Going Downtown, Elizabethan Style | Stratford-upon-Avon, Part 3

 

Even though it was cloudy and COLD, the view down the Avon was still lovely.

2015 England Trip Travel Journal Entry

Saturday, March 14

(2:20 PM) It was a sad thing to leave Stratford. One really needs to spend two nights there to fit everything in (including shopping in their numerous boutiques and charity shops). We dragged ourselves out of bed at 7:30 and we got straight out onto the High Street, but Hathaway Tea Rooms didn't open until 10:00, so we walked over to the river.

A couple of the old bridges on the Avon.

The main footbridge over the Avon in Stratford, complete with white swan.

The theater of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

There were rather a lot of swans, adding to the picturesque view of Holy Trinity Church in the distance.

Me and the theater of the RSC. And a houseboat!

Proof that we were both there. :)

The Avon is quite picturesque, with dozens of swans sailing about, old bridges, cheerfully painted houseboats and Holy Trinity Church in the distance.

The famous Shakespeare monument on the banks of the Avon.

Poor Hamlet... (His statue represents tragedy.)

No thanks, Hal. Remember,
uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.
(Hal represents the history plays.)

And the weather was chilling... Oh, was it chilling! So it was quite pleasant to sit down to breakfast in Hathaway Tea Rooms. We were alone for a bit, so we talked a little with the hostess, who turned out to be from New Zealand. We asked her about buses to Mary Arden's Farm, and there are some that do depart/stop at the main bridge, she said, but we later found out that the only bus running on Sundays is the hop-on-hop-off tour bus. That helped us decide to stay in town to see Shakespeare's grave at Holy Trinity Church, Hall's Croft and Harvard House.

One of Stratford's main streets. Hathaway Tea Rooms is in the middle section of those half-timbered buildings.

Looking out at Harvard House from Hathaway Tea Rooms.

Another one of Stratford's picturesque streets.

At the far left end is St. Edward's school where Shakespeare himself attended. The rest are just houses. Yes, people live there!

We had a pleasant walk along the river to find the church, taking a sort of nature path through some small park areas where people were playing with their dogs and past a couple of old buildings where the path was shaded by overhanging trees. There were many people out walking or on the river or sitting on benches perched by the bank. The sun was peaking out a little by then, even though it still felt cold, but I still think the people on the river must be slightly crazy. The church wasn't far, and it was easy to find, as one would think, seeing as it is rather famous. What wasn't easy to find was Shakespeare's grave - at least if you base your search on assumptions like we did. We walked all the way around the building, looking for at least one headstone in the graveyard that looked even slightly different from the others. Certainly, we thought, there would be something to make it clear where one of the most famous people in the world is buried... We even asked a couple people who live in Stratford, and they didn't know where he was, either! Feeling at a loss, we finally just went inside. If we had simply done that to begin with we would have saved ourselves a bit of trouble. He is buried inside, of course. At the front of the church!

The inside of Holy Trinity Church.

The great man himself lies here...
'Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.'

He is buried next to his wife, son-in-law and grandsons-in-law. They are very simple engraved stones on the floor. Every part of the church building would have been there in his time, since it dates from the 1200s to the 1400s.


Happily, just down the road is Hall's Croft, the home of Shakespeare's oldest daughter Susannah and her husband Dr. John Hall. It is Jacobean, built in 1613, and still has it's original flooring. These Tudor and Jacobean houses have something less refined about them than Georgian, so it is hard to conceive how Shakespeare, being such a master of language as he was, as well as being considered as possibly the most skilled user of the English language, ever, could have become so, coming from such a rural, limited society. Of course, he must have been a genius, but it is certainly intriguing to know how much of his talent simply must have come from his natural gift.

Hall's Croft, another beautifully preserved half-timbered building.

The dining room of the house. It is the sort that would have belonged to a well-to-do Jacobean family.

Susannah's husband was a doctor, and this would have been his surgery, or consulting room.

And the kitchen! A very important room.

Part of their spacious back garden.

Harvard House belonged to the family that Harvard University is named after. (Isn't that a surprise...) We popped into a few shops before heading out to the train station, but there wasn't much time for shopping, so Mom grabbed some coffee, quiche and a chocolate cornflake bar at a little bakery called Havilands for the train ride.

New Place, Shakespeare's last home. It's being renovated, so it wasn't open during our visit to Stratford.

 
Logistics: 

1. The train to London (Marylebone Station)
2. The Tube from Marylebone to Charing Cross Station on the Bakerloo Line
3. Continuing on the Tube from Charing Cross Station to Stockwell Station on the Northern Line
4. Continuing on the Tube from Stockwell Station to Brixton Station on the Victoria Line

© 2015 Anna Morton