Overview
The oldest market town in Warwickshire, Stratford was first a Celtic settlement, then a small Roman town. Its name – a mixture of Celtic for river (afon) and the Roman for street (straet) – means the place where the street fords the river.
By 1400 it was the regional trading centre, with a weekly market (granted by Richard I) and annual fairs. The market was held in Rother St (Saxon word for ox). A market is still held there every Friday, though cattle are now sold elsewhere. The last survivor of Stratford’s fairs is the Mop, held on 12 October; it was once the hiring fair.
The prosperity of the town in the middle ages is evident from the growth within it of the guild or fraternity of the Holy Cross. It fostered the development of industries and crafts, maintained the grammar school and almshouses, and built its own chapel. In 1547 the guild was suppressed and its properties seized by the Crown. The town became a borough in 1553 (Edward VI), and henceforth Stratford was governed by a bailiff (mayor), burgesses and aldermen.
The town has always been fortunate in the generosity of its citizens. John de Stratford, an archbishop of Canterbury in the 14th century, rebuilt Holy Trinity Church. Later on, Hugh Clopton, Lord Mayor of London at the end of the 15th century, built the bridge (named after him) still in use today. More recent benefactors have been Charles Flower, who built the first Shakespeare memorial theatre in 1879, and his grandson, Sir Archibald Flower, was the major contributor to the present theatre opened in 1932.
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage at Shottery was the early home of Shakespeare’s wife. Her father was a yeoman farmer. The Shakespeare Trust in the late 19th century purchased the cottage. Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Henley Street is a half-timbered house where he was born and spent his early years. Mary Arden’s House at Wilmcote is located four miles from Stratford. It was the home of Shakespeare’s mother, and is a fine example of a Tudor farmstead. At New Place in Chapel Street only the foundations remain of the house where Shakespeare lived and died. The entrance is through Nash House. Hall’s Croft was the home of Shakespeare’s daughter Suzanna and her husband Dr John Hall.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in the house preserved as his birthplace in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, on or about 23 April 1564. At that time Stratford was a prosperous market town with impressive streets and buildings; it was well known for its markets and fairs. Shakespeare came from middle-class stock. His mother Mary Arden was the youngest of the eight daughters of Robert Arden, a wealthy yeoman farmer of Wilmcote. His father John Shakespeare (formerly of Snitterfield – another village close by Stratford) was a whittawer and glover by trade. He was also described as a yeoman and wool dealer.
William was the third child and oldest son of the marriage, and at the time of his birth his father was a prosperous and respected tradesman, who took an active part in civic affairs. He was an alderman and in 1568 he held the office of bailiff (mayor) of Stratford. Of William’s childhood practically nothing is known. But it is believed he attended the grammar school, and received there as good an education as any grammar school boy in England. He very probably saw some of the plays produced by the companies of travelling actors welcomed in Stratford when he was a boy.
At the end of 1582 he married Anne Hathaway of Shottery. He was 18, she was 26. In the following May their daughter Suzanna was born. The twins, Hamnet and Judith, were born in 1585. Shortly afterwards Shakespeare left Stratford for reasons not definitely known; but one story (discounted by some scholars) tells us that it was in order to avoid prosecution for poaching at Charlecote, the estate of Sir Thomas Lucy.
No documentary evidence has been found as yet to ascertain Shakespeare’s movements between 1585 and 1592. It has been suggested that he may have been a schoolmaster in the Cotswolds, or served for a time in a nobleman’s household, or joined a company of wandering actors. Another story suggests he may have toured Italy.
He can be traced in London from 1592 onwards, first as an actor and then as a reviser and writer of plays. His contemporaries were impressed (but some were indignant) with the quality and popularity of his work. He was a well-established member of the Lord Chamberlain’s company (later to be called the King’s Men), and it was for his own company that many of his plays were written.
In 1599 the Globe Theatre was built on Bankside. Other actors associated with this enterprise were Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, John Heminge and Henry Condell. In 1597 he purchased New Place, one of the finest houses in Stratford. Evidence suggests that from this time he gradually established himself as a townsman of Stratford, although continuing to live and work in London until 1610, when he retired to New Place. By this date he had by further purchases built up a considerable estate. By the standards of the day the poet was obviously wealthy.
Shakespeare died on his 52nd birthday, 23 April 1616, apparently after a merry meeting with his friends Jonson and Drayton at which he drank too much and caught a fever (be warned!). He was buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity – notwithstanding the comments of the illustrious writers quoted below, a visit to his tomb is a must for groups; it is very beautiful and moving. His son Hamnet died aged 11 in 1596. His daughter Judith married Thomas Quiney in 1616, and his daughter Suzanna married Dr John Hall in 1607. His wife Anne died in 1623. Suzanna and John’s daughter Elizabeth Hall died in 1670 without children. Thus Shakespeare’s line came to an end.
Between 1590 and 1613 Shakespeare wrote 37 plays.
On Shakespeare
Soul of the age!
The applause! Delight! The wonder of our stage! My Shakespeare rise; I will not lodge thee by Chaucer, or Spencer, or bid Beaumont lye a little further, to make thee a roome: Thou art a monument, without a tombe, And art alive still, while thy booke doth live, And we have wits to read, and praise to give.
Triumph, my Britaine, thou hast one to showe, To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe. He was not of an age, but for all time!
Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
What needs my Shakespear for his honour’d bones, The labour of an age in piled stones, or that his hallow’d reliques should be hid Under a starry pointing pyramid! Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, What needs It thou such weak witnes of they name? Thou in our wonder and astonishment Hast built they self a live-long monument.
John Milton (1608–74)