Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

This is the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford, most famous for being the church where Shakespeare is buried.

There is a record of a building on this site as early as 845. This building would've been most likely constructed of wood, and as such, nothing remains. The information booklet also says that it is most likely that the Normans rebuilt the church in stone but again, nothing remains. The present church dates from 1332, although they say that the transepts were built about 1210.

The church is not built in a straight cross, it is what they call a 'weeping chancel', meaning the top of the church is bent to the left. This is supposed to be symbolic because in all the pictures Jesus' head on the cross was to the left. Very strange but whatever.

While the best view of the church is from across the river, you'll have to make do with a peek between the trees.
Here is the entrance to the church. I imagine that there would've been statues in those two areas, but they are long gone.
There was, however, some pretty amusing gargoyles.


And some lovely stained glass. As you can see, they were working on about half of the church and had that part in scaffolding. There was still plenty to see, though.

These are misericords. Medieval carvers had considerable freedom in what they did and often seized the opportunity with relish and imagination, says the information booklet. The picture on the top shows a woman simultaneously pulling a man's beard, hitting him with a pan, and kicking him! Not sure what he did to deserve that... There are a total of 26 or so of these on the seats around the chapel, and they are all different.
This is a font that dates from the 15th century, and is most likely the one that Shakespeare was baptised in. It was probably removed in the 17th century when the Puritan zeal of Cromwell's commonwealth was at its height, but saved from totaly destruction by Thomas Paine, the parish Clerk, who died in 1747. Having for some years been used as a cattle trough, it was found in a local garden and restored to the chancel in 1823, albeit in broken form.
This, as I'm sure you can imagine, is Shakespeare's grave. He died on 23 April 1616. The fact that he is buried in a pretty important place in the church has nothing to do with the fact that he was a famous playwright (says the church), but that he was a 'lay rector'. He donated a considerable amount of money to the church, effectively buying his way into an important gravesite.

There is also a photo of the curse that appears carved into the stones, and it reads:

"Good friend for Jesus sake for be are

To digg the dust encloased heare.

Blese be ye man ty spares thes stones,

and curst be he ty moved my bones".

So basically, don't touch my shit or ye be damned! Hahaha.
This is the memorial above Shakespeare's grave. It was built by Gerard Johnson within a few years of Shakespeare's death. It was restores in 1974 after a lot of research into the original coloring, and apparently he was, in fact, originally painted somewhat orange.
Here's looking back at the church - you can see the scaffolding. Not sure what they are doing.
This is an 'ancient sanctuary knocker'. Not sure how old it is, it doesn't say, but apparently by grasping it, fugitives from the law could find safety in Holy Trinity Church for 37 days before facing trial.
And look! I found Ye Olde Harry Potter! Very very strange.

All in all I loved this church, it had a lot of history and was fun to visit. Up next is another church - the Guild Chapel.