Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon [strat′fərd ə pän ā′vän]

town in S Warwickshire, England, on the Avon: birthplace & burial place of Shakespeare: pop. of county district (called Stratford-on-Avon) 106,000

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(also Stratford)

the town in Warwickshire where William Shakespeare was born. Tourists from all over the world come to see plays at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and to visit places associated with Shakespeare, including the house where he was born, the church where he is buried, and Anne Hathaway’s Cottage.

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Town (pop., 1995 est.: 28,000), Warwickshire, England.

It is located on the River Avon. The town's first royal charter was granted in 1553. For centuries a country market town, it became a tourist centre because of its association with William Shakespeare, who was born and died there; his grave is in the parish church of Holy Trinity. The Shakespeare Centre in Stratford includes a library and art gallery (opened 1881) and a theatre (opened 1932). Every year from March until October, Shakespeare's plays are performed in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

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▪ England, United Kingdom

also called  Stratford 

 town (“parish”), Stratford-on-Avon district, administrative and historic county of Warwickshire, central England, and the birthplace of William Shakespeare (Shakespeare, William). For centuries a country market town, it became a major British tourist centre because of its associations with Shakespeare.

  Stratford-upon-Avon stands where a Roman road forded the River Avon, and a 19th-century bridge still spans the river alongside a 15th-century arched stone bridge. The first royal charter was granted in 1553. Shakespeare was born in 1564 in a half-timbered house on Henley Street. He attended the local grammar school adjoining the medieval Chapel of the Guild of the Holy Cross. In 1597 Shakespeare returned from London to the house known as New Place, where he died in 1616. His grave is in the parish church of Holy Trinity. It was not until 1769—more than a century and a half after the playwright's death, when the actor-producer David Garrick inaugurated the first of the annual birthday celebrations—that an attempt was made to preserve buildings and other memorials of Shakespeare's life in the town.

      By the river the group of modern buildings known as the Shakespeare Centre includes a library and art gallery (opened in 1881) and a theatre (opened in 1932). April 23—the date of Shakespeare's death and, approximately, also of his birth—is celebrated annually in Stratford-upon-Avon, and every year from March until October there is a festival during which his plays are acted in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Pop. (2001) 22,187.

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