Anne Hathaway's Cottage

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An early 20th-century flower garden and orchard developed by Ellen Willmott to accompany a 15th-century cottage with Shakespearean associations.

DESCRIPTION

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Anne Hathaway's Cottage is situated in the village of Shottery c 1.5km west-south-west of Stratford-upon-Avon. The site is bounded to the east by a minor road which leads north from the B439 Evesham Road through the village of Shottery to the A422 Alcester Road. The road frontage to the east of the Cottage is closed by a timber pale fence and informal hedge, while the orchard west of the Cottage is enclosed by hawthorn and blackthorn hedges. Ellen Willmott advised on the improvement of the orchard hedges in 1924-5 (Trustee Minutes). To the south, the site adjoins the gardens and orchard of Shottery Lodge, a C19 villa c 100m south-south-east of the Cottage, while to the north-east, Hewlands Cottage and its garden, which was purchased by the Trustees in 1926, adjoins a late C20 coach park. To the north-west the orchard adjoins the Shakespeare Tree Garden, an informal area planted with trees and shrubs mentioned in Shakespeare's works which was created in 1985(8. The western boundary of the orchard adjoins agricultural land which rises gently to the south-west towards Bordon Wood, and west towards Hansells Farm and Gretel House. The site slopes gradually west up from the roadside boundary to the west boundary of the orchard, and there are significant views west across the adjacent farmland from the orchard, and east from the cottage garden across the adjoining road to woodland on the banks of the Shottery Brook, and beyond to an area of meadow. The woodland adjoining Shottery Brook, outside the area here registered, was laid out as the Jubilee Walk in 1977.

ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES

Today (2000) the site is entered from the minor road which forms its eastern boundary at its south-east corner. A low timber gate leads to an irregularly paved stone walk, to the south of which stands a late C20 single-storey visitors' ticket office of timber construction with a pitched timber roof. In the early C20 the site was entered from the road through a gate c 5m south-east of the Cottage. A simple timber wicket gate opens on to an irregularly paved stone path which is enclosed by box hedges. The north hedge terminates to the west in a simple topiary cone, while the south hedge terminates in a simple topiary bird.

PRINCIPAL BUILDING

Anne Hathaway's Cottage (listed grade I) stands towards the north-east corner of the site, with its east gable wall parallel to the road which forms the eastern boundary of the site. The Cottage, a farmhouse until the late C19, was constructed in two principal phases: the eastern, lower section dates from the mid C15, while the higher, western section was built, probably by Bartholomew Hathaway, brother of Anne, in the early C17. There is a C17 stone, brick and timber extension at the eastern end of the east range. The Cottage is a single-storey, timber-framed structure with attic dormers set in the thatched roof. The timber frame is set on a limestone plinth, and two flights of stone steps ascend to doors set in the south facade of the C15 and C17 ranges. Tall chimney stacks are of brick construction. The Cottage was restored in the late C19 after its acquisition by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust; the west range was further restored in 1969 following a fire.

Hewlands Cottage, which is included in the area here registered, stands c 15m north-west of Anne Hathaway's Cottage. Originally a pair of C18 single-storey brick and timber cottages with attic dormers, the building was converted into a visitors' shop in 1950 (Fox 1997).

GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS

The gardens lie principally to the south of the Cottage, with further small areas of garden to the north and north-west adjacent to Hewlands Cottage.

The cottage garden is divided into three flower beds of varying area by irregularly paved stone paths which are bordered by stones set on edge. A further stone-paved path extends west from the gate parallel to the south facade of the Cottage; the Cottage walls are planted with roses and flowering shrubs which grow in a narrow, stone-edged bed.

At the east side of the garden, a square flower bed is planted with herbaceous subjects. It is enclosed by stone-paved paths, and its corners are marked by low clipped box bushes. To the north, a narrow herbaceous border is backed by the box hedge which encloses the south side of the entrance path. The path enclosing the west side of the herbaceous border is aligned to the north on steps ascending to the door in the C15 range of the Cottage, and to the south on stone steps which ascend to a raised terrace which runs parallel to the southern boundary of the garden for some 15m. The terrace is retained by a brick wall to the north. Its eastern end forms a rustic arbour with roses trained over hooped hazel boughs, and its northern side is enclosed by a low balustrade of hooped hazel. The surface of the terrace is paved with irregular stones, and to the south-east a timber seat is set on a raised area which is enclosed by roses, flowering shrubs and mature trees on the southern garden boundary. To the west the terrace leads to a late C20 brick single-storey building c 30m south-west of the Cottage, which contains visitors' toilets. From the terrace a second flight of stone steps descends to a further stone-paved path which, running north from the terrace to the Cottage, divides two further rectangular herbaceous borders. The north end of the eastern border is marked by a simple geometrical topiary shape in box, and by mature flowering shrubs. The west side of the western border is marked by an informal hedge of box and flowering shrubs, beyond which is a third north/south stone-paved path. To the south, this path leads to a late C20 curved flight of stone steps which ascends to the visitors' toilets and a path leading into the orchard; to the north the path leads to a stone-flagged area at the south-west corner of the Cottage. West of this third path is a small area of vegetable garden enclosed by hazel hoops and entered through a rustic hazel arch opposite the south-west corner of the Cottage. Four beds separated by wood-chipped paths are planted with vegetables, while a central circular bed contains herbs.

