114-598: The Guild Chapel of the Holy Cross , Stratford-upon-Avon , Warwickshire is a chapel of 13th-century origins. Founded by the Guild of the Holy Cross before 1269, it passed into the control of the town corporation in 1553, when the Guild was suppressed by Edward VI . The chapel stands on Church Street, opposite the site of William Shakespeare 's home, New Place , and has historic connections to Shakespeare's family. The chapel
228-779: A Town Council . Stratford-upon-Avon is within the Stratford-on-Avon parliamentary constituency which has been represented by Manuela Perteghella of the Liberal Democrats since 2024. Stratford was within the West Midlands Region constituency of the European Parliament which was represented by seven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Stratford is governed by three tiers of local government : Stratford
342-493: A curfew bell cast in 1633, was renovated in 2018. The chancel is 13th century, with the nave and tower dating from Hugh Clopton's rebuilding on c.1490. Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( /- ˈ eɪ v ən / ), commonly known as just Stratford , is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district , in the county of Warwickshire , in the West Midlands region of England. It
456-428: A guild known as the Guild of the Holy Cross for their business and religious requirements. The guild developed into the town's main institution of local government, and included the most important townsmen, who elected officials to oversee local affairs. They built a Guild Chapel in the 13th century, and a Guildhall and almshouses on Church Street in around 1417. The guild established an educational institution in
570-576: A "plausible vector for the spread of early Celtic languages into Britain". There was much less migration into Britain during the subsequent Iron Age, so it is more likely that Celtic reached Britain before then. Barry Cunliffe suggests that a branch of Celtic was already being spoken in Britain and that the Bronze Age migration introduced the Brittonic branch. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , which
684-640: A distinct Brittonic culture and language. Britonia in Spanish Galicia seems to have disappeared by 900 AD. Wales and Brittany remained independent for a considerable time, however, with Brittany united with France in 1532, and Wales united with England by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 in the mid 16th century during the rule of the Tudors (Y Tuduriaid), who were themselves of Welsh heritage on
798-476: A few miles of modern-day Stratford. The settlement which later became known as Stratford was first inhabited by Anglo-Saxons following their 7th-century invasion of what would become known as Warwickshire, but was then part of the Kingdom of Mercia . It is likely that an Anglo-Saxon monastery existed at the site of what is now Holy Trinity Church , which was founded after the land was acquired by Egwin ,
912-481: A five-minute drive from the town centre. The Rosebird Centre is a much smaller shopping centre located on Shipston Road, consisting of Waitrose , a pet shop, a drive-thru Costa Coffee and a pharmacy/GP surgery. Bell Court Shopping Centre is in the centre of the town with entrances from Wood St, Ely St, High St & Rother Street. it has several restaurants and shopping offers. The first real theatre in Stratford
1026-489: A large canal side brewery in Stratford in 1831. The Flower & Sons Brewery, on Clopton Road survived until 1967, when the company was taken over by Whitbread . Several lime kilns were opened locally, and the manufacture of tarpaulin and oilcloth flourished. The advent of rail transport in the middle of the century caused a major decline in river and canal transport, and the River Avon navigation through Stratford
1140-481: A large retail sector. Major employers in the town include the NFU Mutual Insurance Company (and Avon Insurance), Amec Foster Wheeler , Sitel , Tesco , Morrisons , Marks & Spencer , B&Q and Pashley Cycles . There are three theatres run by the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company , which attract large audiences and income for the town. The regular large influx of tourists
1254-491: A musical typewriter. There are five houses relating to William Shakespeare's life which are owned and cared for by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust . These include Hall's Croft , the one-time home of Shakespeare's daughter, Susanna , and her husband Dr. John Hall and Nash's House , which stands alongside the site of New Place which was owned by Shakespeare himself, wherein he died. In Shottery
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#17327757645711368-575: A range of services were provided, including a hospital and a school, the provision of a priest to pray for the dead, as well as support for the poor. Within the town, the guild constructed its guildhall on Church Street and the adjacent chapel was built circa 1260. Clopton's wall-paintings depicted a cycle of images showing, among others, the Doom, the Allegory of Death, the Life of Adam and St George Slaying
1482-488: A re-branded official tourism website for the Stratford area called Discover Stratford after opening a new tourist information centre on Henley Street in May 2010, which has since moved back to the original location on Bridgefoot. Apart from the town centre, Maybird Shopping Park, usually referred to locally as "The Maybird Centre" or simply "The Maybird", is a large shopping centre situated on Birmingham Road, approximately
1596-611: A sub-kingdom of Calchwynedd may have clung on in the Chilterns for a time. Novant , which occupied Galloway and Carrick, was soon subsumed by fellow Brittonic-Pictish polities by 700 AD. Aeron , which encompassed modern Ayrshire , was conquered by the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria by 700 AD. Some Brittonic kingdoms were able to successfully resist these incursions: Rheged (encompassing much of modern Northumberland and County Durham and areas of southern Scotland and
1710-782: A term unambiguously referring to the P-Celtic speakers of Great Britain, to complement Goidel ; hence the adjective Brythonic refers to the group of languages. " Brittonic languages " is a more recent coinage (first attested in 1923 according to the Oxford English Dictionary ). In the early Middle Ages , following the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain , the Anglo-Saxons called all Britons Bryttas or Wealas (Welsh), while they continued to be called Britanni or Brittones in Medieval Latin . From
