| The White Lion Inn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Black and white timber frame |
| Town or city | Stratford-upon-Avon |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 52°11′39″N1°42′31″W / 52.19417°N 1.70861°W |
| Completed | 1541 |
The White Lion Inn was a public house located in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, England, an example of Elizabethan architecture that first appears in historical records in 1591. The building was mentioned by both Harriet Beecher Stowe and Rupert Graves.
The earliest references to the White Lion Inn date to 1591. [1] The original building, which was at nos, 16, 17, 18 Henley Street was demolished and rebuilt in 1753 making it one of the largest inns on the Holyhead Road by its landlord at the time, John Payton. [2]
In its heyday the White Lion Inn was considered to be on a par with some of the better eating establishments in London and was reported to offer “a bill of fare equal to that of the Piazza Coffee House”. In 1785 members of the household of Louis XVI of France stayed here and in 1806 the Prince Regent (later George IV of the United Kingdom) stayed in specially prepared apartments. During the English Civil War the building was taken over by parliamentary soldiers.
In 1765 the smallpox census records thirty-nine people as living there (only two had not had the pox). [3]
The Garrick Jubilee of Shakespearean performances in 1769 came about because of an idea by John Payton, the landlord of the White Lion. Payton was a genuine Shakespeare enthusiast and a friend of the Shakespearian editor George Alexander Steevens. In 1768, when Steevens was staying at the White Lion, Payton invited some of his friends from the town corporation to meet him. The new Town Hall had just been finished and it was regretted "that an open niche had been constructed on the north side of it without any prospect of obtaining a statue or even a bust to grace it". A statue of Shakespeare was suggested as the most fitting adornment and Steevens offered to persuade David Garrick to present one. The corporation elaborated on his suggestions by offering to confer on Garrick the freedom of the borough in a box made from the wood of Shakespeare's mulberry tree. This led Garrick not only to present a statue of Shakespeare, but to come down and organize a Shakespearian festival at Stratford. [4]
The remaining portions of the building were added to the English Heritage list of protected buildings in 1994. [5]
The Witchcraft and Wizardology Museum at 21 Henley Street is a privately amassed collection of ephemera and articles that reflect on the history of witchcraft and wizardology from pre-Christian times to the present day. Concentrating on providing a fair and balanced viewpoint that remains family orientated whilst retaining the darker and more sinister aspects of human sacrifice and the Knights Templar link to the craft.
Amassed over 40 years, this collection of articles, rituals and ephemera challenges the accepted stereotypes of witches whilst avoiding the standard "everything behind a glass case" approach. [6] Encouraging a hands on approach to the more traditional aspects of witchcraft it provides a focal point for discussion and those seeking knowledge in a non threatening environment. [7] [8]
Regularly described as one of the most haunted buildings in the country by the owner [9] and visited by paranormal investigators, parapsychology groups and ghost hunters, [10] [11] it continues to offer a glimpse into the world of the supernatural and the unknown. [12]
Stratford-upon-Avon, commonly known as just 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. In the 2021 census Stratford had a population of 30,495.
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Samuel Johnson. He appeared in several amateur theatricals, and with his appearance in the title role of Shakespeare's Richard III, audiences and managers began to take notice.
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) is a Grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon – Shakespeare's birthplace – in the English Midlands, beside the River Avon. The building incorporates the smaller Swan Theatre. The Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres re-opened in November 2010 after undergoing a major renovation known as the Transformation Project.
Shirley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands, England. Historically a rural settlement within the county of Warwickshire, it is now contiguous with nearby Solihull and Birmingham.
Shottery, formerly a small village a mile west of Stratford-upon-Avon town centre, is now part of the town, though retaining the feeling of a distinct village.
The Collegiate Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon, is a Grade I listed parish church of the Church of England in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. It is often known simply as Holy Trinity Church or as Shakespeare's Church, due to its fame as the place of baptism, marriage and burial of William Shakespeare. More than 200,000 tourists visit the church each year.
Stratford-on-Avon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Manuela Perteghella of the Liberal Democrats. The constituency is in Warwickshire; as its name suggests, it is centred on the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare, but also takes in the surrounding areas, including the towns of Alcester and Henley-in-Arden.
Henley-in-Arden is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. The town takes its last name from the former Forest of Arden. Henley is known for its variety of historic buildings, some of which date back to medieval times, and its wide variety of preserved architectural styles. The one-mile-long (1.6 km) High Street is a conservation area.
The Grammar School of King Edward VI at Stratford-upon-Avon is a grammar school and academy in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, traditionally for boys only. However, since September 2013 the school has admitted girls into the Sixth Form. It is almost certain that William Shakespeare attended this school, leading to the school widely being described as "Shakespeare's School".
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) is an independent registered educational charity based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, that came into existence in 1847 following the purchase of William Shakespeare's birthplace for preservation as a national memorial. It can also lay claim to be the oldest conservation society in Britain. Receiving no government funding or public subsidies, it is totally dependent upon the public for support, and relies on donations and the income generated from visitors.
William Shakespeare has been commemorated in a number of different statues and memorials around the world, notably his funerary monument in Stratford-upon-Avon ; a statue in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, London, designed by William Kent and executed by Peter Scheemakers (1740); and a statue in New York's Central Park by John Quincy Adams Ward (1872).
John Huckell (1729–1771), was an English poet.
The Shakespeare Jubilee was staged in Stratford-upon-Avon between 6 and 8 September 1769. The jubilee was organised by the actor and theatre manager David Garrick to celebrate the Jubilee of the birth of William Shakespeare. It had a major impact on the rising tide of bardolatry that led to Shakespeare's becoming established as the English national poet. Thomas Arne composed the song Soft Flowing Avon for the Jubilee.
Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare is a small garden folly erected in 1756 on the north bank of the River Thames at Hampton in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Grade I listed, it was built by the actor David Garrick to honour the playwright William Shakespeare, whose plays Garrick performed to great acclaim throughout his career. During his lifetime Garrick used it to house his extensive collection of Shakespearean relics and for entertaining his family and guests. It passed through a succession of owners until coming into public ownership in the 1930s, but it had fallen into serious disrepair by the end of the 20th century. After a campaign supported by distinguished actors and donations from the National Lottery's "good causes" fund, it was restored in the late 1990s and reopened to the public as a museum and memorial to the life and career of Garrick. It is reputedly the world's only shrine to Shakespeare.
Edgar Innes Fripp was a Unitarian minister and English antiquarian who specialized in Shakespearean research in the archives of Stratford-upon-Avon, and the father of the artist Paul Fripp.
The Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon is a society based in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, that celebrates the life and literary works of William Shakespeare. It is the oldest Shakespeare society in the world, having been in existence since 1824. It now meets monthly between October and May at the Shakespeare Institute, for a series of lectures on a wide range of Shakespeare-related subjects.
The Garrick Inn is a pub in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, located at 25 High Street, next door to Harvard House. It is reputedly the oldest pub in the town. The Garrick is located along Stratford's Historic Spine.
Stratford's Historic Spine is the name given to a route in Stratford-upon-Avon along which many of the town's most important and historic buildings are sited, with many of the buildings connected to William Shakespeare. The Historic Spine was once the main route from the town centre to the parish church. It begins in Henley Street at Shakespeare's Birthplace and finishes in Old Town at The Holy Trinity Church and has buildings from the 14th up to the 20th centuries.
Stratford-upon-Avon Town Hall is a municipal building in Sheep Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. It is a Grade II* listed building.
The purported Shakespeare's signet ring or seal ring, is a gold signet ring with the initials WS. It was found in Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom, in 1810 and may have belonged to William Shakespeare. It is kept by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT).