Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, the family home of Anne Hathaway, William Shakespeare’s wife-to-be. It is here that Anne was born and raised and where the young Shakespeare would have visited her during the early part of their relationship. Built more than 500 years ago and extended over the years, much of the original survives.

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage was originally a farmhouse. It was built in 1463 and comprised only three rooms, two of which survive – the kitchen and the parlour. The first Hathaway to live in the cottage was Anne’s grandfather John Hathaway, who was a tenant sheep farmer. Anne, later Shakespeare’s wife, was born in the cottage in 1556.

When the site was a farm it was known as ‘Hewlands’ and the Hathaway family were successful sheep farmers. The garden was a farmyard with some livestock and space for growing herbs and vegetables.

Anne’s father died in 1581 and Anne’s brother Bartholomew inherited the tenancy of the 90-acre farm and he later bought the freehold. He then added an extension, increasing the size of the cottage and inserted new chimneys and an upper floor at the same time. This work was completed before Bartholomew’s death in 1624.

By the late 19th century, the family’s fortunes had declined. Some property including land and other houses were mortgaged, and eventually sold. In 1838 the cottage itself was sold, but the Hathaway family continued to live in the cottage as tenants.

One of the last Hathaways to live in the cottage was Mary Baker. When the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust purchased the cottage in 1892, Mary and her family were paid the large wage of £75 per year. Their duties were to share family stories and to care for the cottage, both of which we continue to do today. Her son William Baker occupied part of the cottage until he left in 1911.

Information from Southwark Cathedral website:

The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie stands at the oldest crossing-point of the River Thames at what was for many centuries the only entrance to the City of London situated across the river. A verbal tradition passed on to the Elizabethan historian John Stow suggests that the first Christian establishment was a community of nuns in the 7th century, but the first written reference is the mention of a ‘minster’ in the Domesday Book of 1086.

In 1106 the church was ‘re-founded’ by two Norman knights as a priory, whose members lived according to the rule of St Augustine of Hippo. The church was dedicated to St Mary and later known as St Mary Overie (‘over the river’). The Augustinian Canons created a hospital alongside the church; this was the direct predecessor of today’s St Thomas’s Hospital opposite the Houses of Parliament and originally named in honour of St Thomas Becket who was martyred at Canterbury in 1170.

At the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, the last six canons were pensioned off although they continued to live in buildings north of the church. The church itself became the property of King Henry VIII who rented it to the congregation. It was re-named St Saviour’s, though the old name remained in popular usage for many years.

St Saviour’s Church became Southwark Cathedral in 1905. The diocese which it serves stretches from Kingston-upon-Thames in the west to Thamesmead in the east and Gatwick Airport in the south. It has a population of two-and-a-half million people, served by over 300 parishes.

Synopsis (from the book cover):

Bestselling writer Bill Bryson’s brilliantly readable biography of our greatest dramatist and poet William Shakespeare is updated to mark the 400th anniversary of his death.

Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson tries to make sense of the man behind the masterpieces. In a journey through the streets of Shakespeare’s time, he brings to life the hubbub of Elizabethan England and a host of characters along the way. Bryson celebrates the glory of Shakespear’s language – his ceasless inventiveness gave us hundreds of now indispensible phrases, images and words – and delights in details of his fall-outs and folios, poetry and plays.

Stitching together information from a vast array of sources, he has created a unique celebration of one of the most significant, and least understood, figures in history – not to mention a classic piece of Bryson.

Thoughts:

The book exposes how little is known about Shakespeare, even the pictorial images we know him by might not represent his true likeness. These images are based on three original artworks, two af which were painted years after his death. Bill Bryson writes at length about society in the Elizabethan era bringing it to life but was unable to find many facts about Shakespeare himself.

This book served as a reminder that we should do our own reasearch rather than accept what is presented to us as fact.

I was wearing ‘Secret Bunnies’, the Bard behind me is made out of lego pieces.

