Sentence:  &lquo;[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. We nearly <WSD>crowned</WSD> her we were so offended. She saw us but she didn't know us, did she?'. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To hit on the head.