My Brush With The Bard - Part Two

 Shakespeare looks down on us from his lofty perch surrounded by some rather magnificent bronzes, this is the Gower Memorial positioned alongside the very pretty canal boats and swan filled waterways in the centre of town, a five minute stroll from our guest house.

Taking in the tourist walk around Stratford Upon Avon, which was wonderful btw, we heard and saw all things Shakespeare, including bizarrely some donated lamp posts, one of which featured Bottom from  Midsummer Night's Dream. Click here to read all about this national and international friendship.

A number of these lamps were situated near or in the RSC gardens which are behind the Theatre. A walk through the small park led me to the early Holy Trinity Church, where The Bard is buried alongside his wife Anne and other family members, although not his young son Hamnet, who sadly is buried we know not where. 

The older I get the more I like to visit churches, the interiors are usually blessed with a very peaceful quality and quite often offer some beautiful stained glass and wonderful architectural features.

This church, where Shakespeare was baptised and worshipped dates from 1210, with later additions.

I was intrigued as always by the strange wooden carvings on the seats found on each side of the chancel, these particular ones were carved around 1460. Such wondrous beasties.

The Shakespeare family graves are very shallow at only three feet deep, and the bodies were wrapped in cloth rather than being placed in a coffin. They are situated very close to and facing the high alter.  Interestingly Shakespeare's grave has a curse carved atop the stone. Hopefully you can click on the image and read it.

We did hear a tale of the skull of William Shakespeare being stolen from his grave by 18th century grave robbers. The graves were scanned a few years back and findings were inconclusive, although it does appear the skull is not there? Tales of a skull in another church 15 miles away, long thought of to be his, has been identified as a woman in her seventies. The mystery deepens. Maybe Anne's skull, stolen in error?

I think I will be visiting Stratford again, plenty to still do and see and of course always a new season of plays. 

I'll be back with a story about a rather famous and eccentric female resident of Stratford who I had never heard of, who did much to preserve the historic town. Only a tad late for International Women's Day.