The Historic Spine - Stratford-upon-Avon

The best of Stratford’s architectural heritage is located along a centuries-old route leading from Shakespeare’s Birthplace in Henley Street to Holy Trinity Church in Old Town. Here are to be found nearly all of the town’s most important buildings, some of them of national importance. The Stratford Society hopes that the description which follows will help both visitors and residents to appreciate the unique experience of tracing this route through the heart of the historic town. This has been optimised for display on a mobile phone, while walking the route. The location of pavement plaques is indicated by the circular symbol on the pictures.

Section 1: Henley Street
Section 2: High Street
Section 3: Chapel Street
Section 4: Church Street
Section 5: Old Town

A medieval planned town

Until the end of the twelfth century, Stratford was just a village, with its houses clustered round the parish church. Then, in 1196, the lord of the manor, wishing to raise Stratford’s status to that of a town, laid out a grid of streets on adjacent land to encourage the development of an urban community. Eight hundred years later, the consequences of this act of town planning are still clearly reflected in the regular grid layout of the town’s main streets, and in the distance of the parish church from what, after 1196, became the town centre.

The 'Historic Spine'

Less obvious at first glance is the ‘historic spine’, the main route through the town which provided the vital link between the new town centre and the old parish church. High Street, as its name indicates, was one of the earliest streets to be developed. It was the continuation of this, via Chapel Street, Church Street and Old Town, which was to provide that link. It is no accident that along this age-old route are to be found the finest of Stratford’s buildings, ranging in date from the 14th to the 20th centuries. At the ‘town end’ it can be extended north-west along the line of Henley Street, another old route incorporated into the ‘new town’.

Shakespeare's Birthplace, as it was

The most important building in Henley Street is Shakespeare’s Birthplace, a timber-framed building of sixteenth-century date owned and lived in by Shakespeare’s father, John, until his death in 1601, and where Shakespeare himself was born. Much of the house was subsequently let out as an inn, the Swan and Maidenhead, but ownership remained with the descendants of Shakespeare himself, and then of his sister, until 1806.

Shakespeare's Birthplace, restored

The Birthplace was purchased at auction in 1847, following a vigorous campaign in which Charles Dickens was prominent. It was then extensively restored, as a national memorial to the poet.

The Public Library

One or two important medieval buildings in Henley Street lie concealed behind later frontages but one is still clearly visible, the Public Library. Saved from demolition in 1901, it was in such a poor state that only thorough restoration ensured its survival.

Bridge Street and Middle Row

It is worth pausing at the top of Bridge Street. In Shakespeare’s day, this broad thoroughfare, where the weekly market was held, had become divided into two narrow streets by a row of haphazard buildings running up the centre, known as Middle Row: these had evolved out of stalls set out on market days. At the top was the old market cross.

The Market Hall

In the early nineteenth century, Middle Row was cleared away, and many of the buildings in Bridge Street refronted or rebuilt in Regency style, in an effort to modernise the town. The only reminder today that this was once an important market area is the Market Hall (now Barclays Bank), originally open on the ground floor, built in 1821 to replace its medieval predecessor.

Mock Tudor

From this same vantage point can be seen evidence of a later building fashion. By the 1880s, there was a reaction against this ‘modernising’ of the town, replaced by a campaign to preserve its older buildings. This even affected the design of some new buildings, built with timber framing in an effort to blend in with the old, but now important in their own right. The impressive house on the corner of Union Street (now Costa Coffee), often mistaken for one of the town’s older buildings, was in fact built for the National Provincial Bank in 1924.

The Home of Shakespeare's Daughter

On the corner of Bridge Street and High Street is an early building (formerly Crabtree and Evelyn, now the gin shop). Although since refronted, it was the home of Thomas Quiney and his wife Judith, Shakespeare’s younger daughter, from 1616 to 1637.

Mock Tudor Façade

Another impressive example of mock Tudor design is W.H. Smith’s in High Street, built in 1921.

No. 30 High Street, with bressumer beam

High Street was badly affected by two serious fires in 1594 and 1595 and very few of its buildings date back earlier. The leading townsmen in Shakespeare’s day, after the fires, erected houses that reflected their wealth and substance. Though some of these have been altered in more recent times, they are characterised by features common to grand Elizabethan town houses: gabled and of three storeys (each one jettied out over the one beneath), and built with a lavish use of timber. No. 30 (formerly Currys) has a beautifully carved bressumer beam.

Nos. 17-18 High Street, with three gables

Towards the far end of the street an important cluster of post-fire houses can be seen, including Nos. 17-18, with its three gables (Blacks).

Nos. 19-21 High Street

Adjoining Nos 17-18, and the last on that side of the street, Nos. 19-21, once with four gables but now only two.

Garrick Inn

Opposite, on the corner of Ely Street, is a wonderful group of buildings:  Nos. 23-24 (Tudor House) on the corner, the Garrick Inn, and, most spectacular, Harvard House.

