About Stratford-upon-Avon
The history, geography, and character of Stratford-upon-Avon.
History & Heritage
Highlights
Shakespeare's Birthplace on Henley Street, with a ticket that also covers New Place Gardens and lasts twelve months; Anne Hathaway's Cottage at Shottery, a 30 to 35 minute walk out; the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, whose building and viewing tower are free most days; Holy Trinity Church and the grave in its chancel; the Guildhall and Shakespeare's Schoolroom on Church Street; a half-hour Avon cruise from Bancroft Gardens; Tudor World and the Butterfly Farm for a wet day; and the Stratford Greenway, an old railway line that runs to Long Marston.
Stratford, or Stratford-upon-Avon
Locals say Stratford. The full name is Stratford-upon-Avon, and the local authority, Stratford-on-Avon District Council, is the one that drops the 'up'. It is also not Stratford in east London, which has its own station and a very different postcode, and it is not Stratford, Ontario, which runs a Shakespeare festival of its own. If a listing puts the town in the wrong country, do not book it.
The theatre and the town
The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened on the river bank in 1879 after Charles Flower, a local brewer, gave the land and led the campaign to build it. After the original theatre was destroyed by fire, a new one designed by Elisabeth Scott opened on an adjacent site in 1932, and when the Royal Shakespeare Company was founded in 1961 the building was renamed the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. It reopened in 2010 after a major redevelopment. The company also plays in the Swan Theatre, in the same building, and at The Other Place on Southern Lane.
Charters, markets and the Mop
The 1553 charter, granted after the Guild of the Holy Cross was suppressed, made Stratford a borough with a weekly Thursday market and two annual fairs. In 1819 the market moved to Friday, which is why the traditional market is still on Fridays. The Mop takes its name from the mop head that servants with no particular trade carried to a hiring fair, and it survives on the strength of charters from 1553, 1611 and 1676. When the district council asked residents in 2004 whether to move it out to the Recreation Ground, 813 responded, 68 per cent wanted it kept where it is, and the council concluded it should stay in the centre.
Wildlife & Nature
Birdlife
Swans on the Avon
Swans are a regular sight on the river frontage below the theatre and around Bancroft Gardens, and on the Avon Boating cruise route past Holy Trinity. Give them room; they are not tame just because they are used to crowds.
All year
Skylarks on the Greenway
The Walk Wheel Cycle Trust says skylarks nest along the Stratford Greenway and that you may hear them if you keep quiet, along the open stretches of the old railway line south of the racecourse.
Spring and early summer
Flora
Wildflowers on the Greenway
The Walk Wheel Cycle Trust lists cowslips, knapweed, wild carrot and tansy along the old railway trackbed, with fruit and walnut trees.
Spring and summer
The Knot Garden at New Place
The Great Garden behind the site of Shakespeare's last home includes a recently restored Knot Garden, based on designs Shakespeare would have known, according to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Late spring to early autumn