It’s 1616. Shakespeare has died – and he’s coming home to be mourned. Now, as ever, you can’t take Stratford out of the man. For amongst neighbours, who is Shakespeare ...
The William James Heritage Trail remembers William James (1771-1837) who built the tramway in Stratford.
The line started at the Stratford Canal Basin in the north and crossed the river before ...
In the 1950s, there were many garages. I often used the garage on waterside called The Warwickshire. The garage in Windsor Street, Greenhill Street, Gill Street and separate petrol stations.
Lots ...
I was around 10 years old when, on one particular weekend, there was a church fete which I visited with a group of friends from the area. We looked round ...
The Hippodrome was a large performance space, in which many people gathered to celebrate sports such as dance, boxing and even wrestling. this mostly took place on Saturday evenings. A particular ...
When I was 13 years old, the Second World War began and I was evacuated. From Birmingham St Andrews, I was sent to Stratford upon Avon on Friday – two ...
In 1939 when the war was announced, I was 18 years old. I was stood on the side of the road next to the cinema waiting for my mum to ...
I moved here in 1984, and was approached by the vicar of St Andrews – the reverend David Capron, who wanted to start a Rugby club and asked if I ...
Not many of us could send a child off to war, so imagine having to say goodbye to all six of your sons, not knowing if you’ll ever see them ...
Flower and Sons used to have a brewery in the heart of Stratford-upon-Avon.
I started working for them in 1968. The company was then owned by Whitbread who decided to close ...
The war left a high level of tension in Stratford, with a lot of people suffering with nerves and anxiety affecting many families in town. To add to this there ...
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the Military Conscription Act – which required all single men between the ages of 18 and 41 to sign up for military service ...
From 1898 to 1903 the Rev. Edward Dew (a Church of England Oxford graduate) worked as a chaplain at Trinity College in Stratford-upon-Avon. He was also an amateur photographer and giver of lectures. Fortunately for ...
It’s amazing what comes up in people’s back gardens. This may look like a small pebble, but it was identified at Warwickshire Museum as a 6000 year old stone axe. ...
In the archives of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust there is a database listing the names of children in the town who were apprenticed to trades in order to keep them ...
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust owns many fascinating and important treasures relating to arguably Britain’s greatest playwright. However, often overlooked in its collection is a rare and fine portrait by William ...
Between 1938 and 1945 the women of Warwickshire took on volunteering roles in their local communities to support the war effort (yes even in 1938 they knew war with Germany ...
On 3 December 1867 John Davis was sentenced at the Warwickshire Assizes to 18 months’ hard labour for ‘wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm’ (HO 27/148). His victim ...
(continued from part one)
It is not just the word ‘witch’ that is still stigmatised, black cats have been tainted too. They are often depicted in popular culture as being a ...
After four years of the Transformation project, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre opened its doors once more in 2010 after substantial redevelopment. Much of the art deco detailing of Elisabeth Scott’s ...
The audience cheers and applauds virtually every turn, whistles break out among the crowd as they show their support. Meanwhile, on another night, a firecracker is thrown as the anger ...
For many months I have been researching the history of the nationally unique series of tall cast iron mileposts along the former Stratford on Avon to Long Compton Turnpike. There ...
Origin of the almshouse
Ten almshouses were built in 1417-18 by the Guild of the Holy Cross (amazingly, accounts survive of payments for the costs of the building including 26s 8d ...
Stratford-upon-Avon ‘STRETFORD’
This is the Stratford Shakespeare would have been familiar with. The bridge over the River Avon – Clopton Bridge – was built in the 15th century. It still exists ...