Warwickshire: The Land of Shakespeare

by Clive Holland

The step to the chantry altar still remains, and on the south side of it is an extremely interesting piscina, with a semi–octagon canopy within a ogee double–pointed arch. There are also several early brasses in the church of considerable interest.

In the churchyard itself is the base of a fine old fourteenth–century cross, with three steps; the centrepiece was found buried at the foot some years ago, and has a representation of the crucifixion on one side, and the Virgin and Child on the other.

North–west some eight miles from Stratford is the small market town of Henley–in–Arden, less retired and quiet, unhappily, nowadays than a few years ago. Anciently one of the towns situated in the great Forest of Arden, it still possesses a market cross, dating from the fifteenth century. And although the church, unlike many churches of Warwickshire villages, does not possess any features of special interest, within a quarter of a mile from the town lies Beaudesert, well worth a visit. The first thing which will strike the traveller on approaching the spot are the earthworks, now known as the “Mound,” where, in the twelfth century, Thurstan de Montfort erected a castle which was destroyed during the Wars of the Roses. From the Mound is obtained one of the finest views in Warwickshire, ranging from Edge Hill on the one hand to the Cotswolds on the other, with the charming picture of Henley itself in the near foreground. The earthworks are divided into three parts by two cross ditches; the portion farthest away from the village with the steepest sides was most probably the site of the keep.

The little Church of Beaudesert, probably built by De Montfort, and originally the Castle Church, lies at the foot of the earthworks. Although the church has been considerably restored it still contains much Norman work; particularly is this noticeable in the eastern window, which is ornamented with zigzag, star and indented mouldings. The chancel arch is also a fine specimen of Norman work, recessed and ornamented with wave and tooth mouldings. The tower dates only from the fifteenth century, but the walls and nave of the chancel are Norman, with some fourteenth–century windows inserted. There is an interesting holy water stoup on the east side of the south door, of about the same period as the doorway itself; and in the north wall are two small splayed Norman windows, the wall itself being of the thickness of five feet.

In the whole of Warwickshire there is scarcely more beautiful scenery to be found than in the immediate neighbourhood of Henley–in–Arden. Here are still some few scattered remnants left of the great forest which once covered the district so thickly, but which was gradually cut down to meet the necessities of the iron furnaces of Aston, Birmingham, and other places. Indeed, the destruction of the Forest of Arden may be considered as having been brought about almost entirely by the means we have indicated. Here, too, may be found, often hidden away in by–lanes, picturesque survivals of the thatched and half–timbered cottages, which are, alas! now disappearing one by one to make room for modern erections, the ugliness of whose architecture is too often a blot on their surroundings.

Only about a mile and a half from Stratford itself is Clopton House, once the manor–house of the Clopton family, whose name is so closely identified with Stratford, and to whom the manor was granted in the thirteenth century. Most of the present house was built in the latter part of the fifteenth century, in the reign of Henry VII.; but it has been much altered at various periods, chiefly when the south and eastern portions were reconstructed by Sir Edward Walker about 1665, in the reign of Charles II. The house has also been restored in recent times. There is a good Jacobean oak staircase, and in the bay–window of the dining–room are the shields of several of the Cloptons.

In the attic story is a room used by the Roman Catholics as a chapel in the times succeeding the Reformation, when such worship was a penal offence. On the walls are still decipherable Scriptural texts in black letter. A licence was granted by Pope Sixtus IV. to John Clopton and his heirs at the end of the fourteenth century, to enable them to have Mass said in this private chapel, opposite which is the Priests’ Chamber.

The house has additional historical interest as the residence, in 1605, of Ambrose Rokewood, one of the chief conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot, and from the fact that it was here Catesby, Winter, the Wrights, and others used to assemble. After the failure of the plot Clopton was raided by the bailiff of Stratford, and amongst other things, consisting of papers, etc., was seized a bag containing “copes, vestments, crosses, crucifixes, chalices, and other massing reliques,” belonging to the then tenant, a full inventory of which is deposited in the Museum at Stratford.

In the grounds are several small ponds, and beyond them a spring, now arched over, where Margaret Clopton is stated to have drowned herself in 1588, as a result of a love affair. It is supposed that this incident suggested to Shakespeare’s mind the death of Ophelia, and there seems some considerable probability that the second scene of the introduction of “The Taming of the Shrew” is represented as taking place at Clopton House.

About four miles from Stratford, along the Kineton Road, lies Charlecote, in a picturesque park prettily situated close to the junction of the Wellesbourne brook with the Avon. It was here, of course, that the somewhat apocryphal deer–stealing exploits of Shakespeare are said to have taken place. Whether there is any foundation in fact or not for the tradition, it seems certain that there was some considerable amount of friction at one time existing between the then owner, Sir Thomas Lucy, and the poet. But whether, as has been suggested by some, this circumstance had its rise in a difference of religion, or from some other cause, it has never been possible to determine. It is supposed by some that at the actual time the deer–stealing is stated to have taken place there were none at Charlecote, although there were in the parks of Fulbroke, which also belonged to the Lucys, and it may even be that it was at the latter place and not the former that the poaching took place, if at all. Whatever truth there may be in the story there seems little doubt that the poet satirised Sir Thomas Lucy in “The Merry Wives of Windsor” under the guise of “Mr. Justice Shallow.”