MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHPLACE...

Shakespeare's Birthplace is a restored 16th century house in Stratford-upon-Avon.  It is half-timbered, which means parts of the load-bearing structure are visible from the outside, which creates a rather decorative effect.

The best way to visit Shakespeare's Birthplace is by a four-way-ticket, which gains you access to this attraction as well as Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Shakespeare's Schoolroom and Guildhall, and Shakespeare's New Place.  This type of ticket costs £40 per adult (children's tickets, concessions and family rates are also available), whereas otherwise it's £27 to enter Shakespeare's Birthplace alone (£25 if booked online in advance), which is a bit of an ouch to the pocket for just one attraction!

   

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is regarded as Britain's finest ever playwright and poet, and here's a statue of him,  standing sentinel outside his birthplace.

You enter via the Shakespeare Centre next door, which is a multi-functional study/ exhibition/ office space.

You learn about life in general during Shakespeare's day, and this cabinet instructs you about storytelling, music and play...

The Shakespeare Centre opened in 1964, and this current exhibition is called "Becoming Shakespeare."  It delves into the sparks of creativity occurring around Stratford-upon-Avon at the time, and this cabinet features a class of what looks like future architects studying their craft...

Audio-visual storytelling, and the exhibition is filled with Shakespeare's words and quotes...

Paintings of Stratford-upon-Avon, and Shakespeare would have been influenced by what was going on around the town...

There are some genuine artefacts in here, although Shakespeare's Birthplace next door contains no original furnishings- just items produced contemporaneously or modern reproductions.

This is a medieval church font...

A storage cupboard known as a "Cubborde of boxes."

It dates from 1594, and this photo shows you how it unfolds to reveal hidden spaces...

John Shakespeare- William's father- was a leatherworker and glovemaker...

This is the 1431 High Cross base, and it is under that market cross that John Shakespeare would have sold his gloves (as well as from his house).

John was also elected to several municipal offices including, in 1568, mayor of Stratford.

Into the garden of Shakespeare's Birthplace, which features many plants mentioned in Shakespeare's plays...

The garden as we see it nowadays dates from the mid 19th century...

In John Shakespeare's day the garden would have served practical purposes; such as the growing of vegetables and medicinal plants.  It also would have contained outbuildings pertaining to his glovemaking business... 

Beautiful flowers, but back in Tudor times there would also have been a stable for a horse, and they probably would have kept pigs and hens.

This statue represents Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), who wrote a poem commemorating the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, entitled  In Honour of William Shakespeare.

The house was most likely built in the mid 16th century.  

As John Shakespeare first rented the property for 10 years before buying it in 1564,  it's pretty certain that William  was born and brought up here. 

In we go, and the building we see today was restored in the 1860s.  But many original features- such as the hearths and rear window positions- remain intact.

 The Parlour, and John Shakespeare was affluent- at the time this house was one of the more significant properties down Henley Street.

The Parlour was the "best room" on the ground floor, and used for receiving visitors... 

 It would have been the warmest room, and so guests would have slept in the "best bed," which was luxurious and displayed the family's wealth and status.  John Shakespeare was considered to be middle class; although he was comforatably off, he was not overtly wealthy.

John Shakespeare married Mary Arden around 1557, and she would have played an important part in supporting him throughout his social climbing, as described here next to what looks like a bowl of rising dough.

The Hall table is set for a family meal...

William Shakespeare is widely thought to have been born on 23rd April 1564.  He was definitely christened on 26th April,  and back then babies were generally christened before they were a week old.

The Glover's Workshop, and this room tells us about glove making.  We learnt that as well as lime, alum and egg, urine and dog faeces were used to process the the deer, lamb and dog(!) skins used to make fine leather. 

Up the stairs and into one of the children's bedrooms, there being two- this one for boys and another for girls- with the children sharing the same bed in each.  It was common practise for people to sleep sitting up, propped up by pillows!

At the time, in the house there would have been two adult Shakespeares- John and Mary- and five children (two had died in infancy before William was born, and one was yet to be born).

This room had a fire, so would have been warmer than the Birthroom. 

There would also have been servants and possibly an apprentice living in the house as well, so it would have been a busy dwelling!

The are fitting artefacts up here, and the house was retained in family ownership until the late 18th century...

...But by the middle of the 19th century it had fallen into decay.  The Shakespeare Birthplace Committee (later the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust) bought the house for the nation in 1847.

The Birthroom Window was formerly in the birthroom at Shakespeare's Birthplace.  Pilgrims etched their names onto the walls and windows to signify their visit, with the earliest recorded date being 1806.  Famous figures such as Charles Dickens, Walter Scott and John Keats visited here.

The walls were cleared of graffiti in the mid 20th century, but etchings on the glass panes exist here for you to see...

The room where William Shakespeare was born has been decorated to what it might have looked like in 1575; when he was 11.

This was his parents bedroom and, at that time, it was common for children to sleep with their parents until they were five; first swaddled in the cradle, then on a pull-out truckle bed stored under the main bed.

Looking over the garden, and in Shakespeare's time there would only have been shutters, as glass wasn't put into the windows until the 1670s.

Charles Dickens was a prominent member of the Shakespeare Birthplace Committee, and he organised amateur performances featuring noted performers in an attempt to fund the purchase of the house.

The house was restored in the 1860s; its appearance influenced by a 1762 Richard Greene sketch, as well as surviving architectural evidence.

