Tradition has always fixed the house known as Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in Shottery as the house where Shakespeare wooed and won his bride. There is no doubt that the house belonged to a family named Hathaway, but whether to those from whom Anne sprang cannot be said with certainty.
The village of Shottery is about one mile from Stratford. It is a prosperous little town with one or two industries and many substantial cottages. Anne Hathaway’s Cottage stands on the outskirts. It is a rather large building of the Elizabethan period and was once a farmhouse. It stands today practically as it was in Shakespeare’s time. In front of the cottage is a small garden gay with old-fashioned flowers.
The house itself is built of wood and plaster and covered with a thatched roof. The interior is low-ceilinged; and the main room has a stone floor and wide fireplace with cozy chimney corner. The house contains an old wooden settle on which Shakespeare may often have sat, a carved bedstead, and other relics of three hundred years ago.
A bedroom which is said to have been that of Anne Hathaway, has a sloping roof and contains some old pottery, chairs, and tables.
Anne Hathaway’s Cottage was purchased for the British nation in 1892 at a cost of about $15,000. It is now cared for by the “Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.”
The Hathaways had lived in Shottery for forty years prior to Shakespeare’s marriage. At this time the poet was just eighteen, while Anne herself was nearly twenty-six. They were married in November, 1582.
It is not known exactly where Shakespeare and his wife lived during the first years after their marriage. However, in 1585 he was obliged to leave his wife and children and go to London to seek his fortune. It is probable that Anne then returned beneath her parents’ roof. No one can look upon this humble cottage without a thrill as he realizes that the garret of the cottage in Shottery may often have welcomed the poet when he came home from his labors in the great city.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 4, No. 8, SERIAL No. 108
COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.