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Mary Arden's House, Warwickshire

Mary Arden's House is the childhood home of Shakespeare's mother. This house, extensively modified since Mary lived there, is a museum to the farm work by which the Arden family lived. Close by is Palmer's Farm, a building which until the early twenty first century was assumed to be Mary Arden's house. It certainly looks much more the part. Ironically timber-framed Palmer's Farm gives a much better idea of Mary's life than the heavily modified house she actually lived in - which is preserved as it appeared in Victorian or Edwardian times. As Shakespeare often pointed out in his plays, truth is often revealed best through artifice.

Artifice is rather touchingly illustrated at Palmer's Farm, where the timber framing is much thicker on the side of the house that faces the road. At the back of the house, out of sight of passers-by the timbers are narrower. The suggestion is that the owners were trying to give the impression of wealth. England was a relatively mobile society. Even in these pre industrial times, there was a sense of aspiration, of wanting to mimic people higher in the social hierarchy.

Mary Arden's House and Palmer's Farm now stand together in an interesting site which aims to demonstrate traditional farming practices. Members of staff, some in period costume, tell the story of Mary Arden and her house.

 

 

 

 

Palmer's Farm

Directions: Come out of Stratford on the Birmingham Road, continue on for about five miles until you reach Station Road on your left. Turn into Station Road and continue until you see Mary Arden's House on the right. Click here for an interactive map centred on Mary Arden's House.

Address: Mary Arden's Farm, Station Road, Wilmcote, Stratford-upon-Avon CV37 9UN

Opening Times: Currently closed for extensive refurbishment. It is hoped to re-open March 2011 and will then be open daily 10am - 5pm until October.

Access: There is limited disabled access to the houses. Paths around the site are wide and flat. Adapted toilet facilities are available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contact:

telephone: 01789 293455

web site: http://houses.shakespeare.org.uk/mary-ardens-house.html

for group visits telephone: 01789 201806

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