A Tudor Weekend Away in Stratford-Upon-Avon

Welcome to Shakespeare’s Stratford-Upon-Avon! I will take you on a tour of six fabulously historic locations associated with England’s most famous playwright, William Shakespeare.

We will follow the Bard from the cradle to the grave, mapping the chronology of his life through some iconic Tudor places. Most locations covered here are clustered in the centre of Stratford-Upon-Avon and, therefore, are easy to reach on foot. However, a couple, such as Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and Mary Arden’s Farm, are further afield. So, alongside a bit of history of each place and tips on some of my favourite things to look out for in Stratford-Upon-Avon, I will cover the best and alternative ways to reach each of these locations in the relevant sections that follow.

Mary Arden’s Farm

We begin our story before Shakespeare’s birth at Mary Arden’s Farm. This was the family home of William Shakespeare’s mother before she married his father, John Shakespeare, in late 1556/early 1557. Mary was about 19 or 20 years old at the time, and John was about 37.

Mary was the youngest of eight daughters, with the family living on their farm in the village of Wilcote, about 2-3 miles northwest of Stratford-Upon-Avon’s town centre. Her father had died the year before, bequeathing Mary around £6 13s 4d. According to The Birthplace Trust website, this was equivalent to £30,000 in current value, which was a substantial amount of money!

This financial freedom probably meant that Mary could choose a future husband, and she seems to have married John Shakespeare of her own volition. As her father had been a member of the Holy Cross Guild (which we will hear more about shortly), the couple’s fathers likely knew each other through their commercial activities in the town.

Image One: The Palmer’s Farm, the neighbours to the Arden’s and by far the prettier of the two buildings. Image Two: Mary Arden’s Farm
Image © The Tudor Travel Guide.

There is an interesting story about Mary Arden’s Farm, which The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust bought in 1930. The building that was purchased is a particularly attractive black and white, timber-framed Tudor house, which survives in an excellent state of preservation. However, in 2000, research uncovered that this house was NOT the Arden family home! It had been mistakenly identified. The house in question belonged to the Arden’s neighbours, the Palmers, and in fact, Mary’s family home was next door. Luckily, The Birthplace Trust had also acquired this property for preservation in 1968 as part of a farmyard, without knowing its true provenance. Phew!

Sadly, two of The Birthplace Trust’s properties were ‘temporarily’ closed to the public post-pandemic: Mary Arden’s Farm and Hall’s Croft. As far as I am aware, the latter remains closed. However, this year, 2023, Mary Arden’s Farm is reopening again during the summer for weekends only between 1 July – 3 September. It is a fabulous place to take children for a half day out. Booking via their website is essential.

Because this location is out of town, the easiest way to reach Mary Arden’s Farm is by car. However, you can also travel there by bus from Stratford-Upon-Avon and train (again from Stratford-Upon-Avon), alighting at Wilcote Station. There is a short walk through the village to reach the farm.

Shakespeare’s Birthplace

When William Shakespeare was born into Elizabethan England in 1564, his parents, John and Mary, lived in a fine timber-framed house in the centre of town fronting onto Henley Street. William would live there until he moved to London with his brother, Edmund, when he was 23. Today, this restored Elizabethan house is celebrated as the birthplace of William Shakespeare, acknowledged as one of the greatest playwrights the English-speaking world has ever known.

When John Shakespeare took ownership of the Henley Street house in 1556, he converted three separate, adjacent dwellings into the home we see today. On the ground floor was the parlour, where Shakespeare’s family would welcome visitors and entertain themselves during the day. Immediately joining that was the principal hall, separated from a workshop by a screen’s passage and corridor. We should remember that John Shakespeare was a glovemaker, selling gloves directly from the window of his workshop to passing customers. This has been lovingly recreated for you to see as you tour the house today.

On the first floor, historically, it has been said that there were three bedrooms: one for the boys, where William shared his room with his younger brothers, while a second was reserved for the girls. However, it is now believed that the larger of the two was probably a storeroom sitting above the shop beneath.

John and Mary used the third bedroom. It is believed that Shakespeare was born in this room.

Shakespeare’s birthplace. Images © The Tudor Travel Guide.

The house was restored in the nineteenth century and is decorated with period and replica furniture, while the rooms are laid out like they would have been back in Shakespeare’s day. Not only is this fascinating because of its connections to William Shakespeare, but also as a window into the everyday life of a Tudor shopkeeper of the middling classes. I found it fascinating how the house was divided between residential and commercial sides, with John Shakespeare’s workshop also serving as his shop. This fronted directly onto Henley Street to catch the passing trade.

After John’s death, his son inherited the property. However, by then, Shakespeare was wealthy and had made his fortune in London. He had already purchased one of the most handsome houses in Stratford-Upon-Avon: New Place, just a few minutes from the family home on Henley Street. This allowed Shakespeare to rent out part of that property to his sister, Joan and her family. The other part became an inn called The Maidenhead.

Photo of Shakespeare from Shakespeare’s birthplace and his statue outside, on Henley Street. Images © The Tudor Travel Guide.

