The Rose and Crown Hotel, 23-24 Market Place, Wisbech

Image: © Jo and Steve Turner Taken: 21 Apr 2018

Grade II* Listed Hotel. With a Georgian front added about 1765 it is probably the most ancient surviving hostelry in Wisbech. Once called The Pheasant and Horn one gable end carries a date of 1601. To take it even further back, there is a deed of conveyance for the same property dated 1461, at which time it was called 'The Swan'. There are also extensive cellars under the building reaching under neighbouring properties in what had been the cut supplying water to the medieval castle moat. In 1792 a London mail coach ran daily to and from here to the Golden Cross at Charing Cross. In 1847, when the railway was built, Mrs Goddard (who was landlady from 1845 to 1857) was quick to supply the demand that still remained. She used her pair-horse omnibus to take people to the station, and to all parts of town. Her horses had to double up for drawing the fire engine whenever the maroon was sounded. The hotel was again remodelled in the 1850s presumably when Mr W Tidnam bought it in 1857. The Tidmans imported Port, Sherries and Wine and distributed them all over Britain until 1932. Directory entries include; 1816 Charles Laughton; 1830 James Calver; 1839 Robert Goddard; 1851 Ann Goddard (hearse and mourning coaches, hot & cold baths); 1857-1892 William Tidnam; 1896 Mrs William Tidnam; 1904 executors of William Tidnam; 1916 Harry Augustus Tidnam.

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