Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A town on the Avon.
An introduction to Stratford-upon-Avon, the market town where Shakespeare was born, lived and died.
On this page
Read the town
Shakespeare’s Birthplace stands on Henley Street in the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon. A short walk away on Chapel Street is New Place, where Shakespeare bought a house in 1597 and spent his last years.
A guide can give context without turning a town into a backdrop. Notice the timber-framed houses among later brick fronts, and how close together the places of Shakespeare’s life lie.
Gardens of New Place
New Place was demolished in 1759 and never rebuilt; only its foundations remain. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust keeps the site as a garden, including a knot garden.
Begin with a detail and ask who planted it, who looks after it and how it changes through the year. A photograph alone cannot tell you that.
A Henley Street chapter
Shakespeare’s Birthplace shows one side of the town: a craftsman’s house of the 16th century that became a place of pilgrimage for readers of his son’s plays.
Look at the meeting of the two: the restored timber front on the street, and the modern Shakespeare Centre beside it.
Make room for context
Pair this reading with the house’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places or represents the people who run them.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
