Stratford Upon Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon known locally as Stratford)
is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, 22 miles (35 km)
south east of Birmingham and 8 miles
(13 km) south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of
the non-metropolitan
district Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term
"on" rather than "upon" to distinguish it from the town
itself. Four electoral wards make up the urban
town of Stratford; Alveston, Avenue and New Town, Mount
Pleasant and Guild and Hathaway. The estimated total
population for those wards in 2007 was 25,505.
Stratford has Anglo-Saxon origins, and developed as a market town during the medieval period. The original charters of the
town were granted in 1196, making Stratford over 800 years old. The name is a
combination of the Old English strǣt, meaning
"street", and ford, indicating a site at which a road forded a
river. The "street" was a smaller Roman road connecting the larger roads Fosse Way and Icknield Street.
The administrative body for the town is the
Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council, which is based at the Town Hall in Rother
Street. The Stratford-on-Avon District Council is based at Elizabeth House,
Church Street, and the Stratford-upon-Avon Town Trust is based in the Civic
Hall, Rother Street. The Town Council is responsible for crime prevention,
cemeteries, public conveniences, litter, river moorings, parks, grants via the
Town Trust and the selection of the town's mayor.
Stratford is close to the Cotswolds, with Chipping Campden 10 miles (16 km) to the south. The
Cotswolds were a major sheep producing area, up until the latter part of the
19th century, regarded Stratford as one of its main centres for the processing,
marketing, and distribution of sheep andwool. Consequently Stratford
also became a centre for tanning during the 15th–17th centuries. Both
the river and the Roman road served as trade routes for the town.
Stratford has a temperate maritime climate,
as is usual for the British Isles, meaning extremes of heat and cold are rare.
Sunshine hours are low to moderate (less than 1,400 hours per year), and
rainfall is spread evenly throughout the year.
The record high temperature is 35.7 °C
(96.3 °F), set in August 1990, compared to the typical summer maximum of
22 °C (72 °F). The record low temperature is −21.0 °C
(−5.8 °F), recorded in January 1982. With an average of 62 frosts a year, Stratford is a
relatively frosty location. For comparison, nearby Wellesbourne averages 53
frosts a year, and further afield, Malvern, just 33.
As with much of inland Britain, Stratford
experiences much cloud development, while coastal areas remain clear (see image
to the right).
Rainfall, at around 620 mm (24 in)
is typical for low lying areas of central and eastern England. Over 1 mm
of rain was recorded on 115.7 days per year,according to the 1971–2000 observation period.
Apart from tourism, which is a major
employer, especially in the hotel, hospitality industry and catering sectors,
other industries in the town include boat buildingand maintenance, bicycles, mechanical and
electrical engineering, food manufacture, Information Technology, call centre and service sector activities, a large motor sales sector,
industrial plant hire, building suppliers, market gardening, farming, storage and transport logistics,
finance and insurance, and a large retail sector.
Tourism
The
regular large influx of tourists is the major source of the town's prosperity.
In 2010 the District Council spent £298,000 on tourism promotion and supports an official open-top tour bus
service. In 2010 Stratford-on-Avon District Council launched
a re-branded official tourism website for the Stratford area called Discover
Stratford after
opening a new tourist information centre on Henley Street in May 2010, which
has since moved back to the original location on Bridgefoot.
Theatre
The first real theatre in Stratford was a
temporary wooden affair built in 1769 by the actor David Garrick for his Shakespeare Jubilee celebrations of that
year to mark Shakespeare's birthday. The theatre, built not far from the site
of the present Royal Shakespeare Theatre, was almost washed away in two days of
torrential rain that resulted in terrible flooding.
A small theatre known as the Royal
Shakespeare Rooms was built in the gardens of Shakespeare's New Place home in the early 19th century but
became derelict by the 1860s.
To celebrate the 300th anniversary of
Shakespeare's birth in 1864 the brewer, Charles Edward Flower, instigated the building
of a temporary wooden theatre, known as the Tercentenary Theatre, which was
built in a part of the brewer's large gardens on what is today the site of the
new, and temporary,Courtyard Theatre. After three months the Tercentenary Theatre
was dismantled, with the timber used for house-building purposes.
In the early 1870s, Charles Flower gave
several acres of riverside land to the local council on the understanding that
a permanent theatre be built in honour of Shakespeare's memory, and by 1879 the
first Shakespeare
Memorial Theatre had
been completed. It proved to be a huge success, and by the early 20th century
was effectively being run by the actor/manager Frank Benson, later Sir Frank Benson.
