THE CHURCH AND THE RIVER, STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
Shakespeare’s Country
THE CHURCH AND THE RIVER, STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
Monograph Number Four In The Mentor Reading Course
Historians may deny it, statisticians may disprove it, yet Stratford is the heart of England, and the little Avon is in a sense the most famous of all English rivers. It is the goal of all Shakespeare lovers. The poet and the river are Stratford’s two claims for distinction—but what place could ask for more? The Avon gives it a setting, the beauty of which can never entirely pass from the mind of the beholder; Shakespeare, the man and the poet, is to be seen and heard everywhere.
Stratford-upon-Avon is a clean and well built little country town of about 8,000 or 9,000 inhabitants. It has wide and pleasant streets with numerous quaint half-timbered houses. It is a place of great antiquity. Stratford is mentioned in a Saxon Charter of the eighth century, and Roman coins have been found in the district showing that it was inhabited in Roman times. Later it had some importance as an agricultural center. In addition to this, the various trades of weaving, glove-making, candle-making, and soap-making were carried on; but now these have lost their importance, and the town owes its fame almost entirely to the memory of Shakespeare, born there in 1564. Over 35,000 pilgrims annually visit Stratford.
The River Avon, gently flowing among meadows and forests, is navigable only for small boats. At Stratford it is crossed by a stone bridge of fourteen arches. This was built by Sir Hugh Clopton in the reign of Henry VII.