It is next mentioned in the news in the December 28th 1867 issue of the Monmouthshire Merlin when three men, Jesse Sadler, David Harrison and Edward Harrison appeared in court charged with having assaulted a woman named Mary Parker. Landlord, Charles Coles said that Mary and her husband had been drinking at the hotel from five thirty in the evening until eight thirty. Eventually he refused to serve them further as they were drunk. Mary's husband then caused a row by hitting one of the three men and by drinking out of a pint vessel that did not belong to him. He also hit the landlord in the eye which prevented him from seeing for three days. The three men were discharged while Mary and her husband paid the court costs.
We can never know if it was this incident that caused Charles Coles to give up the Rose and Crown but not long after it was taken over by Robert Sawtell, aged 38, from Poulton, Somerset. He is seen on the 1871 census with his wife Catherine and four children, Charles, 8, Elizabeth, 6, Benjamin, 4 and James, who was five, months. They also employed a servant, Ann Rodell who was 21.
In September 1872 an inquest was held by Mr Brewer, coroner, on an unknown man who had died on the 10th of the month. Daniel James Baker, a police constable said he had called at the Rose and Crown at 10.35 p.m., staying until 10.52 p.m. when the landlord began to close up for the night. He saw the man in the kitchen who remarked that he had asked Mr Sawtell for a pipe of tobacco half an hour earlier. The P.C. handed him some, the man put it in his pipe, lit it and walked out, perfectly sober. The P.C. later passed him on the bridge over the train line, where he said nothing. The P.C. heard nothing more until the man was picked up off the train tracks at 6.40 the next morning. He was suffering from concussion and later died at Newport Hospital.
Many social gatherings were held at the hotel. In January 1873, the puddlers of the Patent Nut and Bolt Works held their annual supper at the Rose and Crown where an 'excellent meal' was provided by Mr and Mrs Sawtell. The workmen were also congratulated on their prosperity while those in other parts of the country could barely afford life's basics.
The census of 1881 records three more children for the Sawtells - Alfred, 7, Ada, 5 and Kate,3. There is also a servant, Eliza Lear, age 15 who was Robert Sawtell's niece.
The Rose and Crown was in the news again the following year. In May 1882, Thomas Stevens, a labourer was drunk and riotous on the premises and was refusing to leave, which led to a fine of ten shillings. Then in 1883 it was in the news again, twice. In May of that year, Mr Brewer held an inquest at the police station regarding the death of William Edwards who had died at the station on 17th April. On the day, Edwards had gone to the Halfway where landlord, Mr Brooker had told him to go home as he was drunk. He didn't though, instead he went to the Rose and Crown where Mr Sawtell didn't notice and served him a quart of beer. Edwards did not drink it all but gave some to a friend. From the Rose and Crown he was then carried to a railway fence and left there, later being moved to the police station. During the night he was visited a few times by P.C. Lawrence who found his condition to be worsening. He sent for a doctor who requested that hot bricks should be placed on Edwards's feet but it was to no avail. A post mortem was carried out on the 22nd and he was later buried. The doctor said at the inquest Edwards had died from blood on his brain.
Seven months later the Rose and Crown was burgled!
A quiet period followed, as far as news stories go. In May 1894 the men of the fire brigade held their annual dinner at the Rose and Crown. So too did members of Cwmbran Football Club in 1896, in order to elect officers for the coming season.
On the 28th June 1900, Robert Sawtell died and Catherine became landlady. The license for the premises was transferred to her in August. The 1901 census shows she had three of her children still living with her as well as servant, Annie Payne.
Tragedy struck in September 1907. Mrs Charlotte Davies of 64 Victoria Street was due to go away on a trip with her husband. He left her to go to the station to get tickets while she went to the Rose and Crown to leave their house keys with the landlady for safe keeping. When she did not arrive at the station to meet her husband, he went to look for her. He found her in the yard outside, she was dead. Dr Murphy was called and certified her death. Strangely he thought no inquest was necessary as Mrs Davies had been suffering from heart disease.
Catherine Sawtell was in her seventies when Mr J. W. Everett of Pontypool applied for the transfer of the license, in 1909, to her son in law, George Waters, who had married her daughter, Ada. It is George Waters who is head of the household on the 1911 census, with Ada assisting in the family business. They had three children at this time - Robert, 6, Dorothy Catherine, 4 and Lilian, 2. They had a servant, Emily Toms, 16 and Catherine Sawtell is also living with them, aged 74, as she would do until her death on 7th April 1916.
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| Victoria Street, Cwmbran |
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| photo source - Wikimedia commons |
