In Shakespeare Country

MEMORIAL TO SHAKESPEARE IN HOLY TRINITY CHURCH


15TH-CENTURY ALMSHOUSES IN STRATFORD

Breakfast at the Sequoia House Hotel was your typical English B&B fare. We both had (wet) scrambled eggs and toast. We could have had full English breakfast fare but neither us had the appetite for it. Our plan today was to walk into town to tour the other Shakespeare properties there and then walk over to Anne Hathaway's cottage. She was Shakespeare's wife and the cottage, where she lived as a child and had been wooed by the Bard, was only one mile from Stratford. Even though we had already checked out of our B&B the owners let us leave our car parked there. Surprisingly, they had few guests staying overnight -- must've been too early in the season.

The skies were cloudy and gray as we headed out on the canal path towards Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried. Soon it began to rain. We took refuge inside Holy Trinity only to find there was a communion service going on. After all, this was holy week and we were there on Holy Tuesday. Easter is really a big holiday in England. We sat in one of the front pews as we waited for communion service to finish. Lucky for us it only lasted about a half hour. We discovered we had to pay £1.50 to enter chancel to view Shakespeare's grave and memorial bust. Shakespeare's tomb is marked by a flat stone panel in the floor. It was quite difficult to read the famous epitaph carved in the stone:

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.

Buried next to Shakespeare are his wife, Anne; his daughter Susanna; his son-in-law, John Hall; and his granddaughter's husband, Thomas Nash. Nearby are facsimiles of the parish register recording Shakespeare's baptism and burial notice. We also saw the font in which Shakespeare is said to have been baptised.

The churchyard was very picturesque but it was raining quite heavily now and I only dared take a couple of photos from the shelter of the church entrance.

A short walk from Holy Trinity brought us to Hall's Croft, the house where Shakespeare's daughter Susanna lived with her husband John Hall, an eminent doctor. Hall was a progressive doctor who did not believe in bleeding as a treatment and we were able to read gruesome extracts from his medical diaries. We were struck by the spaciousness of the home and the elegant furnishings, testament to the wealth of the family. We had tea/coffee and cakes at a little cafe in Hall's Croft before heading over the the next Shakespeare attraction, Nash's house and New Place.

Thomas Nash was the first husband of Shakespeare's granddaughter. His house was large, richly furnished, elegant and suggestive of how Shakespeare's house would have looked. New Place, the home that Shakespeare had purchased in 1597 with his London earnings, is said to have been the second largest house in Stratford. Again, more evidence of Shakespeare's wealth. Shakespeare's house had been torn down in the 18th century by the owner who was vexed by the constant stream of pilgrims coming to visit the home of the Bard. The foundations of the house remain and on that site a beautiful Elizabethan-style knot garden has been planted. To the rear is the Great Garden, containing an ancient mulberry tree said to have been planted from a cutting from a tree planted by the Bard himself. They take their Bardolatry seriously in Stratford.

The weather was still dreadful, plus it was getting late, so we went back to the B&B and drove the car over to Anne Hathaway's cottage. There was a very LONG line to enter the cottage but we decided to stick it out anyhow. We had arrived in between two large school groups. This week is half-term -- school's are on spring break so we did have to contend with lots of tourists and school-age kids everywhere we went this week. It was still raining but not as heavily as before. We only had to wait about a half hour before being allowed into the cottage. It was a very interesting tour and we got to stand on floors where we know Shakespeare had stood before. After touring the house we walked through the garden and then had a very late lunch in the tea room across the street. There was a strange waitress there who fed biscuits (cookies) to a squirrel.

We got back on the road late (4 pm)! One of the roads we wanted to get on was closed due to an accident. As is often the case, we were unsuccessful in following the diversion signs. We stopped off at gas station to get directions as our maps were not detailed enough for that area. The manager of the shop gave us what we thought were very good and detailed instructions but we missed the first turn of the instructions. After a brief moment of panic on my part, Vince realized we had ended up on the right road anyhow. There was lots of heavy rain on the ride home, not a very pleasant drive. We arrived in Harrogate around 7 p.m. We walked into town and had dinner at Pizza Express, a chain restaurant that serves up very good pizza, salads and pasta.