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The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is the world’s leading charity in promoting the works, life and times of William Shakespeare. The Trust offers a unique Shakespeare centered experience with outstanding archive and library collections, inspiring educational and literary event programs and five wonderful houses all directly relating to Shakespeare. As an independent charity the Trust receives no public subsidy or direct government funding. The Trust depends entirely on income generated through their supporters: their visitors, volunteers, donors and Friends.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s History
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust was formed in 1847 following the purchase of Shakespeare’s Birthplace as a national memorial.

The role of the Trust grew with the purchase in 1876 of Shakespeare’s New Place estate, comprising the site of Shakespeare’s grand final home and Nash’s House (the home of Thomas Nash and Shakespeare’s grand-daughter Elizabeth).

The Trust purchased Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, the girlhood home of Shakespeare’s wife, in 1892 and Mary Arden’s House was purchased in 1930.

The last house to be acquired was Hall’s Croft, the home of Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna and her husband, physician Dr John Hall, in 1949.

In 1964 to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth the Trust threw open the doors of its new headquarters and study facility, the Shakespeare Centre.  This distinctive building provides a home for the Trust’s extensive Shakespeare Centre library and archive (including the RSC archive). The second part of this project, an extension including facilities for the Trust's educational and cultural work and a visitor centre for Shakespeare’s Birthplace, was added in 1981.

In addition to the Shakespeare Houses, the Trust cares for Harvard House on behalf of the Harvard House Memorial Trust.
 

Terms of use

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has graciously contributed images under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommerical ShareAlike 4.0 International license.  Visitors may download, link to and cite the images for personal research only. Any further use, including, but not limited to, unauthorized downloading or distribution of the images, commercial or third party use, is strictly prohibited. Visitors must contact the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to request additional use, at: images.scla@shakespeare.org.uk

Documents contributed by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

January 18, 1572
Meeting of the Stratford-upon-Avon Corporation, with an order appointing the bailiff and chief alderman, Adrian Quiney and John Shakespeare, to act on the Corporation’s behalf according to “theire discrecions”
Under the 1553 charter of incorporation, Stratford-upon-Avon had been granted a certain degree of self-government, independent of the lord of the manor who had previously held authority over the town's affairs.
March 11, 1574
Parish register entry recording Richard Shakespeare's baptism
Richard, John and Mary Shakespeare’s seventh child, was baptized on March 11, 1574, according to the Holy Trinity Church parish register. Next to the entry, an “X” added by a later hand highlights its significance.
September 20, 1575
John Shakespeare witnesses the conveyance of a house in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon adjoining his own
A surviving bundle of deeds, dating back to the mid sixteenth century, documents the ownership of the house in Henley Street adjoining the Shakespeare family property on the south-east.
November 19, 1578
Meeting of the Stratford-upon-Avon Corporation at which John Shakespeare is excused a weekly payment towards the relief of the poor
From the late 1550s until the mid-1570s, John Shakespeare’s service as a member of the Stratford Corporation, first as a capital burgess and then as an alderman, had been exemplary.
October 15, 1579
Bond between John and Mary Shakespeare and Robert Webbe concerning the sale of their premises in Snitterfield
At this time, when property was conveyed from one party to another, it was typical for the vendors to enter into a bond that they would perform all conditions as specified in the accompanying deed of conveyance. This bond would be signed by the vendors or, in this case, certified by their marks.

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