The theatre burned down in 1926, with the
then artistic director, William Bridges-Adams, moving all productions to
the local cinema.
An architectural competition was arranged to
elicit designs for a new theatre, with the winner, English architect Elisabeth Scott, creating what we see on the riverside
today. The new theatre, adjoining what was left of the old theatre, was opened
by the then Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, in 1932.
The new theatre had many illustrious artistic
directors, including the actor Anthony Quayle.
Sir Peter Hall was appointed
artistic director (designate) in 1959, and formed the Royal Shakespeare Company
(RSC) in 1961.
Swan Theatre was created in the
1980s out of the shell of the remains of the original Memorial Theatre, quickly
becoming one of the finest acting spaces in the UK.
In 1986, Stratford-upon-Avon became home to
the legendary but ill-fated Carrie.
The Waterside Theatre (which is not part of the Royal
Shakespeare Theatre complex) re-opened in December 2004, then closed again in
September 2008. During this span, the theatre housed the Shakespearience
visitor attraction.[10] This has now been turned into the Clore
Learning Centre, the Royal Shakespeare Company's education and events venue.
The town is located on the River Avon (afon or avon being
a Celtic synonym of "river"), on a bank of which
stands the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) designed by the English
architect Elisabeth Scott and completed in
1932, which is the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Until recently the
RSC also ran two smaller theatres, the Swan, which is modelled on
an Elizabethan theatre (closed in August
2007 as part of plans for refurbishment) and The Other Place theatre, a Black box theatre which was extended to become the
temporary RSC
Courtyard Theatre,
which opened in July 2006. This theatre was the home of the RSC while the RST
was being refurbished; its interior is similar to the interior of the
refurbished RST. The RST and Swan refurbishment has been completed and the RST
and Swan theatres re-opened in November 2010. It is anticipated that the
Courtyard Theatre extension may be dismantled, although many in the town would
retain the Courtyard so that it can used by local theatre companies.
Other tourist attractions within the town
include five houses relating to Shakespeare's life, which are owned and cared
for by the Shakespeare
Birthplace Trust.
These include Hall's Croft (the one-time home of
Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna, and her husband Dr. John Hall) and Nash's House, which stands alongside the site of another
property, New Place, owned by Shakespeare
himself, wherein he died. Near to the town are Anne Hathaway's Cottage at Shottery, the home of Shakespeare's
wife's
family prior to her marriage, and Mary Arden's House (Palmer's Farm), the family home of his
mother. Elsewhere in the district are farms and buildings at Snitterfield, that belonged to the family of Shakespeare's
father.
At the top end of Waterside is Holy
Trinity Church,
where Shakespeare was baptised and is buried.
Non-Shakespearean attractions include
the Stratford
Butterfly Farm,
which is on the eastern side of the river and the Bancroft Gardens and Stratford Armouries located three miles
(4.8 km) from the centre of Stratford on Gospel Oak Lane.
Each year on 12 October (unless this is a
Sunday, in which case 11 October) Stratford hosts one of the largest Mop Fairs in the country. Then, on the second
Saturday following, the smaller Runaway Mop fair is held.
Henley
Street
Henley Street, one of the town's oldest
streets, underwent substantial architectural change between the sixteenth and
nineteenth centuries. John Shakespeare's large half-timbered dwelling, purchased by him in 1556, was
in 1564 the birthplace of his son William. According to a
descriptive placard provided for tourists there,
"The
property remained in the ownership of Shakespeare's direct descendants until
1670, when his granddaughter, Elizabeth Barnard, died. As she had no children,
Elizabeth left the estate to her relative Thomas Hart, Shakespeare's
great-nephew. The main house became a tenanted inn called the Maidenhead (later
the Swan and Maidenhead) following the death of John Shakespeare in
1601. Members of the Hart family continued living in the small adjoining
cottage throughout the century."
The large half-timbered building which now
comprises numbers 19, 20 and 21 was formerly the White
Lion Inn.[11] It is first mentioned in 1603.[12] and was adjoined on the east by a
smaller inn called the "Swan". In 1745 the latter was purchased by
John Payton, who also acquired the "Lion" five years later and
rebuilt the whole premises on a greatly enlarged scale. (Cal. of Trust Title
Deeds, no. 147.) The work was completed by James Collins of Birmingham,
builder, in 1753. (Contract, Trust Title Deeds, no. 167.) Payton "brought
the house into great vogue"[13] though Byng in 1792 complained that
"at the noted White Lion, I met with nothing but incivility" (cited
from Torrington Diaries (ed. Andrews), iii, 152).[11] Payton was succeeded as innkeeper by
his son John, and its reputation as one of the best inns on the Holyhead road
must have contributed not a little to the prosperity of the town. Garrick
stayed at the "White Lion" during the Jubilee of 1769 (Saunders MSS.