1824-568: A thirty-year programme undertaken by Stephen Dykes Bower from 1954-1983 and is a Grade I listed building . Owned and maintained by the Stratford-upon-Avon Town Trust, the chapel is used for services by King Edward VI School . The Guild of the Holy Cross was a medieval religious membership foundation and the guild in Stratford-upon-Avon became a powerful societal force. Members paid fees to join and
1938-541: A tourist destination. Before the dominance of road and rail, Stratford was an important gateway to the network of British canals . The River Avon was made navigable through Stratford in 1639, by the construction of locks and weirs , providing Stratford with a navigable link to the River Severn to the south-west and to near Warwick to the north-east, this allowed, in the words of Daniel Defoe "a very great Trade for Sugar, Oil, Wine, Tobacco, Iron, Lead and in
2052-430: A village before the lord of the manor , John of Coutances , set out plans to develop it into a town in 1196. In that same year, Stratford was granted a charter from King Richard I to hold a weekly market in the town, giving it its status as a market town . As a result, Stratford experienced an increase in trade and commerce as well as urban expansion. Stratford is a popular tourist destination, owing to its status as
2166-527: A voyage of exploration around the British Isles between 330 and 320 BC. Although none of his own writings remain, writers during the following centuries make frequent reference to them. The ancient Greeks called the people of Britain the Pretanoí or Bretanoí . Pliny 's Natural History (77 AD) says the older name for the island was Albion , and Avienius calls it insula Albionum , "island of
2280-598: A word, all heavy goods which are carried by water almost as far as Warwick; and in return the corn, and especially the cheese, is brought back from Gloucestershire and Warwickshire to Bristol ". Between 1793 and 1816 the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal was built, linking the Avon at Stratford with Birmingham . By the early 19th century, Stratford was a flourishing inland port , and an important centre of trade, with many canal and river wharves along what
2394-480: Is Anne Hathaway's Cottage , the home of Shakespeare's wife 's family prior to her marriage. Mary Arden 's House ( Palmer's Farm ), the family home of his mother, is in Wilmcote . Celtic Britons The Britons ( * Pritanī , Latin : Britanni , Welsh : Brythoniaid ), also known as Celtic Britons or Ancient Britons , were the indigenous Celtic people who inhabited Great Britain from at least
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#17327757645712508-517: Is 22 miles (35 km) south-east of Birmingham . It is close to the northern edge of the Cotswolds , with Chipping Campden 10 miles (16 km) to the south. Stratford is around 6 miles (9.7 km) to the north-east of the borders with both Worcestershire and Gloucestershire . Other than those already mentioned, significant towns and villages nearby include Alcester , Wellesbourne , Evesham , Redditch and Henley-in-Arden . Stratford
2622-467: Is a major employer, especially in the hotel, hospitality industry and catering sectors. Other industries in the town include boat building and maintenance, bicycles , mechanical and electrical engineering, food manufacture, Information Technology , call centre and service sector activities, a large motor sales sector, industrial plant hire, building suppliers, market gardening , farming, storage and transport logistics, finance and insurance , and
2736-522: Is a museum which explores the time when Shakespeare lived. It is based in a Grade II* listed town centre Tudor building and is the only museum in the country dedicated to Tudor times. Every week there is a walk around the town with Shakespeare. The Mechanical Art and Design museum, but better known as MAD museum, is a museum in Henley Street of "brilliant-but-bonkers machines" made by Kinetic artists . Items on show include mechanised flipbooks and
2850-496: Is divided by the River Avon , with the majority of the town being on the west side of the river, its riverside location means it is susceptible to flooding, including flash floods. Stratford has several suburbs : The town's urban area encompasses the contiguous sub-villages of Alveston , Shottery and Tiddington , which were formerly independent, but now form part of the civil parish of Stratford, other distinct suburbs of
2964-461: Is home to Orchestra of the Swan , a professional chamber orchestra staging up to 10 orchestral concerts with international soloists per year. Kempe Studio of The Rudolf Kempe Society, whose patron is Dame Judi Dench , is based in a house at 58 Waterside called The Muses and hosts musical events and masterclass lessons. No. 1 Shakespeare Street holds regular evenings of live music. Tudor World
3078-567: Is now Bancroft Gardens. The first railway in Warwickshire; the Stratford and Moreton Tramway was opened to Stratford in 1826: this was a horse-drawn wagonway , 16 miles (26 km) long, which was intended to carry goods between the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal , the rural districts of south Warwickshire and Moreton-in-Marsh . The tramway fell into disuse by the early 1900s, and the tracks were lifted in 1918. A surviving remnant of this
3192-477: Is situated on the River Avon , 91 miles (146 km) north-west of London , 22 miles (35 km) south-east of Birmingham and 8 miles (13 km) south-west of Warwick . The town is the southernmost point of the Arden area at the northern extremity of the Cotswolds . In the 2021 census Stratford had a population of 30,495. Stratford was inhabited originally by Britons before Anglo-Saxons and remained
3306-574: Is the Celtic word for river. The 'street' was a Roman road which connected Icknield Street in Alcester to the Fosse Way . The ford, which has been used as a crossing since Roman times, later became the location of Clopton Bridge . A survey of 1251–52 uses the name Stratford for the first time to identify Old Stratford and the newer manors . The name was used after that time to describe
3420-685: Is the Tramway Bridge over the River Avon, a brick arch bridge which now carries pedestrians. The first steam railway to reach Stratford was a branch of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway from Honeybourne to the south, which opened in July 1859. This was followed by the Stratford on Avon Railway 's branch from Hatton from the north, which opened in October 1860. Both branches initially had separate termini, but they soon agreed to join