The provenance of the house is well recorded thereafter. Shakespeare’s eldest daughter, Susanna, initially inherited the Henley Street property on her father’s death. However, having been tenanted over generations, the Henley Street house ultimately fell into disrepair in the 1700s before being saved for the nation by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in the nineteenth century.

Today, the Birthplace, as it is known, is probably the most popular of all the Shakespeare destinations in Stratford-Upon-Avon and, in the height of summer, there is often quite a queue to get in. So, you might want to arrive early, in time for the opening. A modern exhibition space tells Shakespeare’s story and includes several Shakespeare-related artefacts before you wander through the small house and its pleasant, recreated gardens.

Once you have soaked up the vibe of Shakespeare’s early family life, get ready to head to our next destination…Shakespeare’s Schoolroom.

Shakespeare’s Schoolroom

If we follow the chronology of Shakespeare’s life, then our next destination must be the Guildhall on Church Street. For lovers of timber-framed buildings, Stratford-Upon-Avon is a joy, as many survive in an excellent state of preservation. One of the finest of these is the 600-year-old Guildhall, which was completed around 1417.

The Guildhall was a multipurpose building and the centre of municipal life during the sixteenth century. It served as a meeting place for the Guild of the Holy Cross, a religious order of merchants based in the town, and as a Council chamber, administrative centre, a place to administer justice and, on the first floor, a schoolroom. This was used then, as it is now, by the adjacent King Edward VI school. I suspect it is one of England’s oldest, most draughty and most uncomfortable school rooms!

The Guildhall is just a five-minute walk from Shakespeare’s birthplace, and we can imagine little William returning to the family home on Henley Street around 11 a.m. to eat the principal meal of the day. While it is believed that Shakespeare did not stay long at this school, nevertheless, it was here that he would have written his first words. That’s quite a thought!

Shakespeare’s schoolroom. Image © The Tudor Travel Guide.

There are a few exciting things to look out for and enjoy during your visit. Firstly, from the outside, you can admire an excellent example of late medieval architecture: a timber-framed building with jettying, in-filled with wattle and daub. It is everything you would hope to see in a building of the period. Adjacent to the Guildhall is an equally attractive row of almshouses built around the same time. It’s picture-postcard pretty!

On the ground floor are recently rediscovered medieval wall paintings in an area once used as a small chapel. They had been white-washed over during the Reformation under Edward VI’s Protestant government and only revealed during restoration work in 2015/2016.

Finally, enjoy a lesson from Master Thomas Jenkins, Shakespeare’s School teacher. This is a truly immersive experience as you taste Tudor life in the classroom. Prepare to be a little intimidated!

If we continue to follow Shakespeare’s life, our next stop must lie about a mile out of the town centre and where his future wife grew up. Of course, we are talking about Anne Hathaway’s Cottage.

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage

Sadly, little is known about Anne Hathaway, who became William Shakespeare’s wife in November 1582, when she was around 26 and William was just 18. Anne remains an enigmatic character. Few references to her survive, except a handful of sporadic mentions of her name in legal documents. So, how the couple came to be wed and what their relationship was like remains a source of speculation – and gossip – as Anne was three months pregnant by the time she married William.

However, a few essential details survive. These include the fact that Anne was born in the cottage in 1556. Their home was in the village of Shottery, which lay about a mile outside of Stratford-Upon-Avon in what would have been open countryside.

The family made a living as successful tenant sheep farmers, and the house we know today as ‘Anne Hathaway’s Cottage’ was then called ‘Hewlands Farm’, a timber-framed farmhouse that the Hathaways had owned since Anne’s grandfather had bought the property in 1542.

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. Tony Hisgett, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Originally built a century earlier, the cottage originally comprised just three rooms. It would be Anne’s brother, Bartholomew, who inherited the property on their father’s death in the latter part of the sixteenth century and who subsequently built an upstairs floor. This substantially increased the size of the family home. Incredibly, the family continued to live in the property, first as owners, then later when they fell on hard times as tenants, until it was sold to The Birthplace Trust in 1892.

The home Bartholomew Hathaway created is the building we see today, lovingly restored and cared for by The Birthplace Trust. However, Shottery is no longer an isolated village, nor does the cottage command the 90 acres of farmland attached to it, as it was in Shakespeare’s day. Instead, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage is to be found in a pleasant, leafy suburb of Stratford-Upon-Avon, which can be reached by the well-signposted walk from the town centre (a walk which takes about 20 mins).

The area directly in front of the cottage, which once housed farm animals, is now laid into pretty gardens. There are some picture-perfect photo opportunities to be had at this chocolate-box thatched cottage, with its roses tumbling around the front door. You can wander around the house, getting an excellent feel for the living accommodation a prosperous tenant farmer would have enjoyed during the Tudor period. Be sure to strike up a conversation with the guides, who are extremely friendly and knowledgeable. They will happily chat with you and, no doubt, enrich your visit along the way.

