Stratford-Upon-Avon

June 3rd, we had spent the night of the 2nd June in the marina at the Bancroft Gardens in the middle of Stratford-Upon-Avon and spent the morning exploring around the very picturesque town and learning more about Shakespeare.

Stratford-Upon-Avon coming into it on the River Avon

2 bridges, the Tramway and the Clopton, as you come into the town.  We did not go under theses bridges.  Note the Canadian Geese in the foreground, they are a nuisance in England as well and are everywhere up and down the canals and rivers.



We spent 3 hours walking around Stratford-Upon-Avon, initially over the bridges and down through a large park up the side of the river and then across on a footbridge and up to the Holy Trinity Church on the banks of the river where Shakespeare is buried along with most of his family.  He was also baptised and married there.  He was born on 23rd April 1564, baptised three days later on 26th April, married at 18 years to Anne Hathaway in 1582, had 3 children and died on 23rd April 1616 at the age of 52.   Although his children did have children, they all died or did not have any further children so there are no direct descendants from Shakespeare.

Holy Trinity Church, from the River Avon.

Shakespeare's grave in the nave of the Holy Trinity Church with his family's beside him.

The nave of the Holy Trinity Church with the Shakespeare graves in the front and the monument to Shakespeare on the wall at the left just below the stained glass windows.  There were many stained glass windows and were amazing. 

The next stop was the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on the banks of the river also.  I am going to see the live production of "Othello" performed here on 1st July.

 

The Royal Shakespearean Theatre from the river.

From here we walked around the town, up and down the narrow streets lined with old buildings and with all the different shops, inns, pubs, churches etc.  It was delightful and eventually arrived at Shakespeare's birthplace, totally preserved as much as can be dating back to 1564.  It was very interesting including the back garden which was planted with flowers as it would have had in it then.

 

The frontage of Shakespeare's Birthplace.

The back garden of the Birthplace.

The bedroom that Shakespeare was born in, the bed and the cot.

It was then back on the boat after a very interesting morning and starting up the Stratford-Upon-Avon canal to Birmingham.