From the stone-paved area at the south-west corner of the Cottage, stone steps ascend north to Hewlands Cottage. A stone-paved walk extends c 25m north between rustic stone walls to a timber gate which leads to the late C20 coach park. To the east of this path a lawn planted with specimen trees at its north-west corner slopes down towards the road on the eastern boundary of the site. To the south this lawn is enclosed by a slightly sunken stone-paved path which follows the north facade of Anne Hathaway's Cottage; to the east it is enclosed by a timber pale fence and a shrub border. The garden to the south of Hewlands Cottage is laid out with a lawn in which two semicircular flower beds with seasonal planting are cut below the facade of the house. The garden is enclosed to the south by an informal hedge, while to the west there is a late C20 plant sales area which is enclosed by a late C20 brick, barn-style extension to Hewlands Cottage. A stone-flagged path with cobbled edges runs parallel to the south facade of the house, and a narrow border below the house walls is planted with climbing subjects. The front door of the house in the south facade is flanked by clipped box balls.

The stone-paved paths, raised terrace and three herbaceous borders form the cottage garden for which Ellen Willmott provided planting plans in 1924-5. The design and planting with its emphasis on 'old-fashioned' herbaceous plants, roses, flowering shrubs and simple topiary appears to derive from Willmott's design (Trustee Minutes). The stone steps ascending to Hewlands Cottage, the stone paths and possibly the layout of the garden south of Hewlands Cottage was created by Guy Pemberton, architect to the Trustees, in 1926 (Fox 1997).

OTHER LAND

The orchard which extends c 150m west of the Cottage is separated from the cottage garden by an informal wood-chipped path which extends south from the flagged area at the south-west corner of the Cottage. Adjacent and to the west of this flagged area is a small bed planted with currant bushes. The orchard is undulating and rises quite steeply west from the cottage garden before levelling and rising more gently to its western boundary. At the south-east corner of the orchard, c 40m south-south-west of the Cottage, there is a single-storey timber and thatch tool shed which was designed by Guy Pemberton in 1925 (ibid). The orchard is planted with standard apple trees of various ages, which are arranged in some eight lines running from east to west. A mown grass walk framed by a pair of stone staddle stones extends west along the central axis of the orchard, allowing views across the surrounding country.

An orchard is shown to the west of the Cottage on the late C19 OS map (1886). This was developed as an ornamental feature in the 1920s when Ellen Willmott advised the Trustees on underplanting the apple trees with spring bulbs.

REFERENCES

S Ireland, Picturesque Views on the Upper or Warwickshire Avon (1795)

W H Hutton, Highways and Byways in Shakespeare's Country (1914), pp 228-30

C Holland, Warwickshire the Land of Shakespeare (2nd edn 1922), pl 24

N Pevsner and A Wedgewood, The Buildings of England: Warwickshire (1966), p 397

A Le Lievre, Miss Willmott of Warley Place (1980)

N Fogg, Stratford upon Avon Portrait of a Town (1986), pp 14-29, 35

L Fox, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust A Personal Memoir (1997), pp 60-1

Anne Hathaway's Cottage, guidebook, (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust 1998)

Maps

OS 6" to 1 mile:

1st edition published 1886

2nd edition published 1922

1938 edition

OS 25" to 1 mile:

1st edition published 1886

2nd edition published 1914

Illustrations

E H New, Anne Hathaway's Cottage (in Hutton 1914)

F Whitehead, Anne Hathaway's Cottage from the east (in Holland 1922)

Archival items

Minutes of the Trustees of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, 1924-6 (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Record Office)

Description written: January 2000, Amended: May 2000, September 2000

Register Inspector: JML

Edited: December 2000