3534-510: Is the major source of the town's prosperity, receiving between 2.5 million and 3 million visitors annually. Stratford is a major English tourist town due to it being the birthplace of William Shakespeare , who many consider the greatest playwright of all time. In 2010 the District Council spent £298,000 on tourism promotion and supports an official open-top tour bus service. In 2010 Stratford-on-Avon District Council launched
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3648-958: The 2011 census and 22,338 in the 2001 census . The town's population has undergone expansion in recent years following government approval to build 800 new homes in Shottery , which included plans for a new relief road. Up to 500 new homes are planned in the Bishopton area of the town, and 270 homes on the Loxley Road. In terms of ethnicity in 2021, 92.7% of Stratford residents were White , 3.3% were Asian , 0.6% were Black , 2.4% were Mixed , 0.2% were Arab and 0.8% were from another ethnic group. In terms of religion, 58.4% of Stratford residents identified as Christian , 38.2% said they had no religion , 1.0% were Muslim , 0.8% were Hindu , 0.5% were Sikh , 0.5% were Buddhists , 0.2% were Jewish , and 0.5% were from another religion. Tourism
3762-886: The Breton language , a language related to Welsh and identical to Cornish in the early period, and is still used today. Thus, the area today is called Brittany (Br. Breizh , Fr. Bretagne , derived from Britannia ). Common Brittonic developed from the Insular branch of the Proto-Celtic language that developed in the British Isles after arriving from the continent in the 7th century BC. The language eventually began to diverge; some linguists have grouped subsequent developments as Western and Southwestern Brittonic languages . Western Brittonic developed into Welsh in Wales and
3876-797: The British Iron Age until the High Middle Ages , at which point they diverged into the Welsh , Cornish , and Bretons (among others). They spoke Common Brittonic , the ancestor of the modern Brittonic languages . The earliest written evidence for the Britons is from Greco-Roman writers and dates to the Iron Age. Ancient Britain was made up of many tribes and kingdoms, associated with various hillforts . The Britons followed an Ancient Celtic religion overseen by druids . Some of
3990-472: The British Isles , particularly Welsh people , suggesting genetic continuity between Iron Age Britain and Roman Britain, and partial genetic continuity between Roman Britain and modern Britain. On the other hand, they were genetically substantially different from the examined Anglo-Saxon individual and modern English populations of the area, suggesting that the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain left
4104-924: The Channel Islands , and Britonia (now part of Galicia , Spain). By the 11th century, Brittonic-speaking populations had split into distinct groups: the Welsh in Wales, the Cornish in Cornwall, the Bretons in Brittany, the Cumbrians of the Hen Ogledd ("Old North") in southern Scotland and northern England, and the remnants of the Pictish people in northern Scotland. Common Brittonic developed into
4218-470: The Channel Islands . There they set up their own small kingdoms and the Breton language developed from Brittonic Insular Celtic rather than Gaulish or Frankish . A further Brittonic colony, Britonia , was also set up at this time in Gallaecia in northwestern Spain . Many of the old Brittonic kingdoms began to disappear in the centuries after the Anglo-Saxon and Scottish Gaelic invasions; Parts of
4332-643: The Cumbric language in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North" of Britain (modern northern England and southern Scotland), while the Southwestern dialect became Cornish in Cornwall and South West England and Breton in Armorica. Pictish is now generally accepted to descend from Common Brittonic, rather than being a separate Celtic language. Welsh and Breton survive today; Cumbric and Pictish became extinct in
4446-670: The Farne Islands fell to the Anglo-Saxons in 559 AD and Deira became an Anglo-Saxon kingdom after this point. Caer Went had officially disappeared by 575 AD becoming the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia . Gwent was only partly conquered; its capital Caer Gloui ( Gloucester ) was taken by the Anglo-Saxons in 577 AD, handing Gloucestershire and Wiltshire to the invaders, while the westernmost part remained in Brittonic hands, and continued to exist in modern Wales. Caer Lundein , encompassing London , St. Albans and parts of
4560-507: The Holy Trinity Church . During Stratford's early expansion into a town, the only access across the River Avon into and out of the town was over a wooden bridge, which was first mentioned in 1235. The bridge could not be crossed at times due to the river rising and was described by antiquarian John Leland as "a poor bridge of timber and no causeway to it, whereby many poor folks and other refused to come to Stratford when
4674-597: The Home Counties , fell from Brittonic hands by 600 AD, and Bryneich, which existed in modern Northumbria and County Durham with its capital of Din Guardi (modern Bamburgh ) and which included Ynys Metcaut ( Lindisfarne ), had fallen by 605 AD becoming Anglo-Saxon Bernicia. Caer Celemion (in modern Hampshire and Berkshire) had fallen by 610 AD. Elmet, a large kingdom that covered much of modern Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire and likely had its capital at modern Leeds,
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4788-508: The King Edward VI School The Cotswolds , located close to Stratford, was a major sheep-producing area up until the latter part of the 19th century, with Stratford one of its main centres for the processing, marketing, and distribution of sheep and wool. Consequently, Stratford became a centre for tanning during the 15th–17th centuries. Glove making was an important industry, which was at its zenith in
