Absolute Touring

Re-thatching Anne Hathaway's Cottage

• England's greatest dramatist and poet dominates Stratford
• William Shakespeare was born on or about 23 April 1564 in Henley Street – now the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, where the garden is planted with trees flowers and herbs mentioned in Shakespeare's works
• His father John was a glover and wool dealer; his mother Mary Arden was a farmer's daughter – her house is in the village of Wilmcote
• Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in 1582 – her thatched cottage is in Shottery
• In 1597 he bought New Place, a house built by Hugh Clopton, a merchant who became Lord Mayor of London in 1492, and whose greatest gift to his town was the many-arched stone bridge that still carries traffic over the Avon
• The house was demolished in 1759 but the foundations now form part of the garden beside Nash's House, named for the husband of Shakespeare's grand-daughter Elizabeth
• Shakespeare died at New Place in 1616, on his 52nd birthday. He is buried in Holy Trinity Church, close to the River Avon
• Hall's Croft, a fine timber-framed house in Old Town, named after John Hall who, in 1607, married Shakespeare's elder daughetr Susanna. On Shakespeare's death  the family moved into New Place, which Susanna inherited from her father 

   

• Harvard House, in High Street, was the home of Katherine Rogers, mother of John Harvard, whose bequest made possible the foundation of Harvard University. Built in 1596 it is a fine example of an Elizabethan town house

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Approx 1 hour northwest of Oxford.