A GROUP OF SHAKESPEARE’S VILLAGES

Around Stratford lie grouped quite a number of villages which Shakespeare undoubtedly knew and visited, and possibly described in one or other of his plays and poems. Great as is the attraction of Stratford itself to many, there will be also pleasurable interests found in the old–world villages which lie within easy distance. In them and about them, indeed, there still lingers much of the “atmosphere” of Shakespearian times, and in travelling to them along winding roads and leafy by–ways one breathes the wider air of the Feldon and Arden, and from the summits of their little hills can catch glimpses of the district which Speed, not altogether unwarrantably, referred to as another Eden. In the fields still toil peasants little differing, in the more retired spots, in mode of life from those who toiled in Shakespeare’s days, gathering the harvest of peas in autumn, or sowing them in spring. Some, of course, who garner the peas are merely birds of passage, wayside toilers, here to–day and gone to–morrow; but many others are natives of the place or neighbourhood in which they dwell, speaking with much the same voices and phraseology as the peasants of Shakespeare’s time.

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Through sweet Warwickshire lanes and by–paths one may reach many a retired village well worth seeing, and wander, as Shakespeare wandered, into places which he undoubtedly knew. In spring and summer few counties can show a richer wealth of wayside flowers, or a greater glory of leaf and bud; and the autumn is not less lovely. If only for the beauty of the lanes and the by–ways many will feel rewarded in making a pilgrimage to some of the spots which we shall briefly describe.

Some six miles north–west of Stratford, close to the banks of the picturesque little River Alne, lies Aston Cantlow, anciently known as Estone Cantilupe. The first portion of the old name having probably a reference to its position as regards Alcester, from which it is distant five miles; and the latter part being derived from William de Cantelu, or Cantilupe, a man of considerable power and influence in the reign of King John, from whom he obtained a charter for the holding of a market and a yearly fair.

The family of Cantilupe appears to have possessed the manor for rather more than half a century, from 1205 to 1272.

The village is a very pretty one, and has additional interest in its fine church, dating principally from the end of the thirteenth century. Originally the family of Cantilupe erected or possessed a castle here, some traces of the earthworks of which are still to be seen close to the River Alne, on the north side of the church. The ancient moat is quite clearly traceable, and this at flood–tide is filled by the overflow of the river.

There is a fine half–timbered house in the village (now, alas! split up into small tenements), which was formerly the hall of the “Guild of the Blessed Virgin.” The church itself consists of chancel, nave, north aisle and chapel, and a south porch, and it has at the western end an embattled tower with pinnacles. The roof, which is probably the original one, is cradle pattern, with the rafters trussed with curved braces. There is a somewhat elementary but very interesting stone carving over the north door of the nave, depicting the Virgin Mary in bed with the infant Christ, whilst St. Joseph stands at the foot. The date of this work it is difficult to fix absolutely, but it seems probable that it dates from the beginning of the fourteenth century. The western end of the north aisle contains an uncommon newel staircase, originally intended to serve as a means of communication between the church and some upper parvise or chamber; but this apartment can never have been completed, as the stairs lead nowhere. In the chancel are an interesting triple sedilia, a piscina, and a credence table, all connected together by means of a moulding, which terminates in two carved heads. The church also contains a fifteenth century octagonal font, placed on a short shaft, each face of which is ornamented by a sunk panel embellished with a quatrefoil placed in a circle, and having a rose in the centre. At the east end of the church is the chantry chapel of the “Guild of the Blessed Virgin,” in which are two old–fashioned open pews, noticeable for the carved poppy heads which adorn the elbows.

In the chapel are also an ancient prie–Dieu, and two old wooden candelabra, each having five receptacles, and pedestals of carved foliated work. It is probable that these formerly did service as “elevation” candlesticks, and were placed on the lower steps of the altar, to be lighted at high festivals and during the elevation of the Host.

Most of the woodwork of the church dates from the fifteenth century, and is well worth examination. To the Shakespearian students the building, of course, has an added interest from the fact that it seems very probable that it was here John, Shakespeare’s father, was married to Mary Arden in 1557. Of the eight villages referred to in the rhyme traditionally ascribed (but apparently without foundation) to Shakespeare, which runs as follows—

Piping Pebworth, Dancing Marston,
Haunted Hillborough, Hungry Grafton,
Dodging Exhall, Papist Wixford,
Beggarly Broom, and Drunken Bidford—

two, Pebworth and Dancing Marston, are over the borders in Gloucestershire, and scarcely call for detailed mention here.

