Travel Tips

The present Holy Trinity Church probably built on the site of the first (wooden) church, which was certainly in existence in 845AD. A Norman church followed, and the present building dates from 1210.

It's built from limestone in the standard English-church shape of a cross but, interestingly, the eastern chancel tilts slightly to the south. One can see this clearly as one looks down the aisle (no photo, had to hurry out as a wedding was due and the church was closing to the public). It is said that this reflects the tilt of Christ's head whilst he was on the cross, but it's just as likely that the Medieval masons bodged up the foundations and made up the story to cover their mistake!

The oldest part of the building is in the centre, suppporting the bell-tower. It'sstone spire replaced the wooden one in 1763, but otherwise the outside of the church looks much as it did in the 1600s.

You are unlikely to be alone in the church: there was a constant stream of visitors whilst I was there, and I think all the coach tours and tour groups will make it part of their visit to Stratford. That's because Shakespeare is buried there, of course, but there are other things about Holy Trinity which are well worth noticing.

Check the angels carved onto each pillar of the aisle. Each one is slightly different, each one the product of one man's imagination (Medieval masons were always men).

Look down at the floor: you'll see slate gravestones (from the 1700s mostly). The closer you were buried to the altar the nearer to God you were..and the more the grave cost you or your relatives. Some of the remaining slabs are now very worn but some are still readable. Read them: these were real people who lived real lives once upon a time.

Look up to the roof: you'll see worn, carved wooden heads supporting the beams, amost hidden in the gloom.

Look carefully above the Chapel of St Thomas a Becket and you'll see a tiny bit of the original wall-painting and decorations exposed. English churches were not always plain as they are now: originally they were highly decorated, their walls and pillars covered with paintings and patterns and colour. Cromwell's Puritanism was responsible for the whitewashing and covering-up of these, as well as the destruction of many beautiful works of art. Sometimes remnants are found during restoration work, and these are now appreciated for their historical value and so left exposed.

The Clopton Chapel lies to the left of the nave (the main aisle). Some lovely late-1500s tombs here:the Cloptons were an important (and wealthy) local family. Hugh Clopton not only became Lord Mayor of London but also paid for the stone bridge over the Avon, which still stands today.

Shakespeare's grave lies in the Chancel, and you'll have to pay 1.5GBP to go in. But it is worth it: not for the grave, which is just a slab in the floor, but for the absolutely wonderful 15th century misericordes in the choir. These fascinating wooden carvings deserve a travelogue of their own, so I have made one.

And don't miss the broken bowl-shaped object. It doesn't look very much, but it's actually a 15th century baptismal font, discovered in a garden in the 18th century. It is said that Shakespeare was probably baptised in this font: possible....but only possible, by no means a certainty.