He was a man with a passion was John Leland. Entrusted by Henry VIII with the power to search for records of antiquity in the cathedrals, colleges, abbeys and priories of England, eh became ‘totally enflammid with a love to see thoroughly all those partes of this your opulente and ample reaulme’.

One part of that realm visited by Leland was Birmingham it it is to him that we owe the earliest description of our town other than for legal purposes. He came to ‘Bremischam’ from Norton – now Kings Norton – having crossed a little brook to the east of this ‘attractive country town’ in Worcestershire and passed through ‘good areas of woodland and pasture and reasonably good arable’.

Approaching from the south, Leland ‘came through a pretty street, or ever I entred into Bermingham towne. This street, as I remember, is called Dirtye (Deritend High Street). In it dwell smithes and cutlers, and there is a brooke (the River Rea) that divideth this street from Bermingham, and is an Hamlett, or Membre, belonging to the Parish therebye. There is at the end of Dirtey a proper chappell, and mansion house of tymber hard on the ripe (bank), as the brooke runneth down…’

The chapel was that of Saint John’s, Deritend whilst the mansion was what we now call ‘The Old Crown’ pub. And that description by Leland makes plain why this black and white timber-framed building is so important to all Brummies. For although it has been changed and added to, its historical structure is powerful – for it strikes out deep into our past and bonds us with the time when Brum was a growing market town bustling with traders and manufacturers, preparing to thrust itself on to the world stage as a city of international repute.

All of us Brummies grew up thinking that the ‘Old Crown’ was built in 1368 – for has not that fact been proclaimed for generations in bold letters outside the pub? However, it is more likely that it was erected between 1450 and 1500. The main building material was oak and it is probable that its frame was made and put together on the site.

Whatever the case, certainly the ‘Old Crown’ was impressive enough for Leland to mention it. Indeed, the only other Birmingham buildings he comments upon are Saint John’s and the parish church of Saint Martin’. Then in 1589, we know that ‘the deedes of the Crowne House’ are mentioned in a document relating to John Dyckson of Birmingham. He was a carrier and given the importance of High Street Deritend as a route into Birmingham it is obvious that the ‘Old Crown’ must have been a good base for his business.

Originally having only a ground floor of a large central hall around which were smaller rooms, an upper floor was added to the ‘Old Crown’ in the 1600s. Also in that century, in 1673, and Edward Barber is given as the tenant and it is stated that he was using the building as an inn. Within a few years, the ‘Old Crown’ was split first into two properties and then into three.

Passing through the hands of various owners, by the mid-1800s, the ‘Old Crown’ had fallen into disrepair and it was a run-down structure. It was then that it was bought by Joshua Toulmin Smith. A devoted inquirer into Birmingham’s past, it is doubtful whether the ‘Old Crown’ would have survived without his dedication and ‘improvement’scheme – intending to knock it down. Toulmin Smith ‘successfully resisted that attempt’, as he did others in 1856 and 1861.

In his own words, this benefactor to our city explained that ‘it is somewhat hard that I should have been obliged, at my own trouble and expense, to save, for the Town, a relic of antiquity which is for the credit and interest of the Town; and certainly not for my personal profit, should be preserved…’

Toulmin Smith’s words echo strongly today. In the later twentieth century, the ‘Old Crown’ once again required major restoration work if it were to be passed on to future generations of Brummies. And once again a big-hearted family stood up the cause, for that essential work has been carried out by the Brennans at a huge cost to themselves. An Irish Brummie family, they resolved to breathe new life into the ‘Old Crown’ through respecting its past. At their own expense and with no support they have given back to us the people of Birmingham one of the most vital and important buildings in our city. We owe them a great debt of gratitude.

In 2002, The Old Crown passed into the capable hands of Anthony Hickey and his family from Birmingham. They still own and run the establishment to this day.