The Window, and John Shakespeare's home was also his place of business- as well as making the gloves here, he sold them through the window to the right...

The full outside view of Shakespeare's Birthplace...

The Bard statue at night...

And we'll finish with a close-up...

I would love to return to Stratford-upon-Avon; but until I do...

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS SHAKESPEARE'S SCHOOLROOM AND GUILDHALL...

Shakespeare's Schoolroom and Guildhall was the final Shakespeare-related tourist attraction we visited, the others being: Shakespeare's Birthplace, Shakespeare's New Place and Anne Hathaway's Cottage.  The cheapest way to do this is to buy a four-way ticket, which costs £40 for adults and £20 for children (family tickets and concessions are also available).

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is Stratford-upon-Avon's most famous resident, and is often labelled the greatest playwright and poet of all time.  Incidentally, the week after we visited hotel prices were steeper, as that's when Shakespeare's "anniversary" day was.  He is widely believed to have been born on 23rd April (St George's Day), and he died on 23rd April.  

The Guildhall dates back to the early 15th century...

It was used for assemblies, as the meeting place for the local council and as a school building...

A golden bust of The Bard.  Stratford-upon-Avon appeared to be choc-a-bloc full of Shakespeare-related statues and sculptures!

The lower hall is where assemblies would have taken place.  William Shakespeare's father, John Shakespeare, was a glovemaker who, in 1568, became the Mayor of Stratford.

Here is a representation of young William watching his father.

It was because of John Shakespeare's privileged status that William was able to attend the local grammar school...

Young William with a SuperDean in the background...

We popped into the priests' chapel...

The light was very low in here...

...But you can sit for a while and contemplate...

The Muniments and Treasure Chest of the Guild of the Holy Cross sits in the room next door.  Despite being labelled as old and fragile, the tour guide told us it takes two people to even lift the lid of the chest!

You can watch a film about the Guildhall in here..

Fireplace...

Here you can see and read about how the walls were made...

The wattle and daub technique is explained, and between the timber sections were sand, clay and dung!

Another bust of The Bard sits at the bottom of the stairs, plus a selection of verse taken from his plays and sonnets...

A closer view, and behind the bust on the walls are details of former headmasters of the school...

In the Master's Chamber upstairs, and during renovations this pre-reformation wall painting was found.  It's a depiction of the Last Supper, and is through to be from around 1441...

Ceiling view...

This room dates from the 1420s, and this huge, heavy desk dominates...

Renovations took place before 2016, when Shakespeare's Schoolroom was opened to the public for the first time.  The date commemorates the 400th anniversary of his death.

Pupils' graffiti on the desk...

Another Shakespeare bust in the corridor, and this representation looks like the artist has taken inspiration from Jackson Pollock! 

Inside Shakespeare's actual schoolroom, and this is the Stratford Grammar School Desk.  This medieval Tudor oak/elm desk would have been used by a schoolmaster or senior pupils.

One of the guides acted as the schoolmaster, and informed us that lessons would have been taught in Latin.  He also told us the boys would have been given up to five pints of ale per day.  And here's me thinking that sneaking vodka and coke into school in a Sodastream bottle was bad!😁

Shakespeare attended the school in the 1570s, and would have sat on benches like these (these are not from his time).  Each bench would have been called a "form."  It's a name that still exists in schools today.

On the teacher's desk, and the birch was the way of ensuring order in the classroom.

Next door, and during Shakespeare's time these desks were not here- they date from the 17th century...

In Shakespeare's day plays would be would performed in this room and, from 1568 over 30 travelling theatre groups visited here.   Shakespeare would have no doubt witnessed this, and here you have the marriage of the education, taking place next door, and the love of theatre, honed right here, beginning.

Lessons still take place up here before 11am, when the rooms are then open to visitors...

Another Bard bust, and you can dress up as a schoolmaster if you like!

Another birch- also handy if you're kinky and up for a bit of spanking...😉

The King Edward VI school, taken through the window.  The school is known to have been in existence since 1295. 

We then took a walk towards the river, taking in some of the historic buildings.  Hotel Indigo over the road is a boutique hotel.

The sign "Old Town" is on on the left hand building.  The name is self explanatory, and always denotes a town or city's original and historic core.

Hall's Croft was the home of Susanna Hall, Shakespeare's daughter.  It was built in 1613, so was quite new when Shakespeare was alive.

It is currently closed to visitors as conservation work takes place, and here you can see the scaffolding supporting the left side of the building.  Apparently a vehicle reversed into the building, causing substantial damage.

Beautiful wisteria adorns this house along Stratford-upon-Avon's Historic Spine...  

Shakespeare is buried in Holy Trinity Church.  I was able to pop my head in here but wasn't able to go searching for his grave in the chancel, as a concert was about to begin.

We then sought out this pub, which has two names: The Black Swan and the Dirty Duck.  We just had to pop in for a nice cold pint of cider...

The pub dates from 1738, was named The Black Swan but American GIs re-christened it during WWII!

This pub features in the TV drama Shakespeare and Hathaway, which is about two private investigators and their cases.  In the show it's called The Mucky Mallard, so this pub technically has three names!

Stratford-upon-Avon has been given lamp posts by councils and from around the world.  This one came from Israel and is called The Fiddler, the Mandolin Donkey and the Owl!

Stratford-upon-Avon, I will return...

Until then,

TTFN

Miss Elaineous

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