Mary Arden's House
| Mary Arden's House | |
| Warwickshire | |
|---|---|
 Mary Ardens House, Wilcote | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP163580 |
| Location: | 52°13’15"N, 1°45’42"W |
| Village: | Wilmcote |
| History | |
| Built 1514 | |
| Country house | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust |
| Website: | Mary Arden's Farm |
Mary Arden's House, also known as Mary Arden's Farm, is the farmhouse of Mary Shakespeare (née Arden), the mother of William Shakespeare.[1] The house is a Grade I listed building in Wilcote in Warwickshire about three miles from Stratford-upon-Avon, where William was born and lived his life.[2]
The house is in the care of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Beside Mary Arden's House stands Palmer's Farmhouse, another Grade I listed building[3] owned by the Trust. Because of confusion about the actual house inhabited by Mary in the mid-sixteenth century, Palmer's was for many years identified as "Mary Arden's House", and changed only in 2000 after research revealed that Mary had lived next door.
Palmer's Farm and Mary Arden's House
In 1930 the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust bought the house believed to be Mary Arden's home and refurnished it in the Tudor style to resemble that which Mary would herself have know. It is a timber framed house has been maintained in good condition over the centuries.
In 2000, it was discovered that the building preserved as 'Mary Arden's House' had belonged to a friend and neighbour, Adam Palmer, and so the house was renamed 'Palmer's Farm'. The house that had belonged to the Arden family is Glebe Farm, near to Palmer's Farm. A more modest building, it had been acquired by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 1968 for preservation as part of a farmyard without knowing its true provenance.[4] It now bears the name "Mary Arden's House".
Mary building has lost some of its original timber framing and features some Victorian brickwork, but it has been possible to date it through dendrochronology to c.1514.[2]
The houses and farm are presented as a "working Tudor farm".[1] The farm keeps many rare breeds of animals including Mangalitza and Tamworth pigs, Cotswold sheep, Long Horn cattle, Baggot and Golden Guernsey goats, geese and birds of prey including a Hooded Vulture.[5]
Outside links
- Mary Arden's Farm - Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Mary Arden's Farm". Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/visit-the-houses/mary-ardens-farm.html.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mary Arden's House and Attached Dairy - British Listed Buildings
- ↑ Palmer's Farmhouse. Wilmcote - British Listed Buildings |website=British Listed Buildings}}
- ↑ The Shakespeare Houses - The Official Guide, Revised 2008, ISBN 978-0-7117-2949-0
- ↑ [1]