Barton-under-Needwood Inns and Taverns: Three Crowns Inn

Name: The Three Crowns Inn

Address: Barton Turnings, Barton-under-Needwood

The Three Crowns was one of the busiest Inns in Barton for most of the 19th century. It probably dates back to the 1700's and owed its success to the location alongside the Trent and Mersey canal and Rykneld Street. If that wasn't enough passing trade the railway line and station that came later in the 1800's must have added significantly to the trade.

Staffordshire Advertiser 20 August 1825

1920 Map of Barton Turn

The Inn was also the Wharf House having a large coal wharf to serve the canal boat trade. The landlord worked as both an Innkeeper and Wharfinger, which is reflected in the directories of the time.

Staffordshire Advertiser 15 October 1836

As the press cutting below confirms, there was also a large brewery on the same site as the Three Crowns dating back to the 18th century run by the Lyon family. Looking at the photo at the top of the page the brewery was apparently located on the land beyond the Stables archway.

For more information on the brewery please follow the link below to the Barton-under-Needwood History Facebook page...you would hope they served the beers brewed in the back yard in the Inn!

Barton-Under-Needwood History Facebook

Staffordshire Advertiser 12 September 1840

Listed landlords at the Three Crowns Inn were William Lea (1825), Charles Limer (1833-51), John Smith (1860-84), his daughter Annie Maria Oldham (1888-1908) Publican & Wharfinger, William Pearson (1908-12) Publican & Wharfinger and Hamlet Yates (1916).

Staffordshire Advertiser 21 March 1840

1841 Census

Staffordshire Advertiser 20 February 1841

The Inn was also an important meeting place and was host to numerous auctions, coroner's inquests and other public meetings in the 1800's.

Staffordshire Advertiser 07 April 1849

Staffordshire Advertiser 28 April 1849

The landlord Charles Limer appears to have had his runs-ins with the law, as the cutting below suggests although the fact that he was still running the Inn in 1851 looking at census and directory records may indicate he was found not guilty on that occasion.

He was originally from Oakley in Staffordshire but remained in Barton until his death in 1874. He left the Three Crowns sometime in the 1850's and can be found living on Walkers Lane (now Efflinch Lane) in 1861 working as an agricultural labourer

Staffordshire Advertiser 25 August 1849

1851 Census

Staffordshire Advertiser 02 April 1853

Derbyshire Courier 12 November 1853

Landlord John Smith arrived at the Three Crowns in the mid-1850's and the Inn was to remain in his family's hands for the next 50 or so years, his daughter Annie Maria taking over behind the bar after John's death in 1885. John was not a local man, unlike most of Barton's publicans and originated from County Offaly (previously known as King's County) in Southern Ireland.

Staffordshire Advertiser 07 March 1857

Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal 06 March 1857

Staffordshire Advertiser 12 June 1858

1861 Census

Staffordshire Advertiser 09 April 1864

Derby Mercury 13 January 1869

1871 Census

Tamworth Herald 13 January 1872

Staffordshire Advertiser 03 March 1877

1881 Census

At the time of the 1881 census Annie Maria Oldham nee Smith was back living with her parents at home and is recorded as married and a "Chemist's Wife" ; her daughters, Annie Elizabeth, Edith Maria and Violet Emily Oldham were also living with her. She was the eldest daughter of John and Maria Smith and was born around 1848 in Cork (Ireland), the only child not to be born in Barton, which confirms the Smith's moved from Ireland in the late 1840's to early 1850's.

Ten years earlier Annie is recorded living with her husband Gervase Oldham at 17, Chestergate in Macclesfield, Cheshire which is right in the centre of the town. They'd married at the beginning of 1871 in Burton-on-Trent.

Gervase was from the Midlands having been born in Coleshill and the census record gives his occupation as a "Chemist & Druggist". Interestingly he is no longer with Annie in 1881 when he is shown living back in Nether Whitacre, Warwickshire with his brother and family and their son Gervase.

1885 Probate for John Smith

The memorial inscription from St James's reveals some interesting information about John Smith, that he was formerly Sergeant Major of the 8th Hussars and for several years Troop Sergeant Major of the Uttoxeter Yeomanry Cavalry. His wife Maria died on 12th November 1885 and is buried in the same plot.

Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal 14 December 1888

1882 Map of Barton Turn

Derby Daily Telegraph 25 July 1889

Lichfield Mercury 13 March 1891

1891 Census

In 1891 Gervase Oldham Jnr had returned to live with Annie and his siblings. Annie was still shown as being married but Gervase Snr was not on the scene. The census records Annie's occupation as "Farmer, Publican & Coal Merchant" so as a mother of four she certainly had her hands full.

Derby Mercury 03 June 1896

Derby Mercury 16 August 1899

Lichfield Mercury 17 November 1899

Staffordshire Advertiser 05 December 1891

1901 Census

Staffordshire Advertiser 02 May 1903

1908 Kelly's Directory

Nottingham Evening Post 22 July 1908

1911 Census

Staffordshire Advertiser 30 January 1915

The above notice in the Stafforshire Advertiser appears to have heralded the end of the Three Crowns as a licensed premises although there was still a landlord in residence at that time, either William Pearson or Hamlet Yates.

Staffordshire Advertiser 27 February 1915

1916 Kelly's Directory

Staffordshire Advertiser 26 February 1916

The article below from the Derby Daily Telegraph confirms that the Inn had closed during World War 1 and was being sold off as a private residence in 1917, which it remains to this day.

The closure was undoubtedly due to the effects of the Licensing Act of 1904, which led to a great many beer houses being closed in the early 1900's. The existence of the Vine Inn and Railway Inn in such close proximity no doubt had a significant impact on trade and the necessity for three pubs at Barton Turns was probably no longer justified.