>Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon: friends, neighbours, places
Dr Paul Edmondson (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford)
Dr Paul Edmondson is Head of Research for the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, an honorary fellow of the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, and a visiting professor in Human Rights, Birmingham City University. He is also a trustee of the British Shakespeare Association, the Rose Theatre, and the Friends of Shakespeare’s Church.
Report on the talk
A large and enthusiastic audience heard a fascinating and fact-filled talk on the places and people of Shakespeare’s Stratford.
Stratford shaped Shakespeare’s identity and reputation. Most of the people named in his will were from Stratford. Leonard Digges (1588-1635), contemporary and admirer, eulogised him in the First Folio: – ‘words will last longer than his monument’. William Basse (c1583-1653?) composed an elegy to Shakespeare in the time between the latter’s death and the First Folio, commenting on the benefits of his burial being in Holy Trinity Church rather than in Westminster Abbey.
Regarding the town itself, the streetscape changed during Shakespeare’s lifetime due to the destruction caused by the three fires, which the Stratfire Project is revealing more about. Many homes were lost and there was considerable damage. Homelessness and starvation increased. Around that time there were c2,000 people and around 1,000, mostly elm, trees in and around the town, which was still very rural in character, unlike Shakespeare’s other home, London.
The White Swan (where our meetings are held) was known as the King House then. It still has a medieval wall painting (a scene from the Book of Tobit, an apocryphal Jewish work of the third or second century BCE) on one wall, showing a well-dressed, high-status couple of Shakespeare’s time.
John Shakespeare had a house in Greenhill Street, and there were pastures and meadows at this end of town. Henley Street was cobbled then, and George Badger bought some land next to Shakespeare’s house - he had 16 children, of which 15 survived! In the plague of 1564, there was a 600% increase in the death rate, so William Shakespeare was lucky to still be alive. On the other side of the road, across from the Birthplace, was a tailor, Will Wedgwood. And a stream (mere) ran between what’s now the bookshop and the library, down Meer Street (Mere Pool Lane) to Wood Street and then to Rother Street.
On the corner of Cook’s Alley were 4 elm trees and a Mr Greenway (died 1601), draper, packhouse owner and wagon carrier lived there. He went to London regularly (a three-day journey) so this may have been a way for Shakespeare to travel to work. At the junction of Henley Street and Bridge Street was the market cross and fire equipment; the building had a turreted roof and a clock. Stratford was a busy industrial town, and this was its centre. There was also a whipping post, removed in 1831. The market cross itself has been preserved by the SBT.
In the early 17th century William Walford owned 20 freehold properties as well as land in Old Town. Daniel Baker (at one point a member of the Corporation) may have been instrumental in attempting to stop theatrical performances in the Guildhall in the early 1600s by imposing fines. (He was also accused of sexual ‘incontinence’!) Later, as bailiff, William Chandler, acted to reduce the fines. There is also some evidence that Burbage appeared in Stratford after Shakespeare’s death. The Sadlers – Judith and Hamnet (who were close to Shakespeare’s family and after whom Shakespeare named his twins) ran The Bear (now the Encore) pub, in which there were theatrical performances.
Regarding the accuracy of Shakespeare’s images, it seems that John Coombe, a close friend, had a statue made of himself before his death, which is also in Holy Trinity. This was not unusual, apparently. It’s possible, therefore, that the portrait of Shakespeare may also have been one of him from life.
Lastly, Paul emphasised that Shakespeare did not ‘leave’ Stratford, nor did he ‘retire’ here! He went back and forth to London and never stopped working. Sir Stanley Wells CBE, a well-known Shakespearean scholar, and closely associated with the SBT, called him ‘our first great literary commuter’.
Report by Helen Elliott.
