The Crown Inn is first mentioned in 1596, in 1690 the London Gazette advertised it thus: “The Crown Inn at Stow-on-the-Wold being a large well-built house in good repair, with stabling for above 100 horses and three large gardens, one fit for a bowling green.”
The oldest part of the inn was Tudor House, which still survives. The Crown became less important as a coaching inn and by 1814 the land it occupied was sold off piecemeal and Tudor House was in occupancy as a private house.
However in 1855 William Clinch, brewers of Witney, bought the house and turned it back into an alehouse called the King William, known locally as the King Billy. It had a comparitively short trading life of 68 years, closing in 1923.
See King William Inn, Sheep Street, Stow-on-the-Wold.