William Shakespeare. Town Hall.
N 52° 11.492 W 001° 42.419
30U E 588385 N 5783129
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) playwright and poet.
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Waymark Code: WM454F
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/08/2008
Views: 36
David Garrick presented the leaden statue of Shakespeare to Stratford-upon-Avon Corporation in 1769.
In 1741 a committee of which Garrick was a member, arranged for the erection of a statue to Shakespeare’s memory in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey.
Although no records remain of the how or when the statue was erected, it is assumed that it was officially presented to the town during, or just after, the Jubilee in September 1769.
The Stratford statue, with the exception of the verses on the scroll, is an exact replica of a stone one commissioned by Lord Pembroke of Wilton House from Peter Scheemakers.
The Wilton House statue was itself a revised version of the statue erected in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey designed by William Kent and also carved by Peter Scheemakers.
Stratford-upon-Avon Town Hall, a most prestigious building right in the heart of this historic market town.
The Hall was built in the reign of Charles I and throughout its chequered history has seen calamitous events including being extensively damaged from a gunpowder explosion in 1643. Just over a century later the Hall was actually pulled down but re-built the following year.
In 1863 major alterations resulted in a Hall very much as you see it today. Bad fortune dogged it again in 1946 when fire, started from a cigarette, completely gutted the beautifully proportioned Ballroom, when a valuable painting by Gainsborough of David Garrick was destroyed.
The Town Hall houses many interesting and historic paintings and treasures, but -unfortunately- is not always open to the public.
URL of the statue: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.