Stratford Tour

Today's Canal - Stratford

We planned to stay in Stratford today - the stoppage at lock 49 meant that we could not go far anyway. We bought yesterday a Five Houses Ticket and made surprising use of it today!

We began after a rather slow start, at Shakespeare's Birthplace, only about ten minutes walk from where we moored the boat. A the name implies, this is the house where Shakespeare's mother was living when he was born. Mary Arden had married John Shakespeare, a glove maker.

Glove Maker's Shop Window

He made a good living at this trade - he not only sold gloves through a specially large window in the street front of the home but also had a stall on the popular market - where one is still held today each Friday and Saturday. (But we did not spot any glove stalls today!)

First Folio

One of the first exhibits we saw was a First Folio - one of three that the Shakespeare trust have. This was the first printed collection of all of the plays. It was hand printed and only around 1000 were made, of which about 300 survive today around the world. They are perhaps one the most valuable books.

House Deeds

Alongside the First Folio were some other important pieces of evidence about Shakespeare's life including the deeds to the house where he was born.

We were surprised to see what we thought was wallpaper on all the walls but we were told that it was printed cloth and, as well as decorating the rooms, helped to keep them warm.

At one time visitors to the house were allowed to scratch their name on one of the windows. This pane contains the signature of Henry Irving but the information board said that there are many other famous names as well. Later, a visitors book was provided and some of the early editions were displayed. Now there are too many visitors to count!

Apparently, the wooden pins either side of the bed were intended to prevent the mattress from slipping over the edge.

18th Century

The house changed uses and appearance many times since Shakespeare's time - at one stage much of it was an Inn, the Swan and Maidenhead. Part even gained a brick frontage. The Trust have now tried to restore it as best they can back to its earlier state.

Out in the garden two actors responded to requests for snippets of any of Shakespeare's works. We were the only people in the audience when we sat down but before long a good crowd gathered. The actors could turn their hand from comedy to tragedy and even involved some of the children in the audience in the action. The younger one - reminding us that originally all the parts were played by men - even performing in the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet!

Juliet!

Time now to return to the boat and have lunch. Before setting off again, Christine popped back to the market and bought various items, mainly from the fruit and veg stalls. As she came back she spotted that there were now spaces in the basin so we quickly started up the engine and moved a couple of hundred metres to a pontoon.

Nash's House

In the afternoon we headed first to New Place and Nash's House. Nash's House was owned by the husband of Shakepeare's grand daughter and still stands today. However, New Place was the house Shakespeare bought when he was rich and famous and so would have been quite a substantial dwelling. His grand daughter had no children so the house had to be sold when she died and it left the family. Much later, a Reverend Francis Gastrell bought it as a second, holiday, home but in 1759 he demolished it when he had an argument with the Town Council over paying a tax to help the poor!

Knot Garden

There is a wonderful knot garden outside Nash's House and beyond it, on the large lawn, a big marquee providing children's activities and the theme of archaeology.

Alice tried out most of them including searching with a magnifying glass for tiny clues about the spoil. Later she also made a clay tile and decorated it with a detailed pattern.

The house itself was interesting - this muniments chest, a sort of early chest of drawers, was used by the local council to hold important documents in good order.

On again and we soon passed the old Grammar School where the young William was educated, learnt Latin and heard about many of ancient stories and legends that became the basis for some of his plays.

Hall's Court

We just had enough time to visit a fourth house: Hall's Court the elegant home of Shakespeare's daughter and her husband the doctor John Hall.

Alice enjoyed the activity which involved spotting a number of little mice characters placed around the various rooms. (There is one in this photo if you look closely!)

Holy Trinity Church

Finally, there was just time to visit the church where Shakespeare and several of his family are buried and where he was baptised and married.

Shakespeare's Grave

By the time we left the church a heavy rain storm had arrived - fortunately the forecast rain for the earlier afternoon did not materialise until now. Luckily we had our waterproofs with us, including Alice's which we had bought earlier (in case it rains after we get to the outdoor performance tomorrow evening) And so back to the boat feeling that we had made good use of our five house passes!