4902-748: The Old English of the Anglo-Saxons, and Scottish Gaelic , although this was likely a gradual process in many areas. Similarly, the Brittonic colony of Britonia in northwestern Spain appears to have disappeared soon after 900 AD. The kingdom of Ystrad Clud (Strathclyde) was a large and powerful Brittonic kingdom of the Hen Ogledd (the 'Old North') which endured until the end of the 11th century, successfully resisting Anglo-Saxon, Gaelic Scots and later also Viking attacks. At its peak it encompassed modern Strathclyde, Dumbartonshire , Cumbria , Stirlingshire , Lanarkshire , Ayrshire , Dumfries and Galloway , Argyll and Bute , and parts of North Yorkshire ,
5016-706: The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST), the Swan Theatre closed in 2007 for refurbishment and reopened in November 2010. The Other Place, a Black box theatre , was extended to become the temporary RSC Courtyard Theatre , opening in July 2006 and was the home of the RSC while the RST was being refurbished – its interior is similar to the interior of the refurbished RST. The Courtyard Theatre closed in 2015 and
5130-779: The Scottish Borders ) survived well into the 8th century AD, before the eastern part peacefully joined with the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia – Northumberland by 730 AD, and the west was taken over by the fellow Britons of Ystrad Clud . Similarly, the kingdom of Gododdin , which appears to have had its court at Din Eidyn (modern Edinburgh ) and encompassed parts of modern Northumbria , County Durham , Lothian and Clackmannanshire , endured until approximately 775 AD before being divided by fellow Brittonic Picts, Gaelic Scots and Anglo-Saxons. The Kingdom of Cait , covering modern Caithness , Sutherland , Orkney , and Shetland ,
5244-545: The Tudor period : The Guild of the Holy Cross was abolished in 1547 under King Edward VI 's suppression of religious guilds , and the inhabitants of Stratford petitioned the Crown for a charter of incorporation as a borough , which they received in 1553. This allowed the formation a new Town Council which inherited the property and responsibilities of the abolished guild. The Charter of Incorporation refounded Stratford's school as
5358-566: The 11th century, they are more often referred to separately as the Welsh , Cumbrians , Cornish , and Bretons , as they had separate political histories from then. From the early 16th century, and especially after the Acts of Union 1707 , the terms British and Briton could be applied to all inhabitants of the Kingdom of Great Britain , including the English , Scottish , and some Irish , or
5472-400: The 12th century. Cornish had become extinct by the 19th century but has been the subject of language revitalization since the 20th century. Celtic Britain was made up of many territories controlled by Brittonic tribes . They are generally believed to have dwelt throughout the whole island of Great Britain , at least as far north as the Clyde – Forth isthmus . The territory north of this
5586-406: The 13th century and the end of the 16th century, with a survey of the town showing 217 houses belonged to the lord of the manor in 1590. Growth continued to be slow throughout the 17th century, with hearth tax returns showing that at most there were approximately 429 houses in the town by 1670. However, more substantial expansion began following several enclosure acts in the late 18th century, with
5700-513: The 15th and 16th centuries. As was malting , the processing of grain to turn it into malt . John Shakespeare , originally a farmer, had moved to Stratford in 1551, from the nearby village of Snitterfield and became a successful glover (glove maker) and businessman, and an official on the Town Council. He met and married Mary Arden a member of the local gentry in around 1557. Together they had eight children, including Stratford's most famous son William Shakespeare in 1564, believed to be at
5814-429: The 1981–2010 observation period. Stratford's warmest month is July, with an average maximum temperature of 22.8 °C (73 °F). January is the coldest month, with an average high of 7.4 °C (45 °F). The average summer maximum temperature is 22.7 °C (73 °F). The winter average high is 7.5 °C (45 °F). In the 2021 census Stratford had a population of 30,495, an increase from 27,894 in
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#17327757645715928-480: The 2nd century AD and the 4th century AD during the period of Roman Britain . Six of these individuals were identified as native Britons. The six examined native Britons all carried types of the paternal R1b1a2a1a and carried the maternal haplogroups H6a1a , H1bs , J1c3e2 , H2 , H6a1b2 and J1b1a1 . The indigenous Britons of Roman Britain were genetically closely related to the earlier Iron Age female Briton, and displayed close genetic links to modern Celts of
6042-457: The Albions". The name could have reached Pytheas from the Gauls . The Latin name for the Britons was Britanni . The P-Celtic ethnonym has been reconstructed as * Pritanī , from Common Celtic * kʷritu , which became Old Irish cruth and Old Welsh pryd . This likely means "people of the forms", and could be linked to the Latin name Picti (the Picts ), which is usually explained as meaning "painted people". The Old Welsh name for
6156-472: The Avon was up, or coming thither stood in jeopardy of life." In 1484, a new masonry arch bridge was built to replace it called Clopton Bridge , named after Hugh Clopton who paid for its construction, a wealthy local man who later became the Lord Mayor of London . The new bridge made it easier for people to trade within Stratford and for passing travellers to stay in the town. The medieval structures of local governance underwent significant changes during
6270-414: The Britons fragmented, and much of their territory gradually became Anglo-Saxon , while the north became subject to a similar settlement by Gaelic -speaking tribes from Ireland. The extent to which this cultural change was accompanied by wholesale population changes is still debated. During this time, Britons migrated to mainland Europe and established significant colonies in Brittany (now part of France),
6384-409: The Brittonic state of Kernow . The Channel Islands (colonised by Britons in the 5th century) came under attack from Norse and Danish Viking attack in the early 9th century AD, and by the end of that century had been conquered by Viking invaders. The Kingdom of Ce , which encompassed modern Marr , Banff , Buchan , Fife , and much of Aberdeenshire , disappeared soon after 900 AD. Fortriu ,