Temple Grafton, the “Hungry” Grafton of the rhyme, lies about five miles south of Aston Cantlow. The village which is prettily situated on elevated ground was, in the reign of Henry I., bestowed by Henry de Grafton on the Knights Hospitallers, who afterwards gave a portion of it to Simon de Arden. It bore the name of Grafton until the reign of Henry VIII., and it is supposed that the word Grafton is derived from the Anglo–Saxon graef, a moat or ditch, the word “Hungry” being an epithet given it by reason of the poverty of the soil.

Billesley, a little village lying nearly midway between Stratford and Alcester, is the third competitor for notoriety as the place where the poet was married. The evidence in favour of Billesley is entirely traditional, and may be dismissed, but there is one interesting fact in connection with the place, i.e. that in 1639 Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Hall (Shakespeare’s son–in–law and daughter), was married to Mr., afterwards Sir John, Barnard.

The manor–house at Billesley, comprising the south wing of the original Elizabethan building, contains a room, the oak panelling of which is said to have been brought from New Place. This chamber, which is known as Shakespeare’s Room, is traditionally supposed to have been occupied by the poet on the occasion of his visits to the house.

Hillborough lies close to the river, some four miles from Stratford, down a by–road running almost due south from the main road. It is the “Haunted” Hillborough of the rhyme, although the origin of the ghostly prefix is lost in obscurity. It is a picturesque stone–gabled building, beautifully trellised with ivy, which has lost one of its original wings. Apparently the house dates from Tudor times, but bears traces of several later additions and alterations. The interior contains an interesting survival in the shape of ascham or locker for bows and arrows in the corner of one of the oak–panelled rooms.

Hillborough seems chiefly noted nowadays for its profusion of fruit, the trees in the garden bearing such heavy crops as to necessitate their being propped in order to sustain them; whilst peaches and even grapes ripen and come to maturity on the sunny south walls as they do in few places in the county.

Travelling westward, about three–quarters of a mile outside Bidford one comes to a small red–brick barn in a field on the right–hand side of the roadway. About fifty yards farther, on the opposite side, near by an iron gate, stands a young crab–apple tree, which, tradition asserts, sprang from the ancient one known as “Shakespeare’s Crab Tree,” under which the poet is reputed to have slumbered off the effects of a drinking bout in which he had taken part at Bidford. The old tree, however, stood farther in the field. It long ago disappeared, and it is even doubtful, alas! whether the young tree is, after all, related in any way to it.

From this point there is a magnificent view of the Worcestershire hills, and also Ragley Hall, set deeply amid the surrounding woods. Bidford, one of the most picturesque and charming old–world villages in Warwickshire, is now speedily reached along the descending road. There is little doubt that this village, noticeable for its picturesque and old tiled houses—many of them creeper–grown and quaintly irregular as regards their architecture—is a place of great antiquity, as it is situated at the point where the ancient Icknield Street crosses the River Avon.

Although but a small village nowadays formerly it was a market town, the lordship of which was anciently given by King John to Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, on the marriage of the latter to his daughter Joan. The market was granted by Henry III. in 1220, and was still existent in the reign of Elizabeth.

Bidford seems to have derived its somewhat unpleasant appellation of “drunken” from the traditional tale which was published in the Gentleman’s Magazine in December 1794; wherein it was said that formerly the village contained an Association or Club of Topers, who took pride in the quantity of ale they could swallow without falling under the table. These persons, tradition states, were in the habit of challenging the residents in neighbouring places to a contest of endurance, and those of Stratford–on–Avon were on one occasion so invited to a trial of strength.

The story further states that Shakespeare was one of the party who came over from Stratford, and with the rest of his companions was speedily conquered and had to leave the scene of action. It was whilst on the road home after the contest that Shakespeare and his fellow–townsmen are stated to have laid themselves down in a drunken state under the crab–apple tree.

However true or otherwise the story may be, certain it is that Bidford in ancient times possessed a somewhat unenviable notoriety for festivity and drunkenness.

In the reign of Edward I. the lordship of Bidford was purchased by Robert Burnell, who, in addition to being Lord Treasurer and Lord Chancellor of England, was also Bishop of Bath and Wells. It was he who built the castle of Acton Burnell, Shropshire, at which the first Parliament was held. In the reign of Henry VII. Bidford was the property of Lord Lovell, which on his attainder escheated to the Crown, Henry VIII. subsequently granting it to Gerard Danet.

Nowadays Bidford is chiefly distinguished as a resort of Shakespearian pilgrims and excursionists. Its chief attractions are a fine and picturesque old bridge spanning the Avon, built at the end of the fifteenth century by the monks of Alcester to replace the existing ford.

