Most of the woodwork of the church dates from the fifteenth century, and is well worth examination. To the Shakespearian students the building, of course, has an added interest from the fact that it seems very probable that it was here John, Shakespeare’s father, was married to Mary Arden in 1557. Of the eight villages referred to in the rhyme traditionally ascribed (but apparently without foundation) to Shakespeare, which runs as follows—
Piping Pebworth, Dancing Marston,
Haunted Hillborough, Hungry Grafton,
Dodging Exhall, Papist Wixford,
Beggarly Broom, and Drunken Bidford—
two, Pebworth and Dancing Marston, are over the borders in Gloucestershire, and scarcely call for detailed mention here.
Temple Grafton, the “Hungry” Grafton of the rhyme, lies about five miles south of Aston Cantlow. The village which is prettily situated on elevated ground was, in the reign of Henry I., bestowed by Henry de Grafton on the Knights Hospitallers, who afterwards gave a portion of it to Simon de Arden. It bore the name of Grafton until the reign of Henry VIII., and it is supposed that the word Grafton is derived from the Anglo–Saxon graef, a moat or ditch, the word “Hungry” being an epithet given it by reason of the poverty of the soil.
Billesley, a little village lying nearly midway between Stratford and Alcester, is the third competitor for notoriety as the place where the poet was married. The evidence in favour of Billesley is entirely traditional, and may be dismissed, but there is one interesting fact in connection with the place, i.e. that in 1639 Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Hall (Shakespeare’s son–in–law and daughter), was married to Mr., afterwards Sir John, Barnard.
The manor–house at Billesley, comprising the south wing of the original Elizabethan building, contains a room, the oak panelling of which is said to have been brought from New Place. This chamber, which is known as Shakespeare’s Room, is traditionally supposed to have been occupied by the poet on the occasion of his visits to the house.
Hillborough lies close to the river, some four miles from Stratford, down a by–road running almost due south from the main road. It is the “Haunted” Hillborough of the rhyme, although the origin of the ghostly prefix is lost in obscurity. It is a picturesque stone–gabled building, beautifully trellised with ivy, which has lost one of its original wings. Apparently the house dates from Tudor times, but bears traces of several later additions and alterations. The interior contains an interesting survival in the shape of ascham or locker for bows and arrows in the corner of one of the oak–panelled rooms.
Hillborough seems chiefly noted nowadays for its profusion of fruit, the trees in the garden bearing such heavy crops as to necessitate their being propped in order to sustain them; whilst peaches and even grapes ripen and come to maturity on the sunny south walls as they do in few places in the county.
Travelling westward, about three–quarters of a mile outside Bidford one comes to a small red–brick barn in a field on the right–hand side of the roadway. About fifty yards farther, on the opposite side, near by an iron gate, stands a young crab–apple tree, which, tradition asserts, sprang from the ancient one known as “Shakespeare’s Crab Tree,” under which the poet is reputed to have slumbered off the effects of a drinking bout in which he had taken part at Bidford. The old tree, however, stood farther in the field. It long ago disappeared, and it is even doubtful, alas! whether the young tree is, after all, related in any way to it.
From this point there is a magnificent view of the Worcestershire hills, and also Ragley Hall, set deeply amid the surrounding woods. Bidford, one of the most picturesque and charming old–world villages in Warwickshire, is now speedily reached along the descending road. There is little doubt that this village, noticeable for its picturesque and old tiled houses—many of them creeper–grown and quaintly irregular as regards their architecture—is a place of great antiquity, as it is situated at the point where the ancient Icknield Street crosses the River Avon.