Stratford-On-Avon

STRATFORD-ON-AVON, a market town mainly on the west bank of the Avon, in the Stratford-on-Avon parliamentary division of Warwickshire, England ; on a branch line of the Great Western Railway (London 921 m.: Birmingham 33k). Pop. (1931) , 11,616. The neighbourhood is beautiful though of no con siderable elevation. The river flows in exquisite wooded reaches, navigable only for small boats. The Stratford canal communicates with the Warwick and Birmingham canaL The river is crossed at Stratford by a stone bridge of 14 arches, built by Sir Hugh Clopton in the reign of Henry VII. The church of the Holy Trinity occupies the site of a monastery, which existed before 691, when the bishop of Worcester received it from Ethelred of Mercia. It is a fine cruciform structure, partly Early English and partly Perpendicular. It was greatly improved in the reign of Edward III. by John de Stratford, who rebuilt the south aisle. He also in 1332 founded a chantry for priests, and in 1351 Ralph de Stratford built for John's chantry priests "a house of square stone," in connexion with which the church became collegiate. The present choir was built by Dean Balshall (1465-91), and in the reign of Henry VII. the north and south transepts were erected. A window commemorates the Shakespearian scholar Halliwell Phillipps. The chapel of the gild of the Holy Cross was begun by Robert de Stratford. The gild, for both sexes, was in existence early in the 13th century, and was incorporated by charter from Edward III. in 1322. It was dissolved in 1547. The gildhall is a picturesque half-timbered building. A beautiful 16th century house belonged to Thomas Rogers, whose daughter was mother of John Harvard, founder of Harvard college, U.S.A. Among pub lic buildings are the town hall (1633, rebuilt 1767, altered 1863), market house, corn-exchange and three hospitals. There are recre ation grounds. Brewing is carried on, but the trade is principally agricultural. Area, 4,013 acres.

Shakespearian Connexion.

The task of preserving for mod ern eyes the buildings which Shakespeare saw was not entered upon till the end of the i8th century, when much of the visible connexion with his times had been destroyed. A room is by tradi tion shown as his birth-room, bearing innumerable signatures, among which such names as Walter Scott, Dickens and Thacke ray may be deciphered. Part of the building, used by the poet's father as a wool-shop, is fitted as a museum. Shakespeare may

have attended the grammar school in Church street, a founda tion in connexion with the gild of the Holy Cross, but refounded after the dissolution by Edward VI. in 1553, and bearing his name. The site of "New Place," built by Sir Hugh Clopton and bought by Shakespeare in 1597, was acquired by public subscrip tion, chiefly through the exertions of Halliwell-Phillipps, and handed over to the trustees in 1876. Shakespeare is buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity church next his wife. Over his grave are the lines beginning Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare To digg the dust enclosed heare.

For the effigy see SHAKESPEARE : Portraits. Further connexions with the poet and his family are to be found. The museum adja cent to New Place was the house of Thomas Nash, who married Shakespeare's granddaughter Elizabeth Hall. At Shottery, 1 m. W. of Stratford, is the thatched cottage in which Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway, was born. It was purchased for the nation in 1892. The poet's mother was Mary Arden, and this name, that of an ancient county family, survives in the 'Forest' of Arden, north-west of Stratford. At Snitterfield to the north lived Shake speare's grandfather and uncle.

The principal modern monument to the poet's memory is the Shakespeare Memorial, erected in 1877 to contain a theatre, picture gallery and library. Of this the theatre was destroyed by fire on March 6, 1926, and a national fund was opened to build a new one. A Shakespearian season is given annually.

History.—Stratford is a place of great antiquity. A Roman road may have run past the site ; coins, etc., have been found, and the district at any rate was inhabited in Roman times. The manor was granted by Offa to the bishopric of Worcester; and it was under the protection of the bishops of Worcester that the in habitants of the town early assumed burghal rights. The Gild of the Holy Cross, founded in the 13th century for the support of poor priests and others, exercised authority over the town for many years. Its dissolution was the cause of the incorporation charter of Edward VI. in 1553, by which the town was incor porated under the title of the bailiff and burgesses, who were to bear the name of aldermen. Another charter, altering the con stitution of the corporation, was granted in 1611.