Stratford Souveniers
by Terri Waters
Title
Stratford Souveniers
Artist
Terri Waters
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The souvenier gift shop in Henley Street Stratford Upon Avon primarily sell souvenirs relating to William Shakespeare as Stratford was where he was born and is buried. He lived in the house next door, but of course in those days the gift shop was not in existence.
The items sold include coffee mugs, tea towels, t-shirts, postcards, key rings, bookmarks and books, snow globes, handmade collections and other collectable souvenirs. This particular shop not only sells pens and pencils but quills, a writing implement used by Shakespeare.
Gift shops are normally found in areas visited by many tourists. Venues such as zoos, aquariums, national parks, and museums have their own gift shops; in some cases these shops sell items of higher value than gift shops not associated with a venue, as well as trinkets. These stores are sometimes a source of financial support for educational institutions.
Henley Street, from Wikipedia
Henley Street, one of the town's oldest streets, underwent substantial architectural change between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. John Shakespeare's large half-timbered dwelling, purchased by him in 1556, was in 1564 the birthplace of his son William. According to a descriptive placard provided for tourists there,
"The property remained in the ownership of Shakespeare's direct descendants until 1670, when his granddaughter, Elizabeth Barnard, died. As she had no children, Elizabeth left the estate to her relative Thomas Hart, Shakespeare's great-nephew. The main house became a tenanted inn called the Maidenhead (later the Swan and Maidenhead) following the death of John Shakespeare in 1601. Members of the Hart family continued living in the small adjoining cottage throughout the century."
At the end of the 19th century, Edward Gibbs "renovated" the building to more closely represent the original Tudor farmhouse. Adjacent to Shakespeare's Birthplace stands the Shakespeare Centre, completed in 1964 and not far from the Carnegie Library, opened in 1905.
The large half-timbered building which now comprises numbers 17, 18 and 19 was formerly the White Lion Inn. It is first mentioned in 1603 and was adjoined on the east by a smaller inn called the "Swan". In 1745 the latter was purchased by John Payton, who also acquired the "Lion" five years later and rebuilt the whole premises on a greatly enlarged scale. The work was completed by James Collins of Birmingham, builder, in 1753. Payton "brought the house into great vogue" though Byng in 1792 complained that "at the noted White Lion, I met with nothing but incivility" (cited from Torrington Diaries. Payton was succeeded as innkeeper by his son John, and its reputation as one of the best inns on the Holyhead road must have contributed not a little to the prosperity of the town. Garrick stayed at the "White Lion" during the Jubilee of 1769 and George IV, as Prince Regent, visited it when he came to Stratford in 1806.Its great days came to an end after John Payton the younger sold it to Thomas Arkell in 1823.
Uploaded
February 28th, 2013
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