6498-556: The Centre', which suggests Celtic originated in Gaul and spread during the first millennium BC, reaching Britain towards the end of this period. In 2021, a major archaeogenetics study uncovered a migration into southern Britain during the Bronze Age , over a 500-year period from 1,300 BC to 800 BC. The migrants were "genetically most similar to ancient individuals from France" and had higher levels of Early European Farmers ancestry. From 1000 to 875 BC, their genetic marker swiftly spread through southern Britain, making up around half
6612-403: The Clore Learning Centre, the Royal Shakespeare Company's education and events venue. In 1988, Stratford-upon-Avon was the venue for the disastrous provincial try-out of the ill-fated musical Carrie , based on the Stephen King novel . The town is the setting of the 2018 BBC detective show Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators . Stratford ArtsHouse, previously the Civic Hall,
6726-437: The Dragon. They were covered over by John Shakespeare some time in the 1560s-1570s, acting as town chamberlain and in accordance with Elizabeth I's injunction of 1559 to remove "all signs of superstition and idolatry from places of worship". John Shakespeare's contemporary record details his paying two shillings for "defasyng ymages in ye chapel". The wall-paintings were rediscovered under limewash in 1804 and were recorded by
6840-406: The Iron Age individuals were markedly different from later Anglo-Saxon samples, who were closely related to Danes and Dutch people . Martiano et al. (2016) examined the remains of a female Iron Age Briton buried at Melton between 210 BC and 40 AD. She was found to be carrying the maternal haplogroup U2e1e . The study also examined seven males buried in Driffield Terrace near York between
6954-494: The Isles of Scilly and Brittany are Brittonic, and Brittonic family and personal names remain common. During the 19th century, many Welsh farmers migrated to Patagonia in Argentina , forming a community called Y Wladfa , which today consists of over 1,500 Welsh speakers. In addition, a Brittonic legacy remains in England, Scotland and Galicia in Spain, in the form of often large numbers of Brittonic place and geographical names. Examples of geographical Brittonic names survive in
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#17327757645717068-430: The Picts was Prydyn . Linguist Kim McCone suggests the name became restricted to inhabitants of the far north after Cymry displaced it as the name for the Welsh and Cumbrians . The Welsh prydydd , "maker of forms", was also a term for the highest grade of a bard . The medieval Welsh form of Latin Britanni was Brython (singular and plural). Brython was introduced into English usage by John Rhys in 1884 as
7182-417: The Roman Empire invaded Britain. The British tribes opposed the Roman legions for many decades, but by 84 AD the Romans had decisively conquered southern Britain and had pushed into Brittonic areas of what would later become northern England and southern Scotland. During the same period, Belgic tribes from the Gallic-Germanic borderlands settled in southern Britain. Caesar asserts the Belgae had first crossed
7296-411: The Roman period. The La Tène style , which covers British Celtic art , was late arriving in Britain, but after 300 BC the Ancient British seem to have had generally similar cultural practices to the Celtic cultures nearest to them on the continent. There are significant differences in artistic styles, and the greatest period of what is known as the "Insular La Tène" style, surviving mostly in metalwork,
7410-434: The ancestry of subsequent Iron Age people in this area, but not in northern Britain. The "evidence suggests that rather than a violent invasion or a single migratory event, the genetic structure of the population changed through sustained contacts between mainland Britain and Europe over several centuries, such as the movement of traders, intermarriage, and small-scale movements of family groups". The authors describe this as
7524-492: The antiquarian and draughtsman Thomas Fisher . A restoration project undertaken in 2016 won the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings John Betjeman award in 2017. A major programme of archaeological investigation, carried out by the Department of Archaeology at the University of York in the early 21st century and making innovative use of digital modelling, described the chapel as "one of Europe's most important surviving late-medieval Guild Chapels". The 'Great Bell',
7638-489: The area specifically surrounding the Holy Trinity Church and the street of the Old Town. The Stratford area was settled during the Roman period as the area was crossed by a Roman road: archaeological remains of a small Roman town have been found, about 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of Stratford town centre at Tiddington , now part of Stratford, which was occupied from the 1st to the 5th century AD. The remains of two further probable Roman settlements have been found within
7752-433: The award-winning Tread The Boards Theatre Company. The venue is located next door to Cox's Yard and hosts an intimate 90-seat auditorium in the Grade 2 listed Attic space. The Waterside Theatre , which is not part of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre complex, re-opened in December 2004, then closed in September 2008. During this span, the theatre housed the Shakespearience visitor attraction. This has now been turned into
7866-444: The birthplace and burial place of playwright and poet William Shakespeare . It receives approximately 2.7 million visitors a year. The Royal Shakespeare Company resides in Stratford's Royal Shakespeare Theatre . The name is a combination of the Old English strǣt (from Latin stratum ), meaning 'street', ford , indicating a shallow part of a river or stream, allowing it to be crossed by walking or driving, and avon which
7980-408: The building of a temporary wooden theatre, known as the Tercentenary Theatre, which was built in a part of the brewer's large gardens on what is today the site of the new, and temporary, Courtyard Theatre . After three months the Tercentenary Theatre was dismantled, with the timber used for housebuilding purposes. In the early 1870s, Flower gave several acres of riverside land to the local council on
8094-401: The channel as raiders, only later establishing themselves on the island. 122 AD, the Romans fortified the northern border with Hadrian's Wall , which spanned what is now Northern England . In 142 AD, Roman forces pushed north again and began construction of the Antonine Wall , which ran between the Forth–Clyde isthmus, but they retreated back to Hadrian's Wall after only twenty years. Although
