UK: Warwickshire – Shakespeare’s New Place in Stratford

By 1592, Shakespeare was already making quite a name for himself down in London — established as both a player and a playwright with at least seven plays already under his belt. Not bad going for a lad from a small Midlands market town. Two years later, in 1594, he helped found what became one of the most celebrated theatre companies in English history — the Lord Chamberlain’s Men — and was sharp enough to take shares in the company rather than just a weekly wage. That turned out to be a rather clever bit of business, as it happened.

By 1597, the money was coming in nicely, and at 33 years old Shakespeare did what any sensible Englishman would do with a bit of spare cash — he bought property. He paid around £120 to a chap called William Underhill for a house back in his home town of Stratford-upon-Avon. That might not sound like much today, but in 1597 it was a serious sum — roughly equivalent to several years’ wages for a working man.

The house itself was no new build. New Place — or ‘the Great House’ as it was sometimes known — was actually a medieval property dating back to the 1480s, originally built by Hugh Clopton, a former Lord Mayor of London who had done rather well for himself. It sat on Chapel Street, right opposite the Guild Chapel, and had been described by John Leland, who served as librarian to Henry VIII, as ‘a pretty house of brick and timber.’ Modest praise perhaps, but Leland was a man who’d seen a few houses in his time.

It was, by any measure, the grandest house in the borough — the only one with a full courtyard, no less. With ten hearths and somewhere between 20 and 30 rooms, there was plenty of space for the whole Shakespeare family to spread out. Towards the back of the courtyard stood a large late-medieval Hall, which would have served as the main gathering point of family life — the sort of room where things actually happened.

Today, the re-imagined site gives you a real sense of the scale of New Place and how it sat amongst its neighbours, including the King Edward VI School and the Guild Chapel next door — both of which the young Shakespeare would have known well growing up. Specially commissioned artworks dotted throughout the site evoke the rhythm of family life and offer nods to the major works Shakespeare wrote during the 19 years he called New Place home.

Wander round to the rear of where the house once stood and you’ll find the Great Garden — once part of Shakespeare’s own estate and now a genuinely tranquil spot featuring sculptures inspired by his writing. There’s also the recently restored Knot Garden, laid out in the style of formal garden designs that Shakespeare himself would have recognised. All in all, it’s a lovely bit of green space tucked away in the middle of a busy tourist town — and well worth a quiet wander.