Stratford-upon-Avon ( ... AY-vən), also known simply as 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 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. At the 2021 census Stratford had a population of 30,495.
Stratford was inhabited originally by Britons before Anglo-Saxons and remained 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 being the birthplace and burial place of the playwright and poet William Shakespeare, who is widely regarded as the national poet of England. It receives approximately 2.7 million visitors a year. The Royal Shakespeare Company resides in the 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 is a Celtic word for river (Welsh: afon). 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 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 a few miles of modern-day Stratford.
Oftfor, bishop of Worcester from 691 to 693, preached to the Hwicca tribe who inhabited south Warwickshire (then Mercia), and it has been argued that it was during this mission that a monastery was founded at Stratford. The earliest reference to the monastery comes from a charter in which Egwin (third bishop of Worcester) acquired a religious house at Aet-Stratford, which may have been on the site of the Church of the Holy Trinity. The rights of the bishops of Worcester to Stratford were confirmed by Offa in 781.
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 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 the lord of the manor, Bishop John of Coutances. He laid out a new town 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 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 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 it 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 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 the late 13th century.
Many of the town's earliest and most important buildings are 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 found, including Harvard House. The route carries on through Chapel Street past Nash's House and New Place. Opposite New Place 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 there are Guild buildings from the 15th century, as well as 18th- and 19th-century properties. The route finishes in the Old Town, which includes Hall's Croft and 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 the Avon was up, or coming thither stood in jeopardy of life." In 1484, a masonry arch bridge was built to replace it called Clopton Bridge, named after Hugh Clopton, a wealthy local man who paid for its construction and later became 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 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 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 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 the house now known as Shakespeare's Birthplace.