Harvard House

In the case of Harvard House and, to a lesser extent, the Garrick, the wood framing was enriched with elaborate decorative carving. Harvard House even has its date of construction (1596) worked into the façade, together with the initials of its owners at the time, Thomas Rogers and his wife Ann.

Corn Market (in the 1950s)

At the corner of High Street and Sheep Street, there was a substantial stone building known as the Corn Market. It was demolished in 1958, and the corner plot has remained empty ever since. The crossroads provide a good vantage point from which to view other important buildings from different periods in Stratford’s history.

Town Hall

The Town Hall of 1767 is one of the few buildings in Stratford constructed in stone. Like the former Market Cross at the top of Bridge Street, it too was originally open on the ground floor for use on market day. The statue of Shakespeare on its north elevation was given to the town by the famous actor, David Garrick who organised a three-day Shakespeare festival in Stratford in 1769.

HSBC Bank

On the opposite corner is the finest building in the town in the ‘High Victorian’ manner. Built in 1883 for the Stourbridge and Kidderminster Banking Company, the architects included a feature which they hoped would make the building acceptable in Shakespeare’s native town – a fine terra-cotta frieze depicting fifteen scenes from Shakespeare’s plays.

Chapel Street

Chapel Street is less busy than High Street and this quieter feel is reflected in the character of the buildings that line the street.

Shakespeare Hotel

The east side is dominated today by the Shakespeare Hotel, topped with its nine gables. The four-gabled section, immediately adjoining the Town Hall, the original Shakespeare Hotel, is in fact a refronting in ‘mock Tudor’, dating from 1920, applied to a genuine sixteenth-century building which had undergone several changes to its original façade. Adjoining it is an impressive five-gabled house also of mid sixteenth-century date, originally built for a wealthy Stratford townsman. In the 1880s it was acquired by the owners of the Shakespeare Hotel next door and the premises gradually converted to hotel use.

Eighteenth-Century Buildings

The other side of the street is largely made up of a row of attractive buildings dating from the late 18th century. In fact, only the central block, topped by its little triangular pediment, is entirely of this period: the properties at each end (Nos. 7 and 11) are timber-framed buildings hidden by later brick façades.

No. 20 Chapel Street

Across the road are two properties which, though in commercial use, have successfully retained much of their original character due to sympathetic treatment of their street elevations. No. 20 is timber-framed (on the left), less grand than the imposing town residences in High Street but a fine, and relatively unaltered, example of a more modest town dwelling.

No. 21 Chapel Street

To its right is another building (No. 21) with extensive timber framing at the rear but with its front section (still intact) handsomely remodelled in the 1790s when it became the town’s first bank. As the Chaucer Head Bookshop it carries on an admirable tradition as a purveyor of literature.

Nash's House

Further to the right (No. 22) is a timber-framed building dating back to Shakespeare’s time. It is known as Nash’s House, having belonged to Thomas Nash, the first husband of Shakespeare’s grand-daughter, Elizabeth Hall, whom he married in 1626. Its front wall was rebuilt in 1912 to replace a brick and stucco façade which in turn had displaced the original one in the 1820s. The house has some fine internal features and is open to the public.

New Place, as it was

On the corner of Chapel Street and Chapel Lane is a vacant plot where once stood one of the most impressive houses in the town. It was built by Hugh Clopton in the 1490s with a five-gabled timber-framed range fronting the street and with a courtyard and stone building to the rear. This was the house that William Shakespeare bought in 1597 and where he died in 1616. It remained in the hands of his descendants until 1675 when it was sold back to the Cloptons. In 1701-02, John Clopton virtually rebuilt the house as a wedding present for one of his sons. In 1759, three years after the refurbished property had been sold to the Revd. Francis Gastrell, this house in turn was pulled down.

New Place

Luckily the site was not redeveloped: instead the open space, with some early foundations exposed, serves as a poignant reminder that here once stood the home of Stratford’s most famous son. To the rear the Knott Garden and Great Garden are beautifully maintained.

Falcon Hotel

On the corner of Scholars Lane is the Falcon (now the Indigo) Hotel, built around 1624 by the Walford family. Part of the building had become an inn by the 1650s. In the 1790s the building was re-fronted, which involved cutting back the second floor jetty. Restoration in the 1930s removed the Georgian façade to expose the timber frame.

Sadler's House

The imposing house on the other corner of Scholars Lane is now called the Town House. It dates from around 1600 and was the home of a leading Stratford burgess, John Sadler. It is timber-framed at heart, refronted twice, first in 1768 and then in 1840, resulting in a façade with a curious mixture of Gothic windows and an embattled parapet. The original timber frame, however, is still visible from the side, probably the most visible example in the town of how its older buildings were kept up to date by refronting them in more modern materials.

