Anne Hathaway's Cottage

Anne Hathaway's Cottage is the former childhood home of Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare. The house is situated in the village of Shottery, Warwickshire, England, and about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Stratford-upon-Avon.

Although it is often called a cottage, it is, in fact, a spacious twelve-roomed farmhouse, with several bedrooms, now set in extensive gardens. The earliest part of the house was built prior to the 15th century. The cottage was known as Newlands Farm in Shakespeare's day and had more than 90 acres (36 hectares) of land attached to it. As in many houses of the period, it has multiple chimneys to spread the heat evenly throughout the house during winter. The largest chimney was used for cooking. It also has visible timber framing, a trademark of vernacular Tudor style architecture.

After the death of Hathaway's father, the cottage was owned by her brother Bartholomew, and was passed down the Hathaway family until 1846, when financial problems forced them to sell it. However, it was still occupied by them as tenants when it was acquired in 1892 by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which removed later additions and alterations. In 1969 the cottage was badly damaged in a fire, but was restored by the Trust.^[1] It is now open to public visitors as a museum.

Replicas

Full size replicas of Anne Hathaway's cottage have been built around the world:

• Bedfordale, Western Australia, Australia Where the replica is run as a bed and breakfast Hathaways cottage B+B
• English Inn, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Odessa College, Texas, United States

Sculpture Trail at Anne Hathaway's Cottage

References