| |
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
Stratford-upon-Avon
|
|
|
(22,000 in 1991)
Town in Warwickshire, famous as the birthplace of William *Shakespeare. The economy of the town now depends largely on its famous son, but little attention was paid to the place until David *Garrick organized a festival there in 1769 to commemorate the poet's birthday. Since 1879, by which time a permanent theatre had been built, there have been regular summer seasons of the plays. The original Memorial Theatre was burnt in 1926 and was replaced in 1932 by the present theatre (home of the *Royal Shakespeare Company).
|
|
|
|
|
Several buildings connected with Shakespeare are now museums; these include his birthplace, a timber-frame building in Henley Street; Hall's Croft, the house of John Hall, who married Shakespeare's daughter Susanna; and houses associated with the early years of his mother, Mary *Arden, and his wife, Anne *Hathaway. New Place, which he bought in 1597 and in which he died, was pulled down in 1759; the site is now a garden. The 13–14C Holy Trinity Church contains his grave, together with his wife's and Susanna's, and an almost contemporary half-length effigy of him by Gheerart Janssen. Harvard House is so named because it was the childhood home of the mother of John Harvard (1607–38), benefactor of the American university named after him.
|
|
|
|