Nash’home
New Place
Nash’s House
It was dramatist’s final retirement home. He purchased the impressive building for £60 in 1597, whilst he was still spending most of his time working in London.
As Shakespeare’s fame spread in the 18th Century, New Place became a popular destination for tourists. One night in 1759, incensed by the constant stream of onlookers, the eccentric owner Reverend Francis Gastrell took his fury out on a Mulberry Tree in the garden, said to be planted by Shakespeare himself. By morning all that remained was a pile of logs and the infuriated Stratford inhabitants retaliated by smashing Gastrell’s windows. In a tragic final act of madness, this time annoyed at Land Tax demands, Gastrell razed New Place to the ground. Gastrell was driven out of Stratford by murderous Stratfordians, and anyone of the same name was banned from living in Stratford forever.
The foundations of New Place are accessed via Nash’s House, once home of Thomas Nash and Elizabeth Hall. Nash’s House is predominantly 16th-century in structure. New Place and Nash’s House are situated on Chapel Street, in the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon.
September 20th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
tht was an incredible journey…though there has been an immense description of the dramatist’s house in various spaces, this blod captures the same still with equal perfection..Must say thanks for sharing and further simplifying the history.