Hogg were owners of what would become Biggleswade brewers Wells & Company. In 1899 the company was purchased by Kent businessman George Winch for his son Edward Bluett Winch and the company thus changed its name to Wells & Winch. In 1899 the property was described as the Rose & Crown (formerly Rose), with yards, orchards, stables, barns, sheds and outbuildings ["This does not appear to belong to the Vendors & is not in the particulars of Sale"] and land in Upper Caldecote of 2a 1r 18p adjoining Rose & Crown and all in occupation of James Nottingham.

The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 specified that every building and piece of land in the country was to be assessed to determine its rateable value. Upper Caldecote was assessed in 1927 and the valuer visiting the Rose & Crown [DV1/C/4/137] found that it comprised: four bedrooms; a taproom; a kitchen; a club room; a bar; an earth closet and urinal. He noted: "bars rather small". Trade was a barrel of beer, four dozen bottles of beer and half a gallon of spirits per week; as to takings: "can't say".

In November 2003 the Rose & Crown, the last licensed premises in Upper Caldecote, was demolished and houses later built on the site. 

References

• CLP13: Register of Alehouse Licenses: 1822-1828;
• GK0/1: conveyance of licensed premises from Robert Lindsell and William Hogg to William Lindsell and Frederick Hogg: 1834;
• HF143/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1872-1873;
• HF143/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1874-1877;
• HF143/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1878-1881;
• HF143/4: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1882-1890;
• GK1/36: three sales catalogues bound together: Wells & Company of Biggleswade 1898; Henlow Brewery 1899; Baldock Brewery Limited 1903;
• Z1039/34/2a: conveyance of licensed premises from Wells & Company to Wells & Winch: 1899;
• HF143/5: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1891-1900;
• HF143/6: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1900-1914;
• PSBW8/1: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1903-1915;
• PSBW8/2: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade Petty Sessional Division: 1956-1972;
• PSBW8/3: Register of Alehouse Licences - Biggleswade and North Bedfordshire Petty Sessional Divisions: 1976-1980.

List of Licensees: note that this is not a complete list. Italics indicate licensees whose beginning and/or end dates are not known:

1822-1828: Richard May;
1853-1871: Thomas Webb;
1871: Ann Webb;
1871-1873: Jesse Chambers;
1873-1885: James Wright;
1885-1886: Ann Wright;
1886-1904: James Nottingham;
1904-1908: Joseph Nottingham;
1908-1911: Martha Nottingham;
1911-1914: Charles Arthur Warner;
1920-1927: Samuel Bygraves;
1928-1964: Margaret Jane Bygrave;
1964: Frederick Douglas Odey