8208-477: The distinct Brittonic languages: Welsh , Cumbric , Cornish and Breton . In Celtic studies , 'Britons' refers to native speakers of the Brittonic languages in the ancient and medieval periods, "from the first evidence of such speech in the pre-Roman Iron Age , until the central Middle Ages ". The earliest known reference to the inhabitants of Britain was made by Pytheas , a Greek geographer who made
8322-421: The first and largest development by John Payton who developed land on the north side of the old town, creating several streets including John Street and Payton Street. In 1769, the actor David Garrick staged a major Shakespeare Jubilee over three days which saw the construction of a large rotunda and the influx of many visitors. This contributed to the growing phenomenon of Bardolatry which made Stratford
8436-479: The formerly Brittonic ruled territory in Britain, and the language and culture of the native Britons was thereafter gradually replaced in those regions, remaining only in Wales, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and Brittany , and for a time in parts of Cumbria, Strathclyde, and eastern Galloway. Cornwall (Kernow, Dumnonia ) had certainly been largely absorbed by England by the 1050s to early 1100s, although it retained
8550-483: The foundations of Stratford's transformation from a village to a town, make the town of Stratford over 800 years old, the town celebrated its 800th anniversary in 1996. John of Coutances' plans to develop Stratford into a town meant Stratford became a place of work for tradesmen and merchants. By 1252 the town had approximately 240 burgages (town rental properties owned by a king or lord ), as well as shops, stalls and other buildings. Stratford's tradesmen established
8664-606: The house now known as Shakespeare's Birthplace . Stratford was the centre of considerable activity and some fighting during the English Civil War . Being located at the junction of several main roads, it was strategically important for both the Royalist and Parliamentarian armies. Due to its close proximity to the Parliamentarian stronghold of Warwick , Stratford remained under Parliamentarian control for
8778-560: The largest Brittonic-Pictish kingdom which covered Strathearn , Morayshire and Easter Ross , had fallen by approximately 950 AD to the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba ( Scotland ). Other Pictish kingdoms such as Circinn (in modern Angus and The Mearns ), Fib (modern Fife ), Fidach ( Inverness and Perthshire ), and Ath-Fotla ( Atholl ), had also all fallen by the beginning of the 11th century AD or shortly after. The Brythonic languages in these areas were eventually replaced by
8892-775: The late 13th century. Many of the town's earliest and most important buildings are located along what is known as Stratford's Historic Spine , which was once the main route from the town centre to the parish church. The route of the Historic Spine begins at Shakespeare's Birthplace in Henley Street. It continues through Henley Street to the top end of Bridge Street and into the High Street where many Elizabethan buildings are located, including Harvard House . The route carries on through Chapel Street where Nash's House and New Place are sited. Opposite New Place
9006-517: The local cinema . An architectural competition was arranged to elicit designs for a new theatre, with the winner, English architect Elisabeth Scott , creating the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The new theatre, adjoining what was left of the old theatre, was opened by the then Prince of Wales , later Edward VIII , in 1932. The new theatre had many illustrious artistic directors, including the actor Anthony Quayle . Sir Peter Hall
9120-495: The majority of the conflict, although it was only directly occupied by troops for sporadic intervals. In February 1643, Stratford was occupied by Royalist forces under Colonel Wagstaffe . It was recaptured by Parliamentarians under Lord Brooke on 25 February after an engagement on the nearby road to Warwick. Having secured the town, Brooke returned to Warwick. In one notable incident in February 1643, Stratford's Market Hall, at
9234-435: The male side. Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and the Isles of Scilly continued to retain a distinct Brittonic culture, identity and language, which they have maintained to the present day. The Welsh and Breton languages remain widely spoken, and the Cornish language , once close to extinction, has experienced a revival since the 20th century. The vast majority of place names and names of geographical features in Wales, Cornwall,
9348-685: The mid 11th century AD when Cornwall was effectively annexed by the English, with the Isles of Scilly following a few years later, although at times Cornish lords appear to have retained sporadic control into the early part of the 12th century AD. Wales remained free from Anglo-Saxon, Gaelic Scots and Viking control, and was divided among varying Brittonic kingdoms, the foremost being Gwynedd (including Clwyd and Anglesey ), Powys , Deheubarth (originally Ceredigion , Seisyllwg and Dyfed ), Gwent , and Morgannwg ( Glamorgan ). These Brittonic-Welsh kingdoms initially included territories further east than
9462-474: The modern borders of Wales; for example, Powys included parts of modern Merseyside , Cheshire and the Wirral and Gwent held parts of modern Herefordshire , Worcestershire , Somerset and Gloucestershire , but had largely been confined to the borders of modern Wales by the beginning of the 12th century. However, by the early 1100s, the Anglo-Saxons and Gaels had become the dominant cultural force in most of
9576-646: The names of rivers, such as the Thames , Clyde , Severn , Tyne , Wye , Exe , Dee , Tamar , Tweed , Avon , Trent , Tambre , Navia , and Forth . Many place names in England and Scotland are of Brittonic rather than Anglo-Saxon or Gaelic origin, such as London , Manchester , Glasgow , Edinburgh , Carlisle , Caithness , Aberdeen , Dundee , Barrow , Exeter , Lincoln , Dumbarton , Brent , Penge , Colchester , Gloucester , Durham , Dover , Kent , Leatherhead , and York . Schiffels et al. (2016) examined
9690-550: The native Britons south of Hadrian's Wall mostly kept their land, they were subject to the Roman governors , whilst the Brittonic-Pictish Britons north of the wall probably remained fully independent and unconquered. The Roman Empire retained control of "Britannia" until its departure about AD 410, although parts of Britain had already effectively shrugged off Roman rule decades earlier. Thirty years or so after
