From Wiki:

William Shakespeare, poet and playwright, was baptised in Holy Trinity on 26 April 1564 and was buried there on 25 April 1616.^[17] The church still possesses the original Elizabethan register giving details of his baptism and burial, though it is kept by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for safekeeping. He is buried in the beautiful 15th-century chancel built by Thomas Balsall, Dean of the Collegiate Church, who was buried within it in 1491. Shakespeare was eligible to be buried in the chancel owing to his position as a “lay rector” of the church; as Peter Ackroyd explains, this was due to his leasing of tithes from the church. This entitlement was taken either at his behest or on his behalf.^[18] Shakespeare’s funerary monument is fixed on a wall alongside his burial place. The funerary monument was renovated in 1746 through proceeds from a production of Othello, the first recorded performance of a Shakespeare play in Stratford-upon-Avon.^[19]

Shakespeare would have come to Holy Trinity every week when he was in town, i.e. throughout his childhood and on his return to live at New Place. His wife Anne Hathaway is buried next to him, along with his eldest daughter Susanna. The day after Shakespeare signed his Last Will and Testament on 25 March 1616 in a “shaky hand”, William’s son-in-law, Thomas Quiney was found guilty in the church court of fathering an illegitimate son, who had recently died in childbirth, by a Margaret Wheler. Quiney was ordered to do public penance within the church. Within a month Shakespeare was dead, his funeral and burial being held at Holy Trinity on 25 April 1616.

Above the grave, a badly eroded stone slab displays his epitaph:

Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare,
to digg the dvst encloased heare.
Bleste be y^e man y^t spares thes stones,
and cvrst be he y^t moves my bones.

It has been claimed by at least one textbook author that the warning has served to prevent both the removal of Shakespeare’s body to Westminster Abbey and the exhumation of his body for examination.^[20]

The grave of Shakespeare’s wife Anne is next to her husband’s. The inscription states, “Heere lyeth interred the body of Anne wife of William Shakespeare who dep[ar]ted this life the 6th day of Avgv[st] 1623 being of the age of 67 yeares”. A Latin inscription followed which translates as “Breasts, O mother, milk and life thou didst give. Woe is me – for how great a boon shall I give stones? How much rather would I pray that the good angel should move the stone so that, like Christ’s body, thine image might come forth! But my prayers are unavailing. Come quickly, Christ, that my mother, though shut within this tomb may rise again and reach the stars.”^[21] The inscription may have been written by John Hall on behalf of his wife, Anne’s daughter, Susanna.^[22]

St Cuthbert is the North of England’s best-loved saint. He lived as a monk, bishop, and then hermit, on Holy Island – Lindisfarne. Revered during his own lifetime for his preaching and holiness, Cuthbert was acclaimed a saint in 698.

His community fled Lindisfarne following the Viking invasion in 793. They travelled around the North of England with his body and extraordinary relics for years. They finally settled in Durham in 995.

This Cathedral has grown from the Anglo-Saxon church built to house his shrine and the monks who cared for it.

In September 1104 St Cuthbert was moved into the newly-built Norman Cathedral. The new shrine was made of marble studded with jewels and semi-precious stones.

During the Middle Ages it became a centre of pilgrimage, which continues today. Large numbers of people flocked to the shrine to seek the saint’s blessing and healing powers.

The elaborate shrine no longer exists as it was destroyed in the Reformation. Instead it was replaced in 1542 by the simple marble slab marked ‘Cuthbertus’. The stones around the slab are part of the original construction.

This part of the Cathedral continues to be a place of pilgrimage, prayer and quiet reflection.

• Many people were praying and reflecting next to the shrine so my only photos are taken from below, outside the sacred space.

The first Church on this site was built about the beginning of the 12th century and was dedicated to the Holy Trinity. This has disappeared leaving no traces. By about 1300 another church was being built with the help of payments made by the Canons of Bolton Priory. The sedilia, the four western-most bays of the nave with their quatrefoil pillars, the south wall to the west of the sedila, the lower part of the tower and the north door all date from about this time. Then towards the end of the 15th century the church was extended eastwards, when the chancel with its octagonal pillars was built, probably with the help of a gift of £20 from King Richard III in 1483. At about this time the present oak roof was constructed.

During the bombardment of Skipton castle in 1645 stray cannon shot damaged the church tower and possibly the roof. Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, had the damage to the tower repaired in 1655. At that time she also had the Clifford tombs repaired. The five bells in the church tower were stolen during the Civil War; they were recovered by Lady Anne Clifford and re-installed in the tower in 1655.