History of William Shakespeare 2010

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was born at Stratford-upon-Avon in a house in Henley Street. This is preserved intact. His mother, Mary Arden, was one of the daughters of Robert Arden, a yeoman farmer of Wilmcote: his father, John Shakespeare, was a glover and wool dealer of good standing who held the office of Bailiff of the Borough in 1568.

From the age of seven to about 14, he attended Stratford Grammar School receiving an excellent well rounded education. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who was seven years his senior and three months pregnant. She was of 'yeoman' stock - her family owned a farm one mile west of Stratford in Shottery. He endured her until he could stand it no longer and fled to London to become an actor. He then became actor-manager and part-owner in the Blackfriars and afterwards the Globe Theatres. He was a first-rate actor, but it is as a writer of plays that he has achieved lasting world-wide fame. His plays are thought to be the finest ever written in any language

His plays were as follows:
All's Well That Ends Well, Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Coriolanus, Hamlet, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Love's Labour's Lost, Macbeth, Measure for Measure, The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard II, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Winter's Tale

When Shakespeare retired he moved back to Stratford, and died there in 1616.

Before Anne Hathaway married Shakespeare, she lived in a pretty farmhouse in the village of Shottery (about 1 mile - 1.6 kilometers - west of Stratford-upon-Avon). There is an entry charge to see the gardens and inside the cottage, where some of the family's furniture is displayed.If you travel to Stratford-upon-Avon independently and have plenty of time, you can walk here from the town centre. Alternatively, sightseeing buses from the town centre travel here regularly.

The sections below show images from a walk starting and ending at the coach terminal.
At the northern end of Henley Street you can see a statue of a fool.
Further down on the left is a museum called the Shakespeare Centre, and Shakespeare's Birthplace (where Shakespeare was born in 1564).

Turn right into High Street. There is a clock tower on the corner. Harvard House was built in 1595 by Thomas Rogers - his daughter's son founded Harvard University in America. The building which you can see on the left in the picture below is the Garrick Inn.

Continue straight and High Street becomes Chapel Street. On the left is Nash's House. Shakespeare lived in a house next door from 1610 until he died in 1616. There is no longer a house there (New Place), but there is a garden called Great Garden which you can enter from Chapel Lane.

On the left at the start of Church Street is the Guild Chapel and then King Edward the Sixth School, where Shakespeare went to school. Turn left at the end of the street into the road called Old Town. On the left is Hall's Croft, the home of the man who married Shakespeare's daughter.

There is a ferry (for foot passengers only) which runs frequently between the north side of the River Avon to the recreation ground on the south side. This works using a chain under the river.

As you walk along Southern Lane you can see a sign for the pub "The Black Swan". If you look back after you have passed the sign you can see that the name has changed to a less elegant one: "The Dirty Duck"!

The centre for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on Waterside. Shakesperean plays are often performed here or in two other nearby theatres called the Swan Theatre (next to the river) and The Other Place Theatre (on Southern Lane).

Turn left after passing the Royal Shakespeare Theatre into Sheep Street, and then right into Shrieve's Walk. Here you can find an interesting specialist shop called Autograph Ink (at 8 Old Red Lion Court) which sells a wide range of autographed memorabilia and signed photos.

The Gower Memorial is situated in Bancroft Gardens. In the centre is a statue of Shakespeare sitting down, surrounded by statues of Lady Macbeth, Prince Hal, Hamlet and Falstaff, representing Philosophy, Tragedy, History, & Comedy. The memorial was completed in 1888, and moved to its current location in 1933.

The Tourist Information Centre is nearby.

To return to Shakespeare's Birthplace you can either walk along Bridge Street and Henley Street, where many of the main shops are located, or you can follow the canal and return using Great William Street. There are a series of locks along this part of the Stratford-to-Birmingham canal. Each boat must enter the lock, close the gate behind them, and wait for the water level to change so that the boat can continue on its journey.