After John Shakespeare’s death, the dwelling probably remained in the occupation of his widow till her death in 1608, when it came into possession of Joan Hart, her sister. The poet himself left the house to her by will, and she lived in it until 1646. Shakespeare’s daughter Susannah Hall afterwards came into possession (having previously been the owner of the wool–shop), and from her it descended to her daughter Lady Barnard. Ultimately, after various owners and vicissitudes, the building was converted in 1784 into an open–fronted butcher’s shop, the windows and porch being removed to allow of a proper display of the stock in trade. The wool–shop next door had long previously, in 1603, become an inn, called at first “The Maidenhead,” and afterwards “The Swan and Maidenhead.” Its front was faced with brickwork in 1808, and some forty years later the buildings were bought for the nation, and ten years afterwards were restored, as already mentioned.
The street entrance is directly into the chief living room of the house, which is stone paved, and provided with an old–fashioned recessed fireplace, as is also the kitchen. Behind the latter are two small apartments known as the wash–house and pantry. Beneath the kitchen is a small cellar reached by a flight of steps, and probably remaining much in its original state.
The principal room of the upper floor, facing the street, and reached by an oak staircase of ten steps, is the birth–room. The walls, ceiling, and windows are covered by numberless signatures, written and scratched upon them by “pilgrims” before the custom was strictly prohibited. Amongst this strange collection of autographs can still be deciphered many of interest, including those of Izaak Walton, Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter Scott, and other famous people. The bureau in the room was brought from the Old College, demolished in 1799, and the chairs were gifts. This by no means imposing chamber not only witnessed the birth of the poet, but in all likelihood those of his brothers and sisters, and was the death–chamber of his father, mother, and sister Susannah, Mrs. Hart. In a room at the back of this, originally forming two small bedrooms, is an oil painting presumed to be that of Shakespeare. It closely resembles the bust in the church, and was possibly copied from it. It was given to the house by Mr. W. O. Hunt, and is supposed to have originally belonged to the Clopton family, having been found in Edward Clopton’s house on his death. Curiously enough, the face was formerly disguised with a beard, which a Mr. Collins, a connoisseur of some note, discovered was painted over the original picture. The portrait was, therefore, cleaned and repaired (the beard being removed in the process), and was afterwards deposited at the birthplace. The sign–boards in the room are old ones belonging to the house.
There is none of the original furniture in the house, it having long ago been sold, broken up, or otherwise disposed of. In Shakespeare’s day the furniture of a house of this size and type must have been of a very simple character. It would have consisted of little beyond a substantial table, a press, chairs, a cupboard, and a tall clock, with the usual table utensils in the living room; and a four–post wooden bedstead, a chair or two, and a table or washstand in the bedrooms. The floors were carpetless, though those of the living room and kitchen might be strewn with rushes.
The Museum occupies the portion of the building used by John Shakespeare as a store and shop. It contains a large number of Shakespearian and other relics, concerning the authenticity of some of which there must be grave doubt. Amongst the most interesting in the lower part of the Museum is the desk which Shakespeare is traditionally supposed to have used when a lad at the Grammar School, from whence it was removed to the Museum some years back.
In the central case of relics are a ring with his initials, W.S., entwined on the setting; and a sword supposed to have belonged to him. The glass jug from which David Garrick drank at the Jubilee in 1769, and the inn sign of the Falcon Tavern at Bidford, are also preserved in this part of the Museum; with a considerable number of deeds relating to property acquired by various members of the Shakespeare family, or bearing their signatures as witnesses thereto. Of the books none are of particular note, although amongst them are several copies of early editions of the poet’s plays.
The garden in the rear of the house is of considerable beauty and interest from the fact that it is largely stocked with specimens of the trees, fruits, and flowers mentioned by Shakespeare in his various plays. In the centre now reposes the remains of the ancient Market Cross of Stratford, dating from the fourteenth century.
In the angle formed by Chapel Street and Chapel Lane, beyond the Town Hall and past the well–known Shakespeare Hotel, is a group of houses of considerable interest situated upon the left–hand side of the street. The first is known as Hathaway’s house, and was the residence in 1647 of a descendant of the family of Shakespeare’s wife, named Thomas Hathaway. Next door but one is Nash’s house, once the property of Thomas Nash, who married Elizabeth Hall, the poet’s grand–daughter; on her death it came again into the possession of the Nash family, and was one of the buildings purchased with New Place in 1861. The front of the house has been several times restored since Shakespeare’s day, and the interior has been greatly modernised, but a part of the back and the beams of the chimney are without doubt portions of the original building. The house is now a Museum, containing several items of distinct interest, amongst which are some chairs formerly at New Place, and a fine photographic copy of the proof impression of the Droeshout portrait of Shakespeare engraved in 1623. The house of Shaw, an intimate friend of the poet’s, and one of the witnesses to his will, is next door to the Museum, between it and the Hathaways’ house.