The Church of St. Laurence, which is built on a slight knoll overlooking the river almost at the Stratford end of the village, possesses a tower of a most unusual type, the date of which it is very difficult to fix. The church consists of a chancel, nave, and aisles; the first named is Early English, but the nave and aisles were rebuilt in 1835 in a very unfortunate and commonplace style. The windows of the chancel are filled by rather good stained glass, some of it by Capronnier of Brussels. Whatever failings the restored building may have, the church plate is of undoubted interest. Probably of Spanish workmanship, it is of silver gilt repoussÉ work, and was presented by the Duchess of Dudley in 1665. The church chest, probably dating from the sixteenth century, is of an unusual kind, possessing heavy bands and hinges with three locks, and in the middle of each end a ring, such as is frequently found in old sea–chests.

Quite close to the church is an interesting old Elizabethan house, known as the Falcon Inn, built of stone, the gabled front containing three stories, and the principal windows mullioned. Formerly there was a picturesque projecting gallery, which was done away with many years ago. It was at this same inn that tradition states two fraternities known as the “Topers” and “Sippers” used to meet, and here it is alleged Shakespeare was frequently found carousing with his companions. Unfortunately the building is now divided up into tenements. It was from here that the inn sign and chair—now located in the birthplace—came.

Wixford Church is small and picturesque, and of mixed architecture. One of the most pleasing portions of the building is the chantry chapel of the fifteenth century, which possesses a very fine Tudor arched window of five lights on the east, and three good windows of the same kind on the south. In this beautiful chapel is a remarkably large and handsome tomb of Thomas de Cruwe and his wife Juliana, who died at the commencement of the fifteenth century. The figures are of finely engraved brass under crocketed pedimental canopies, enclosed and divided by slender buttresses. Thomas de Cruwe is attired in armour, and his wife wears a coif with a veil depending to the shoulders, a close–fitting gown bound in with a cord at the waist, and a long mantle open in front. Above the canopies are fixed shields of arms, and the badge of a human foot is seen both above and below the figures.

This Thomas de Cruwe was attorney to Margaret de Beauchamp, and steward to Richard de Beauchamp.

The step to the chantry altar still remains, and on the south side of it is an extremely interesting piscina, with a semi–octagon canopy within a ogee double–pointed arch. There are also several early brasses in the church of considerable interest.

In the churchyard itself is the base of a fine old fourteenth–century cross, with three steps; the centrepiece was found buried at the foot some years ago, and has a representation of the crucifixion on one side, and the Virgin and Child on the other.

North–west some eight miles from Stratford is the small market town of Henley–in–Arden, less retired and quiet, unhappily, nowadays than a few years ago. Anciently one of the towns situated in the great Forest of Arden, it still possesses a market cross, dating from the fifteenth century. And although the church, unlike many churches of Warwickshire villages, does not possess any features of special interest, within a quarter of a mile from the town lies Beaudesert, well worth a visit. The first thing which will strike the traveller on approaching the spot are the earthworks, now known as the “Mound,” where, in the twelfth century, Thurstan de Montfort erected a castle which was destroyed during the Wars of the Roses. From the Mound is obtained one of the finest views in Warwickshire, ranging from Edge Hill on the one hand to the Cotswolds on the other, with the charming picture of Henley itself in the near foreground. The earthworks are divided into three parts by two cross ditches; the portion farthest away from the village with the steepest sides was most probably the site of the keep.

The little Church of Beaudesert, probably built by De Montfort, and originally the Castle Church, lies at the foot of the earthworks. Although the church has been considerably restored it still contains much Norman work; particularly is this noticeable in the eastern window, which is ornamented with zigzag, star and indented mouldings. The chancel arch is also a fine specimen of Norman work, recessed and ornamented with wave and tooth mouldings. The tower dates only from the fifteenth century, but the walls and nave of the chancel are Norman, with some fourteenth–century windows inserted. There is an interesting holy water stoup on the east side of the south door, of about the same period as the doorway itself; and in the north wall are two small splayed Norman windows, the wall itself being of the thickness of five feet.

In the whole of Warwickshire there is scarcely more beautiful scenery to be found than in the immediate neighbourhood of Henley–in–Arden. Here are still some few scattered remnants left of the great forest which once covered the district so thickly, but which was gradually cut down to meet the necessities of the iron furnaces of Aston, Birmingham, and other places. Indeed, the destruction of the Forest of Arden may be considered as having been brought about almost entirely by the means we have indicated. Here, too, may be found, often hidden away in by–lanes, picturesque survivals of the thatched and half–timbered cottages, which are, alas! now disappearing one by one to make room for modern erections, the ugliness of whose architecture is too often a blot on their surroundings.

