Lacock, Shakespeare and the Shropshire

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Off to Shakespeare country, but first a detour to the village of Lacock. Initially the attraction was the Fox Talbot Museum, but Lacock is a charming village. For me a discovered gem, because I had no knowledge of its existence before I went to Bath. Dating back to the 13th century it has many lime washed, half-timbered and stone houses. Because of its picturesque charm it is often used as a set for films and television. The television series Jane Austen WILL be filmed here in 1995. First area specially visited was the cemetery to see the grave of William Henry Fox Talbot (1800 - 1877). It is marked by a very prominent grave stone. Talbot is most noted for the invention of negative/positive photography. He also made contributions to mathematics, optics, astronomy, archeology and had a good working knowledge of ancient Greek and Hebrew.

Lacock Abbey was founded in 1232 by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, who also provided it with rich farmlands. Like Lacock, it prospered, in the middle ages due to the wool trade. It was used as an Augustinian nunnery unit the Dissolution of Monasteries in the mid 16th century when it was sold by Henry VIII to Sir William Sharington who converted it into a private house. Even so parts of the nunnery such as the cloisters were preserved. Sharington was master of the mint. It has been said he would scrap silver of the coins and melt it down. This was a common crime of the times, eventually solved by the milling the edge of coins, in a process invented by Sir Isaac Newton. Sharington succeeded in having a 'friend' blamed for the crime, who paid by being beheaded. When Sharington died childless in 1553 the Abbey was inherited by his niece, Mrs John Talbot and hence to William Fox Talbot. Talbot did his negative/positive photographic pioneering work here in the 1840s. The Fox Talbot Museum, a museum dedicated to his work, is housed in the Abbey. In 1944, the abbey and village were donated to the National Trust.


Leaving Lacock Abbey I drive,accompanied by drizzling rain to Stratford-on-Avon, birthplace of Wlliam Shakespeare. A shrine to Shakespeare, Stratford has been a marketing town since receiving its first marketing charter in 1196. Once a week, farmers still bring their produce into town from the surrounding Cotswolds. The town is filled with half-timbered Elizabethan style houses.

First business of the day is to buy a ticket to one of the Bard's plays. Costing thirty-five pounds, a price that makes me reel, I consider exchanging it for the much cheaper six pound ticket and its more poorly situated seat. I decide against it, partly because I know I will not be coming here again anytime soon. Business done, I go and see, the must sees; Shakespeare's birth place, Anne Hathaway's cottage and the Holy Trinity church where Shakespeare was baptised and he and his family are buried, all the while accompanied by intermittent rain.

Belonging to the prosperous Hathaway family, Anne Hathaway's Cottage is a 12-room thatched roof farm house, in which Anne lived her pre-martial life. Located in Shottery, about a mile west of Stratford, it is now much the same as it was in Shakespeare's time. The Birth Trust bought it, complete with furnishing and Elizabethan style gardening, from the Hathaway family in 1892.

Stratford's emergence as a Shakespearean shrine was not immediate. The bicentenary, in 1764, of his birth passed almost without notice. It was only when a new town hall was required that some citizens realized the Bard could be useful for fund raising. A bust to be placed in the new town hall was suggested but only if someone would donate the required funds. A rich actor, David Garrick, agreed. But he had grander plans, a Shakespeare Jubilee with fireworks, displays, processions and a finial Costume Ball. It was this jubilee that initiated a series of events leading to the building of a theater from which the Royal Shakespeare Company was to emerge.

Aside from its Shakespeare heritage, Stratford seems to be a very pleasant town. That night I attend a performance of the play for which I paid the heart failure price, Henry IV - Part I, a historical play laced with humour. Though I am not sure I would have appreciated the humour by reading the play. I think, Clifford Rose, the actor who played Kessler in Secret Army was cast as a priest.

Next morning leaving Stratford, I head westerly, accompanied by my recently purchased copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare and of course, the rain.


Shrewsbury a well preserved marketing town on the banks of the Severn River is the main town in the Shropshire. Like Stratford, it too, has a favourite son, Charles Darwin. Because of its strategic importance, the Welsh unsuccessfully tried to capture it for the two hundred years after the Norman Conquest. The devastating power of the English long bow was demonstrated in the 1403 Battle of Shrewsbury. In only three hours six thousand soldiers were killed. Tudor times were prosperous because of the wool and flax trade with Wales. Many of the black and white Elizabethan styled houses were built during this period. Near the center of town, surrounded by the Elizabethan style house, is a concentrate structure built in 1596. The bottom floor was used to market corn. Wool, brought from Wales by donkey, was marketed from the top floor. Missing the industrial revolution it became a railway town during the Reign of Queen Victoria.


Leaving Shrewsbury I sort of meander southwards through the drizzle until I reach the small town of Clun, which I decide to use as a base. Clun, the smallest town in the Shropshire is must smaller than it used to be centuries ago when flocks of sheep from Wales were driven through it destined for markets in the Midlands or even London. Clun Bridge, crossing the Clun River, is a packhorse bridge built in 1450 which is still used today for carrying heavy transport.


About a mile south of Craven-on-Arms is Stokesay Castle a lightly fortified manor. Most of its construction was undertaken by Lawrence of Ludlow a rich Shrewsbury based wool merchant, who acquired the property in 1280. It has changed little since. A half-timbered gate-house was added in the 16th century. Surrendered to Parliament in the English Civil war it was lived in as a farm house and barn until the early 19th century. In 1869 it was purchased by John Darby Allcroft who commence restoration work. It is now own by English Heritage which is why I get to enter for free. Inside its rooms there is very little furniture, only a wooden carving above the fireplace and a title deed displaying all the owners from 1066 to 1950.


Driving north I reach Church Stretton where I have a good hearty English lunch of a baked potato and baked beans. Church Stretton is a small marketing town. Granted its charter in 1214 by King John I the market is still held today. Westward, after driving up a narrow road to a car park at Ratlinghope, then taking a short walk to the top of a hill are panoramic views of Church Stretton. Vegetation which covers the hillsides reminds me of the cushion plant in the Cradle-Mtn/Lake St Clair park in Tasmania.

Now very close to the border, Wales beckons.

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Photos

Stratford-on-Avon
The Avon River at Stratford with the Holy Trinity Church in the background.

Anne Hathaway's Cottage
Anne Hathaway was Shakespeare's wife.

Market Hall
was built in 1596 to market wool and corn.

Clun Bridge
crossing the Clun River was built in 1450. It still largely consists of the of the original stone.

Shropshire Country
Church of St John the Baptist, the Gate House and the Shropshire countryside from the top of the South Tower of Stokesay Castle.