To continue our chronological journey through Shakespeare’s life, we must jump forward by 15 years to 1597. By this time, William had become a successful player and playwright and found fame in London. He had helped to co-found The Lord Chamberelain’s Men and held shares in the company. However, during this time, he never lost his connection with Stratford-Upon-Avon and in 1597, Shakespeare bought himself a new property, far grander than his father’s house on Henley Street. It was called New Place.

New Place

When William Shakespeare purchased New Place, he was 33 years old. It was by far the largest house in the borough and the only one with ranges wrapped around a central courtyard. Quite some achievement for a man of his lowly birth!

The house was situated right in the heart of the town and just a stone’s throw away from where William had first attended school above the Guildhall of the Holy Cross.

The three-storey home that Shakespeare purchased in 1597 had been a medieval house constructed for a member of the local gentry, Sir Hugh Clopton, in 1483. Clopton was a mercer and, at one point, the Lord Mayor of London.

After Shakespeare acquired New Place, he set about redeveloping and enlarging it as befitting his newfound wealth and social status. He also introduced the latest fashions, rebuilding the front of the house, which faced onto Chapel Street, and adding a new long gallery. This feature had emerged as increasingly popular through the sixteenth century.

A Reconstruction of New Place. Images courtesy of The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

A drawing of the house by George Virtue before its destruction in 1756 shows a five-gabled, timber-framed frontage, which the sixteenth-century antiquary John Leland described as ‘an attractive house of brick and timber’.

Shakespeare died in the house in 1616, just a few minutes walk away from the place of his birth and of his subsequent burial. It is poetic to think that despite all his incredible adventures in London, William Shakespeare’s life would come full circle, with all major milestones, birth, marriage and death happening in this quiet backwater of Tudor England.

Sadly, New Place no longer exists. The story is a sorry tale. In 1756, Reverend Francis Gastrell, the then-owner, became embroiled in a fractious dispute with the local town. In a fit of pique and in retribution for not getting the outcome he desired, Gastrell demolished New Place!

However, you can visit the site, which The Birthplace Trust has preserved as a pretty garden. Adjacent to the garden is Nash’s House. This is also a black-and-white, timber-framed building. Constructed around 1600, it was once adjacent to Shakespeare’s swanky residence. It is currently owned by The Trust, serving as a museum that retells the story of its erstwhile neighbour and Stratford-Upon-Avon’s most famous son.

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church is the oldest building in Stratford Upon Avon. Its roots go way back into England’s Saxon past. However, the earliest part of the current building dates to 1210, with later fifteenth-century additions, including the lovely chancel. This is where Shakespeare and his family are buried, side-by-side, directly in front of the high altar.

Throughout Shakespeare’s life, when he was in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the Bard would have attended services at Holy Trinity. In fact, he was deeply involved with the church, being a lay rector. This, along with a generous donation of £440, secured the aforementioned prestigious burial plots for William and his close family members, including his wife, Anne, and his eldest daughter, Suzanna.

Shakespeare is thought to have died on his birthday, 23 April (1564), being buried two days later, on 25 April 1616. He was 52 years old – a good age for the time. The cause of his death is unknown, but as you might imagine, there has been much speculation. One train of thought is that he knew he was dying at least a month in advance as he rewrote his will around this time. The second comes from a later account from the then-vicar of Holy Trinity. He states, ‘ Shakespeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and it seems drank too hard; for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted.’ I suspect this mystery will likely never be resolved.

However, the words that adorn Shakespeare’s grave are his own. No doubt aware of his fame and the curiosity that this might evoke in people in centuries to come, William Shakespeare penned the following shortly before his death: Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones.’ This warning has been sufficient to prevent any exhumation and post-mortem examination of Shakespeare’s remains or his removal to Westminster Abbey!

Visiting today entails a short 5-10 minute walk out of town along pleasant suburban roads. You will pass Hall’s Croft, the marital home of Suzanna Hall, Shakespeare’s daughter (also owned by The Birthplace Trust but currently closed to the public), before reaching the entrance to the graveyard.

It might not surprise you to read that Holy Trinity Church is one of the most visited churches in England, receiving around 300,000 visitors a year. It is often open to visitors, although it took me three visits to Stratford-Upon-Avon to find the church open! So, be warned: as Holy Trinity is a working church, opening times must be fitted around religious services, so I strongly encourage you to check the website carefully for the latest opening times before you make your trip there.

Other fabulous things to do while in Stratford-Upon-Avon

I urge you to enjoy the charms of the River Avon and hire a boat from near the Royal Shakespeare Company. On a sunny day, it is such a pleasant way to while away an hour, simply messing about on the river.

And while we are here, you might want to round off your immersion in Shakespeare’s world by booking a ticket to see one of his plays performed by world-class actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company. The tickets are not cheap, but it is a unique experience. However, if you want to grab a little taste of the RSC without going all the way, you might choose to book one of their 60-minute behind-the-scenes tours or climb the RSC tower for free to enjoy panoramic views of Stratford-Upon-Avon and the surrounding countryside!