• Pubs & Taverns Home
• Featured Pubs & Taverns
• Featured Articles

The Rose & Crown Inn, had it still been trading, would have been one of the oldest hostelries in the area. It was a coaching inn, built on the original highway from Alfreton before the construction of the Alfreton-Nottingham turnpike, which itself dates from an Act of Parliament in 1759. It is likely to have been built long before this date, putting its construction sometime around the very beginning of the 1700s or even earlier. At the time it was built the countryside would have been very different. Somercotes would have been a hamlet consisting of a few farms set in a rural landscape with large wooded areas.

Traditionally, staging Inns were positioned approximately seven miles apart, but this was not always the case if it was thought that it was economically viable to build one closer. The Rose & Crown would have been about 3 or 4 miles along the road from Alfreton town centre. The inn would also have been ideally situated at the southern end of the mining areas of Birchwood and Smotherfly, which by the 17th century were already being slowly developed.

However, the inn was built long before the Cromford Canal, the ironworks, the railways and major collieries which would have been developed a century or more later.  

The road which passed the Rose & Crown and meandered its way to Alfreton would have been relatively narrow, constructed using compacted stone ballast and ash and at times would have been in a very poor condition. There are some old documents that state that the road was at times, particularly in winter, simply impassable. Although not on one of the main Mail Coaching routes it nonetheless would probably have seen a lot of passing trade, and offered meals, refreshments and lodging.       

The original Rose & Crown was built of stone, but various extensions in brick were made to the structure over the years. The first extension is believed to have been made in the very early 1800s to provide further accommodation for travellers, at a time when the ironworks at Pye Bridge was being established. Some years later further extensions were built to provide a total of 10-15 rooms. At this time there would have also been extensive outbuildings, including stables, storage rooms and washhouses.  

The Rose & Crown no doubt prospered until the construction of the Alfreton-Nottingham Turnpike, which effectively by-passed the inn. Over the next century it is likely that most of its clientele would have consisted of workers and travellers visiting the ironworks and collieries.

There are little early references to the inn in local newspapers. The first appears to date from 2nd February 1844, when the Nottingham Review and General Advertiser reported that a race of “six score yards” between the Pye Bridge Toll Gate and the Rose & Crown Inn was to held between James Stirland (known as the “Bulwell Flyer”) and Aram Sisson of Selston. No other details were given. Perhaps one of the saddest reports relates to the landlord of the Rose & Crown, Thomas Collyer, also published in the Nottingham Review and General Advertiser on 24th September 1852: “Somercoates — An inquest was held on the 18th inst., before Mr. Hutchinson, at Somercoates, on the body of Mr. Thomas Collyer, landlord of the Rose and Crown Inn. It appears from the evidence, that deceased had become embarrassed in his circumstances, and a payment was required from him on the Thursday evening previous, belonging to a club. A committee of the club waited upon him to receive it, when he told them he would fetch the money. He accordingly went out, and was never seen alive afterwards. His body was found the next morning in a pond, about a quarter of a mile from the house. Verdict— Found drowned.”

On 21st January 1860 it was reported in the Derbyshire Courier that the Licence for the Rose & Crown was transferred from John Joseph Cammomile to William Smith, of Selston. Mr. Smith remained the landlord for several years. An article in the Ilkeston Pioneer, published on 9th August 1866 read: “On Wednesday August 1st, the eighteenth anniversary of the Alfreton Ironworks Lodge was celebrated at the house of Mr. Wm. Smith, Rose and Crown Inn, Somercotes, when upwards of sixty of the members sat down to an excellent dinner, which reflected great credit upon the host and hostess…”   William Smith was still landlord in 1875, when a meeting of the Licenced Victuallers Association took place at the Rose & Crown.

Poster for an auction at the Rose & Crown Inn, September 1852

The Rose & Crown Inn was mentioned by name in several Trade Directories, as listed below:

5. 1831  Pigot’s Directory. The landlord was William Castlied
5. 1849  Pigot’s Directory. The landlady was Hannah Cartlidge
5. 1857  Derbyshire Gazeteer. The landlord was Edward Andrews (who was also a bricklayer)

The Inn probably survived through the loyalty of its customers and its location close to the ironworks and collieries. Like many inns and beerhouses in the area however, reports of drunkenness and bad behaviour were regularly reported, and it even closed temporarily in 1875 (as reported in the Derby Mercury).

As the main focus of the village shifted from Lower to Upper Somercotes and Leabrooks toward the mid to late 1800s trade must have begun to suffer, and the Rose & Crown finally ceased trading around 1910.  The Belper News, published on 4th June 1915 printed an article referring to the Riddings Floral Society, which stated that “… The six met in the taproom of a public house called the Rose and Crown, Lower Somercotes, which has long since disappeared from the list of licenced houses in the Alfreton area. One of the founders [of the Riddings Floral Society] Mr Chester, lives on the site of this former public house."

Today, the Rose & Crown building is divided into four separate dwellings.

PHOTO: Buildings which incorporate part of the Rose & Crown Inn (2014)