9804-560: The regions of modern East Anglia , East Midlands , North East England , Argyll , and South East England were the first to fall to the Germanic and Gaelic Scots invasions. The kingdom of Ceint (modern Kent) fell in 456 AD. Linnuis (which stood astride modern Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire) was subsumed as early as 500 AD and became the English Kingdom of Lindsey. Regni (essentially modern Sussex and eastern Hampshire )
9918-524: The remains of three Iron Age Britons buried ca. 100 BC. A female buried in Linton, Cambridgeshire carried the maternal haplogroup H1e , while two males buried in Hinxton both carried the paternal haplogroup R1b1a2a1a2 , and the maternal haplogroups K1a1b1b and H1ag1 . Their genetic profile was considered typical for Northwest European populations. Though sharing a common Northwestern European origin,
10032-467: The river crossing, which was better positioned for trade. Stratford, then referred to as strete ford , remained a village until the late 12th century when it was developed into a town by lord of the manor , Bishop John of Coutances . Coutances laid out a new town plan in 1196 around 1 ⁄ 2 mile (0.80 km) north of the original settlement, based on a grid system to expand Stratford and allow people to rent property in order to trade within
10146-483: The site of the current Town Hall , was destroyed after three barrels of gunpowder which were being stored there blew up. From March 1644, until part of the following year, Stratford appears to have been continuously occupied by Parliamentarian troops. There was one further Royalist raid in April 1645. A number of famous people passed through Stratford during the conflict: In April 1643, Prince Rupert passed through, he
10260-509: The southeast, and British Latin coexisted with Brittonic. It is unclear what relationship the Britons had with the Picts , who lived outside of the empire in northern Britain, however, most scholars today accept the fact that the Pictish language was closely related to Common Brittonic. Following the end of Roman rule in Britain during the 5th century, Anglo-Saxon settlement of eastern and southern Britain began. The culture and language of
10374-434: The southern tribes had strong links with mainland Europe, especially Gaul and Belgica , and minted their own coins . The Roman Empire conquered most of Britain in the 1st century AD, creating the province of Britannia . The Romans invaded northern Britain , but the Britons and Caledonians in the north remained unconquered and Hadrian's Wall became the edge of the empire. A Romano-British culture emerged, mainly in
10488-471: The subjects of the British Empire generally. The Britons spoke an Insular Celtic language known as Common Brittonic . Brittonic was spoken throughout the island of Britain (in modern terms, England, Wales, and Scotland). According to early medieval historical tradition, such as The Dream of Macsen Wledig , the post-Roman Celtic speakers of Armorica were colonists from Britain, resulting in
10602-458: The third Bishop of Worcester (693–714). The monastery was likely destroyed by Viking invaders in 1015. The land remained in the ownership of the Bishops of Worcester until the 16th century. The area around Holy Trinity Church is still known as Old Town as it was the original area of settlement around the monastery. The focus of the settlement at Stratford was later moved north, closer to
10716-619: The time of the Roman departure, the Germanic -speaking Anglo-Saxons began a migration to the south-eastern coast of Britain, where they began to establish their own kingdoms, and the Gaelic -speaking Scots migrated from Dál nAraidi (modern Northern Ireland ) to the west coast of Scotland and the Isle of Man. At the same time, Britons established themselves in what is now called Brittany and
10830-479: The town include Bishopton, Bridge Town, Clopton and Old Town. Stratford has a temperate maritime climate , as is usual for the British Isles , meaning extremes of heat and cold are rare. Sunshine hours are low to moderate, with an average of 1,512.3 hours of sunshine annually. Rainfall is spread evenly throughout the year. There is an annual average of 614.8 mm (24 in), with over 1 millimetre (0.039 inches) falling on 114.1 rain days per year, according to
10944-410: The town. Coutances granted his new tenants the right to rent property and transmit it at death. This was called burgage tenure. Each development plot or "burgage" consisted of around 0.25 acres (0.10 hectares). A charter was granted to Stratford by King Richard I in 1196 which allowed a weekly market to be held in the town, giving it its status as a market town . These two charters, which formed
11058-622: The two branches and open the current Stratford-upon-Avon railway station, which was opened in July 1861. Both branches later came under the control of the Great Western Railway . The connection of Stratford to the growing national railway network, helped enable the development of the modern tourism industry. Stratford did not become a major centre of industry during the Industrial Revolution , but some industries did grow up locally: Edward Fordham Flower opened
11172-405: The understanding that a permanent theatre be built in honour of Shakespeare's memory, and by 1879 the first Shakespeare Memorial Theatre had been completed. It proved to be a huge success, and by the early 20th century it was effectively being run by the actor/manager Frank Benson . The theatre burned down in 1926, with the then artistic director, William Bridges-Adams , moving all productions to
11286-522: The western Pennines , and as far as modern Leeds in West Yorkshire . Thus the Kingdom of Strathclyde became the last of the Brittonic kingdoms of the 'old north' to fall in the 1090s when it was effectively divided between England and Scotland. The Britons also retained control of Wales and Kernow (encompassing Cornwall , parts of Devon including Dartmoor , and the Isles of Scilly ) until
11400-495: Was The Falcon Hotel (now Hotel Indigo), at the corner of Scholars Lane. It is a timber-framed house with nearly 100-ft frontage to the street and dating perhaps from the end of the 15th century. The Historic Spine continues along Church Street where the Guild buildings are located dating back to the 15th century, as well as 18th- and 19th-century properties. The route then finishes in the Old Town, which includes Hall's Croft and
