Back To The Rose
What of the Rose and Crown prior to 1885 when John Mills took over the tenancy? From the local directories we have assembled a list of those who had been innkeeper there for the previous fifty-seven years. The dates given indicate the first and last or in one case the only mention in the various directories.
1828 - 1862 - William Hickling
1864 - 1866 - William Marshall
1868 - ???? - Mrs Mary Marshall
1869 - 1871 - Henry Furley
1874 - 1885 - Edwin Harrison
There is nothing we can really tell you about the last four people but we do know one or two things about William Hickling. It was William Hickling from whom Lord Middleton bought the Rose and Crown in March 1849. He paid Hickling the sum of £1,325. Hickling, however, only received £525 of that money as the rest went to Charles Leivers of Nottingham Park to pay off a mortgage on the property. Although no longer owner of the Rose and Crown, the directories show that William Hickling continued to run the pub as Lord Middleton's tenant until the 1860s.
Another view of the first Rose and Crown.
1828 is as far back as the directories can take us for references to Lenton and the Rose and Crown in particular. So it is necessary to look to other sources if we want to get any earlier information on the pub. News items and advertising material from the Nottingham Journal for the years 1800 to 1827 have been card indexed and the index is kept in the Local Studies section of the County Library, Angel Row Nottingham. It is a comparatively easy task to look through the index cards for references to the Rose and Crown. Four were discovered. Three of these were found to be adverts simply mentioning that auctions were to be held at 'the Rose and Crown Inn, near Lenton Mill' for the sale of timber, 'fat Scots and other beasts', and a boat. The fourth was an advert inserted by the Lenton and Radford Association for the Prosecution of Felons in 1806 notifying members, that the forthcoming annual meeting and dinner 'would be held at the house of Mr Samuel Goodacre known by the name or sign of the Rose and Crown'. This Association offered to pay rewards for information that led to the apprehension and conviction of anyone committing property crimes in the area. Information regarding the robbing of a house might yield a reward of 10 guineas. Horse stealing rated 5 guineas while even pulling ups stealing or destroying turnips, potatoes, cabbages or peas was worth one guinea. Needless to say the subscribers to the Association were all fairly well to do people with property or businesses in the district. Advance notice of its annual meeting was placed in the Journal in the ensuing years but never again did the Rose and Crown appear as the chosen venue. Nevertheless we now had Samuel Goodacre for 1806.
While looking through the parish registers kept on microfiche at the County Record office we came across the marriage of William Hickling to Mary Goodacre at Lenton Parish Church in 1826. It now looked fairly certain that we had a family connection between Samuel and William. We discovered that the will of a Samuel Goodacre, miller of Lenton, who had died in May 1827, was held at the Borthwick Institute at York. Confident that this was the same Samuel Goodacre who was innkeeper of the Rose and Crown in 1806 we sent off for a copy of the will. Our confidence wasn't misplaced. The will made mention of his daughter Mary Goodacre (she was still Goodacre at the time that the will was made in 1825), and it referred to his dwelling house 'situate at Lenton, now used as a public house and known by the sign of the Rose and Crown and in the occupation of William Green'. The will also made clear that Samuel Goodacre owned a corn mill, undoubtedly the one that used to stand near the Rose and Crown on the site now occupied by Sherwood Leyland DAF Ltd. and referred to earlier in our article as 'Lenton Mill'. The mill subsequently became the property of his son, also called Samuel Goodacre. When we stated that there were only four references to the Rose and Crown in the index to the Nottingham Journal we were being just a little 'economical with the truth'. The index revealed that in 1801 and 1804 the Lenton and Radford Association for the Prosecution of Felons held their annual meeting 'at the house of Mr Elias Roberts, known by the name or sign of the Rose, Lenton Mill'. Almost certainly the Rose and the Rose and Crown were one and the same. They share the same address i.e. Lenton Mill, and furthermore Mr Elias Roberts' name disappears from among the list of members of the Lenton and Radford Association for the Prosecution of Felons in 1806 to be replaced by Samuel Goodacre's. Quite why the name should be changed is not clear. It may simply have been the whim of Mr Goodacre or conceivably it was done to avoid any possible confusion with another Rose Inn which could be found just off the Ilkeston Road across in Radford.
There may well be archival material waiting to be turned up which will allow the story of the Rose and Crown to be taken even further back in time. But 1801 and Mr Elias Roberts is as far as we go on this particular occasion.
Another article on Lenton pubs appears in Issue No.6.