However…

Getting back to the point I enjoyed my evening with the Bard at the RSC watching a delightful performance of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

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]

We navigated our way around the breakfast menu which somehow didn’t quite work, for example there was no bread to accompany the meat and cheese that are part of the continental breakfast.

After breakfast, our first destination was Shakespeare’s birthplace where the room guides’ explanations and stories added to the experience. We then visited the nearby MAD museum, The Museum of Mechanical Art and Design which displays such things as kinetic art and automata.

Before deciding on a place for lunch we browsed the Sunday market which had been recommended to us by the hotel receptionist as we were checking in. I was tempted by a scarf and went back to the stall after we had done a circuit of the market. As luck would have it the stall owner was demonstrating the scarf that had taken my eye to another couple and then went on to demonstrate a second scarf to them. This was one that Mr C had pointed out to me. I joked with the couple that they were picking the same scarfs that I liked. They left with one of their choices and I came away with both of mine…

For lunch we both had a delicious chicken Waldorf sandwich in the Fourteas 1940’s tea room. The place had a lovely atmosphere, with the ladies wearing appropriate dresses of the ’40s and the menu was presented as a ration card. The Tudor museum, just across the road from the tea room was our next destination.  The visit was interesting but left us with time on our hands for another adventure.

We decided on a second visit to the butterfly farm but first I needed to go back to the hotel to change out of my yellow butterfly-attracting jacket. During this visit to the butterfly farm, we were treated to the delightful sight of one of the iguanas who had climbed down from his high perch to mingle with the humans. In-between snacking on the greenery he posed for the cameras.

After our busy itinerary we returned to the hotel to chill out.  Before dining in the Giggling Squid, a Thai restaurant, we ordered Proseccos in the hotel bar which avoided the complications we had been experiencing with the gin. The food in the Giggling Squid was delicious as it always is in this restaurant chain. For some reason we were not offered a dessert and I had not seen any desserts coming out of the kitchen so I thought perhaps they were not available that night. That was until just after we had paid our bill the next table were offered the dessert menu…

Mr C chose a nearby pub to finish of our evening. It was small place that locals frequent and it was live music night. The place was full and it took me a while to find a seat (I hate standing at the bar). The live act was George Wilson, he was amazing. He did two sets, the first being of a vintage era and the second bringing us up to more modern times. His rendition of Bad Manners took me back in time to when I saw them performing live.

We arrived back at the hotel to find the door was locked and there was no-one to be seen in the reception area. We pressed the intercom button several times and nothing happened! Mr C had the presence of mind to Google the hotel website where he found a phone number for the hotel. To our relief the phone call was answered immediately and the member of staff apologised most profusely, explaining that there is no hotel porter on a Sunday. This is the first time I have ever found myself locked out of a hotel. I have stayed in some rather dodgy hotels over the years but even those made it clear how to access the hotel when the doors were locked.

I have returned from a weekend break in Stratford-on-Avon where the weather was unseasonably kind to us. I am now juggling organising my photos around Christmas preparations.

On arrival the stage wasn’t set up because the theatre company had been caught up in traffic.  It gave us the unique opportunity to see the stage being set up and how it worked, which included a bit of audience participation to say if the audio was loud enough.

We had left the fishing umbrella up just in case; the people behind us said it was fine and they could still see the stage.  Then a strange rude man appeared and said “are you going to take that down or are we going to move”.  Hmm! why didn’t he just, say could you put the umbrella down please because we can’t see?  When I checked him out a little later he wasn’t even sat facing the stage.

Luckily the rain held off for the performance and only started up again once it had finished.

The performance was played for laughs and was magical, with the cast rushing of into the distant trees and running through the audience quite alarmingly at times.  The acting and characterisation were excellent, with only 5 actors to play all the parts.  It was a very modern take on the theme and very cleverly done.

Samuel Pepys had this to say about the play:

The most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life…