82, fol. 20)[11] and George IV, as Prince Regent, visited it
when he came to Stratford in 1806.[14] Its great days came to an end after
John Payton the younger sold it to Thomas Arkell in 1823.[11] The building is now home to the
Enchanted Manor Museum at the Creaky Cauldron and Magic Alley; the Box Brownie
Café; Doug Brown's Really Good Gift Company; and the Not Just Shakespeare
Tourist Information Centre.
Henley Street is now a major tourist and
shopping precinct with many al fresco cafés and street
entertainers.
Sheep
Street
Sheep Street runs from Ely Street eastwards
to the Waterside. It was a residential quarter in the 16th century, some of the
buildings were rebuilt following the fire of 1595, although many, such as
Number 40, date from 1480. Formerly a two storey building that was extended in
the early twentieth century has a lower story of substantial close-set
studding: the upper is of more widely spaced thin vertical timbers.[15]
As the name suggests Sheep Street, which
leads down from the Town Hall to Waterside and the RST, was from early times and
until the late 19th century, the area where sheep, brought from the
neighbouring Cotswold Hills, were slaughtered and
butchered. Today it is the restaurant centre of the town.
The Shrieves House is one of the oldest still
lived in houses in the town and Shakespeare is said to have based his character
of Sir John Falstaff on one of the residents, his godson's uncle. Oliver Cromwell is thought to have stayed here in 1651.
He wrote a letter from the town to Lord
Wharton on
27 August 1651,[16] before the Battle of Worcester.
Behind The Shrieves House is a museum called
"Tudor World" with recreations of 16th century life in theatrical
settings.
Just off Sheep Street is Shrieves walk, a
very quaint walkway with several small independent stores, including a Vintage
Clothing shop.
Waterside
& Southern Lane
This area of Stratford, which runs from the
foot of Bridge Street to Holy Trinity Church (and leads directly off Sheep
Street and Chapel Lane) runs alongside the River Avon and offers access to theWaterside Theatre and all areas of the RST.
The Bancroft Gardens and river area is a very
popular place for people watching, enjoying picnics and river activities. In
the summer the River Avon is busy with rowing boats, motor boats and river
cruises. The Birmingham to Stratford Canal is busy with colourful narrowboats
passing through or mooring up in the canal basin Stratford-upon-Avon
Canal.
There are often jugglers, fire-eaters and magicians entertaining the public on
the lawns. On the edge of the gardens is a water fountain, known as the Swan
Fountain. It was unveiled in 1996 by the Queen Elizabeth II to recognise that
Stratford has been a market town since 1196. It is from here the Stratford Town
Walk meet every day (even Christmas Day), to offer a guided walking tour of the
town. The tour passes the Shakespeare houses, Royal Shakespeare Theatres, 15th
century timber-framed buildings, William Shakespeare's school and visits Holy
Trinity Church.
Stratford is 22 miles (35 km) from the
UK's second largest city, Birmingham, and is easily accessible from junction 15
of the M40 motorway. The 7 miles (11 km)
£12 million Stratford Northern Bypass opened in June 1987 as the A422.
Birmingham
airport is
18 miles (29 km) to the north-west, with scheduled flights to many
national and international destinations.
William Shakespeare is believed to have
studied at King
Edward VI school.
It is an all-boys school,[citation needed] and
one of the few remaining grammar schools in England, selecting its pupils
exclusively using the Eleven plus examination. There is also an all-girls
grammar school, Stratford-upon-Avon
Grammar School for Girls, colloquially known as 'Shottery School' after its
location in the village of Shottery, a short distance from the town
centre. Finally, there is a non-selective secondary school, Stratford-upon-Avon
High School,
formerly known as the Hugh Clopton Secondary Modern School, which was
demolished to make way for the new high school. There are no independent
secondary schools in the town, but there are many primary schools, both state
and independent, as well as Stratford-upon-Avon
College.
Stratford-upon-Avon
Cricket Club Ground is
by the river opposite the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The first match recorded
there was in 1880; it has hosted first-class games since 1951 and women's One
Day Internationals since 2005. Stratford Town Football Club are based at the
new DCS Stadium in Tiddington; they won the Midland Alliance in the 2012/3 season and were promoted
to Division One South & West of the Southern
Football League.