11514-454: Was a temporary wooden affair built in 1769 by the actor David Garrick for his Shakespeare Jubilee celebrations of that year to mark William Shakespeare's birthday. The theatre, built not far from the site of the present Royal Shakespeare Theatre , was almost washed away in two days of torrential rain that resulted in terrible flooding. To celebrate the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth in 1864, brewer Charles Edward Flower instigated
11628-488: Was abandoned in 1875. It was restored as a navigation by volunteers almost a century later in 1974. Victorian Stratford's growth as a tourist destination was further enhanced by Edward Fordham Flower and his son Charles Edward Flower , owners of a local brewery business, and important figures in local affairs: Through their campaigning and fundraising efforts, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
11742-651: Was appointed artistic director (designate) in 1959, and formed the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1961. The Royal Shakespeare Company also runs two smaller theatres, the Swan Theatre , which was created in the 1980s out of the shell of the remains of the original Memorial Theatre and is modelled on an Elizabethan theatre , quickly becoming one of the finest acting spaces in the United Kingdom, and The Other Place theatre. Along with
11856-637: Was at Stratford again in July, where he met the Queen Henrietta Maria , who was travelling through the Midlands , and she was the guest of honour of Susanna Hall , William Shakespeare's daughter, at New Place . Oliver Cromwell was at Stratford in December 1646, and again in 1651, before the Battle of Worcester . Despite Stratford's increase in trade, it barely grew between the middle of
11970-416: Was conquered by Gaelic Scots in 871 AD. Dumnonia (encompassing Cornwall , Devonshire , and the Isles of Scilly ) was partly conquered during the mid 9th century AD, with most of modern Devonshire being annexed by the Anglo-Saxons, but leaving Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly ( Enesek Syllan ), and for a time part of western Devonshire (including Dartmoor ), still in the hands of the Britons, where they became
12084-416: Was conquered by the Anglo-Saxons in 627 AD. Pengwern , which covered Staffordshire , Shropshire , Herefordshire , and Worcestershire , was largely destroyed in 656 AD, with only its westernmost parts in modern Wales remaining under the control of the Britons, and it is likely that Cynwidion, which had stretched from modern Bedfordshire to Northamptonshire, fell in the same general period as Pengwern, though
12198-401: Was gifted an extensive series of wall-paintings by Hugh Clopton , an earlier owner of New Place, and John Shakespeare , Shakespeare's father, undertook their defacement in the later 1500s. The paintings have recently been conserved. Clopton undertook a major expansion of the chapel before his death in 1496, constructing a new nave which was incomplete when he died. The chapel was restored in
12312-452: Was in the century or so before the Roman conquest, and perhaps the decades after it. The carnyx , a trumpet with an animal-headed bell, was used by Celtic Britons during war and ceremony. There are competing hypotheses for when Celtic peoples, and the Celtic languages, first arrived in Britain, none of which have gained consensus. The traditional view during most of the twentieth century
12426-572: Was largely inhabited by the Picts ; little direct evidence has been left of the Pictish language , but place names and Pictish personal names recorded in the later Irish annals suggest it was indeed related to the Common Brittonic language . Their Goidelic (Gaelic) name, Cruithne , is cognate with Pritenī . The following is a list of the major Brittonic tribes, in both the Latin and Brittonic languages, as well as their capitals during
12540-452: Was likely fully conquered by 510 AD. Ynys Weith (Isle of Wight) fell in 530 AD, Caer Colun (essentially modern Essex) by 540 AD. The Gaels arrived on the northwest coast of Britain from Ireland, dispossessed the native Britons, and founded Dal Riata which encompassed modern Argyll , Skye , and Iona between 500 and 560 AD. Deifr (Deira) which encompassed modern-day Teesside, Wearside, Tyneside, Humberside, Lindisfarne ( Medcaut ), and
12654-420: Was opened on the banks of the Avon in 1879. The original theatre was destroyed by fire in 1926. Its replacement was opened in 1932, designed by Elisabeth Scott , making it the first important building by a woman architect erected in Britain. In 1974, the old borough of Stratford was abolished and merged into the much larger Stratford-on-Avon District , The area of the borough became a successor parish with
12768-562: Was originally compiled by the orders of King Alfred the Great in approximately 890, starts with this sentence: "The island Britain is 800 miles long and 200 miles broad. And there are in the island five nations; English, Welsh (or British), Scottish, Pictish, and Latin. The first inhabitants were the Britons, who came from Armenia, and first peopled Britain southward" ("Armenia" is possibly a mistaken transcription of Armorica , an area in northwestern Gaul including modern Brittany ). In 43 AD,
12882-685: Was replaced by The Other Place in March 2016, which returned as a 200-seat studio theatre within the steel extension in which the Courtyard Theatre was located. Stratford is home to The Bear Pit Theatre which was founded in 2008 as a voluntary organisation. It has 100 seats and is part of the Little Theatre Guild . The Attic Theatre is Stratford-upon-Avon's premiere fringe theatre . Established by husband-and-wife team John-Robert and Catherine Partridge and in 2009, who also run
12996-708: Was that Celtic culture grew out of the central European Hallstatt culture , from which the Celts and their languages reached Britain in the second half of the first millennium BC. More recently, John Koch and Barry Cunliffe have challenged that with their 'Celtic from the West' theory, which has the Celtic languages developing as a maritime trade language in the Atlantic Bronze Age cultural zone before it spread eastward. Alternatively, Patrick Sims-Williams criticizes both of these hypotheses to propose 'Celtic from
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