LOOKING BACK - February 22, 2018 edition

The Old Crown pub in North Street
The Old Crown pub in 1895The Old Crown pub in 1895
The Old Crown pub in 1895

This is another of Joan Gregory’s cuttings collected by her father-in-law Harry in the 1970s. The Advertiser reporter at that time has done all the work for me, with some interesting revelations. This North Street scene was taken in 1895 and just a year later it says the Old Crown Inn was razed to the ground and rebuilt in line with neighbouring buildings. (See the second, later picture).

Previously it had jutted out a few feet further forward than the other buildings.

A later picture of the sceneA later picture of the scene
A later picture of the scene
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One of its landlords had been William Higgs who was a pioneer of telegraphy and invented some of the very early telegraphic instruments.

Adjoining the gateway of the Windmill Inn was a hairdressers, which was later absorbed into the premises.

The shop next to the Windmill was the first in the town to be occupied by Rugby Co-0perative Society. Formed in 1862, goods were initially sold from a cupboard under the staircase of the Eagle Inn.

Caldecott Park off the bottom of North Street was opened to the public in 1904, having been purchased for the town from the Misses Harris, grand-daughters of the last Lord of the Manor after whom the park was named.