Only about a mile and a half from Stratford itself is Clopton House, once the manor–house of the Clopton family, whose name is so closely identified with Stratford, and to whom the manor was granted in the thirteenth century. Most of the present house was built in the latter part of the fifteenth century, in the reign of Henry VII.; but it has been much altered at various periods, chiefly when the south and eastern portions were reconstructed by Sir Edward Walker about 1665, in the reign of Charles II. The house has also been restored in recent times. There is a good Jacobean oak staircase, and in the bay–window of the dining–room are the shields of several of the Cloptons.

In the attic story is a room used by the Roman Catholics as a chapel in the times succeeding the Reformation, when such worship was a penal offence. On the walls are still decipherable Scriptural texts in black letter. A licence was granted by Pope Sixtus IV. to John Clopton and his heirs at the end of the fourteenth century, to enable them to have Mass said in this private chapel, opposite which is the Priests’ Chamber.

The house has additional historical interest as the residence, in 1605, of Ambrose Rokewood, one of the chief conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot, and from the fact that it was here Catesby, Winter, the Wrights, and others used to assemble. After the failure of the plot Clopton was raided by the bailiff of Stratford, and amongst other things, consisting of papers, etc., was seized a bag containing “copes, vestments, crosses, crucifixes, chalices, and other massing reliques,” belonging to the then tenant, a full inventory of which is deposited in the Museum at Stratford.

In the grounds are several small ponds, and beyond them a spring, now arched over, where Margaret Clopton is stated to have drowned herself in 1588, as a result of a love affair. It is supposed that this incident suggested to Shakespeare’s mind the death of Ophelia, and there seems some considerable probability that the second scene of the introduction of “The Taming of the Shrew” is represented as taking place at Clopton House.

About four miles from Stratford, along the Kineton Road, lies Charlecote, in a picturesque park prettily situated close to the junction of the Wellesbourne brook with the Avon. It was here, of course, that the somewhat apocryphal deer–stealing exploits of Shakespeare are said to have taken place. Whether there is any foundation in fact or not for the tradition, it seems certain that there was some considerable amount of friction at one time existing between the then owner, Sir Thomas Lucy, and the poet. But whether, as has been suggested by some, this circumstance had its rise in a difference of religion, or from some other cause, it has never been possible to determine. It is supposed by some that at the actual time the deer–stealing is stated to have taken place there were none at Charlecote, although there were in the parks of Fulbroke, which also belonged to the Lucys, and it may even be that it was at the latter place and not the former that the poaching took place, if at all. Whatever truth there may be in the story there seems little doubt that the poet satirised Sir Thomas Lucy in “The Merry Wives of Windsor” under the guise of “Mr. Justice Shallow.”

The village of Charlecote was granted to Walter de Charlecote by Henry de Montfort in the reign of Richard I. In the year 1216 William de Charlecote, son of the original owner, assumed the name of Lucy, by which the family has ever since been known. The present house, which was erected by Sir Thomas Lucy in 1558, probably occupies much the same site as that of the older mansion. With the exception of the dining–room and library, which were added in 1833, Charlecote remains to–day practically as it was in the Elizabethan age. It is approached from the road through an ancient gate–house, one of the most beautiful and well–preserved specimens of Elizabethan architecture still extant, the upper story of which is supposed to have anciently been used as a banqueting–room.

The house itself is also of red brick with stone dressings, and in the ground plan is very much of the shape of the letter E. The mansion, which is in a beautiful state of preservation throughout, contains the great Hall, a very handsome chamber with a fine bay window, in which are the family arms blazoned in the upper part, and a large number of family portraits by noted artists of different periods, including, amongst others, some fine examples of the work of Cornelis Janssens, Dahl Kneller, De Manara, and Lely. The dining–room, which has a fine panelled plaster ceiling of Elizabethan design, also contains some admirable pictures, and from its windows are charming views of the Avon and the Wellesbourne Brook, and the famous and stately avenue of lime trees.

Charlecote has witnessed several historic scenes, the chief of which are the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Sir Thomas Lucy when on her way from Warwick to Compton Wynyates, August 24, 1572, and the presence in the park of the Scottish Army on its way northward from Hereford on September 9, 1745. Just two hundred years before which date John Fox, the noted martyrologist, came as a guest to Charlecote and remained there for some considerable period. In this house one has an almost unique example of the higher type of purely domestic architecture of the Elizabethan age, preserved with a success which makes it possible for those who visit it to realise in a measure the needs and ambitions of those spacious days when Elizabeth honoured so many of her noble or distinguished subjects with visits.