Guild Chapel

The crossroads at this end of Chapel Street are dominated by the Guild Chapel. This began life as a hospital founded by the Guild of the Holy Cross in 1269 and parts of the chancel of the present building may date back to that time. But the hospital failed and the Guild subsequently took the building over for use as a chapel. The small chancel was substantially rebuilt in the early 15th century and the impressive nave and tower were added in the 1490s at the expense of Hugh Clopton who left money is his will to complete the work.

Guild Chapel paintings

The interior walls of the Guild Chapel were lavishly decorated with wall paintings: today the portrayal of the Doom (Day of Judgment) over the chancel arch is the most obvious survival and has been carefully restored.

Guild Hall

Running south from the chapel are other important buildings built by the Guild of the Holy Cross. First is the Guild Hall, built in the 1420s as the Guild’s business headquarters and principal meeting place for its members.

Grammar School

The Guild, which had also run a school for the sons of its members, was suppressed at the Reformation. The Stratford Corporation then took over responsibility for the maintenance of the almshouses and the school. The school used part, at least, of the old Guildhall and it is here that Shakespeare is believed to have been educated.

Old Vicarage (Headmaster's House)

Walk into the 'tunnel' between the Guild Chapel tower and the entrance to the Guild Hall, and you can see through the gate the Old Vicarage, an elegant house built in 1702 (early in the reign of Queen Anne) by Francis Smith of Warwick. Since 1948 it has been the home of the Headmaster of King Edward Grammar School.

Almshouses

Beyond this is a range of almshouses built for the benefit of the Guild’s old and infirm members. Like the Guildhall, these almshouses are said to date from the 1420s, though they may have been substantially refurbished in the Elizabethan period.

Nos. 18-19, 20-21 Church Street

Church Street, a little distance from the town centre but still forming part of an important thoroughfare, became a favoured residential area for the better off. On the east side we pass first a handsome pair of houses (Nos. 18-19), built in 1856 in brick, and next door a pair with a stucco finish (Nos. 20-21) built in 1831.

Mason Croft

Across the road, one of the finest houses in the town is to be found: Mason Croft, built in the 1720s by a well-to-do lawyer. In the early twentieth century it became the home of Marie Corelli, the best-selling novel writer of her day. This is now the Shakespeare Institute, an outpost of the University of Birmingham.

Trinity College

A little further along on, at the corner of Chestnut Walk, is an even more ambitious house. This dates from a few years earlier and was also the home of a lawyer, Thomas Rawlins. As originally built, it was only two storeys. The top floor was added in 1870 when the building was taken over for use as a school known as Trinity College – the change in the brickwork can still be seen.

No. 1 Church Street

Closing the view of the street is No. 1 Church Street (now the Preparatory School), built in about 1690 for a tobacconist, William Warry. It too was altered when the building was extended to the left so that it is no longer symmetrical.

Old Town

The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century residential character is continued in Old Town although the street name reminds us that it once led to the early medieval settlement.

Old Town Place

The Georgian buildings on the right-hand side of the street culminate in Old Town Place (No. 5), built in 1760, virtually unaltered externally since then, and for that reason arguably the finest building of its type in the town.

Old Town Cottage

Next door, set back from the road, is a strikingly different building, Old Town Cottage, built nearly a hundred years later, with gables and decorated bargeboards.

Hall's Croft

On the other side of the street are some rambling timber-framed buildings. The first is Hall’s Croft, believed to be the home of John Hall and his wife Susanna, Shakespeare’s elder daughter. Its earliest surviving features date back to the early 17th century with fascinating evidence of its later expansion.

Dower House

Beyond is a complex of buildings dating back to the sixteenth century. It comprised a substantial house (now the Dower House, on the corner of Southern Lane), with a range of outbuildings (now converted into Avoncroft and Old Town Croft) running back along the street. Much of the original timber framing has been concealed behind stucco or roughcast, though some can still be glimpsed from Southern Lane.

Holy Trinity Church

Finally, at the end of the route, stands Holy Trinity Church. The earliest sections of the building today (the transepts and lower parts of the tower) are 13th century in date. The nave and aisles were rebuilt in the 14th century when the church became collegiate. Finally, at the end of the 15th century, the chancel was rebuilt in grand perpendicular style and the clerestory added. Of its type, Holy Trinity Church is the finest in the county, with the peaceful riverside setting adding to its attractions.

Shakespeare's Monument

The church also has the added fame of being the place where Shakespeare was both baptised and buried, and a monument erected here in his memory makes it one of the most visited churches in the country.

Section 1: Henley Street
Section 2: High Street
Section 3: Chapel Street
Section 4: Church Street
Section 5: Old Town

Text - Robert Bearman
Photographs - Jack Crimp, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Ian Heggie, Lindsay MacDonald
Copyright - The Stratford Society 2021

A printed leaflet for the Historic Spine is available from the Stratford Tourist Information Centre at Bridgefoot.