STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

The market town of Stratford-upon-Avon is eight miles south west of Warwick. The parish was known as 'Old Stratford'. It has a number of light industries but its main prosperity arises from the great influx of tourists from all over the world to visit the birthplace of William Shakespeare and the other buildings associated with England's greatest poet and dramatist who is buried in the parish church on the banks of the river Avon. Stratford has a very fine Record Office.

DIOCESE: Worcester (a Peculiar). HUNDRED: Barlichway. UNION: Stratford

ADJOINING PARISHES: Billesley, Aston Cantlow, Bearley, Snitterfield, Hampton Lucy, Alveston, Clifford Chambers, Welford-on-Avon, Weston-upon-Avon, Binton, Haselor.

HAMLETS: Bishopton, Bridgetown, Bushwood, Dodwell, Drayton, Clopton, Luddington, Mickleton, Shottery, Tiddington, Welcombe.

Parish Registers: The following are at STR
Holy Trinity Christenings: 1558-1946 Marriages: 1558-1970 Burials: 1558-1962
St.James the Great (built as a chapel of ease 1855) Christenings: 1856-1967 Marriages: 1942-1966 Banns 1942-1952
All Saints Chapel, Luddington built 1872 Christenings: 1872-1993 Marriages: 1912-1968 Burials: 1873-1993
St.Andrews, Shottery (built as a chapel of ease 1871) Christenings: 1919-1976 Marriages: 1891-1984

Bishop's Transcripts : Begin 1615 WOR
Luddington 1617-1660 WOR

IGI: Holy Trinity Christenings: 1558-1885, Marriages: 1558-1895,
St. James Christenings: 1856-1885
also Rother St.Independent Chapel Christenings: 1786-1836.
and Shottery Marriages: 1891-1895. Widely available; BMSGH(PS)

REGISTER COPIES: Holy Trinity Christenings: 1558-1901 Marriages: 1558-1902 Burials: 1558-1900 WAR , SoG , BIR , STR
St.James Christenings: 1856-1906 WAR
Christenings: 1686-1776 Burials: 1653-1685 Burials: 1686-1776 STR
Christenings: 1558-1652 Marriages: 1558-1812 SoG , IHGS Burials: 1558-1662/3 IHGS

NONCONFORMIST: Roman Catholic: see Source Material and C, M & R Vol.2.
The following are at STR
St.Gregory's Warwick Road, Christenings: 1852-1952 Marriages: 1887-1952 Burials: 1865-1977
Wesleyan Methodist, Birmingham Rd. Z 1849-1957
Baptist; Payton Street Z 1832-1881 Marriages: 1912-1956 Burials: 1841-1888
Congregational: Rother Street Z Burials: 1786-1836 PRO , WAR , COV , STR , Z 1864-1880
A Church of the ejectment, Stratford-upon-Avon (Rother St.Congregational Church), A.Barber, 1912.
A brief history of Rother St.Congregational Church 1662-1960, K.N.Brockway, 1960
The Story of Methodism in Stratford-upon-Avon, J.S.M. Hooper 1962.
(Most printed books on Stratford nonconformist history also available at STR ).

MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS: Survey of graveyard at Holy Trinity Church carried out by pupils of Stratford-upon-Avon Girls' Grammar School 1978. STR
Survey with plan, WAR
Survey by Bloom Church and Yard STR but many entries cut out, possibly elsewhere.
New survey of yard 1978.
Record of heraldic memorials.
St.Gregory's churchyard (1979).
St.James.
Methodist Church, Birmingham Rd.
Baptist Chapel (1979), Congregational Church, Luddington Church STR .
Luddington All Saints BMSGH m/fiche , WAR , SoG , BIR
Payton Street Baptist Chapel BMSGH m/fiche , WAR , SoG , BIR
St.Gregory Roman Catholic. Stratford-on-Avon BMSGH m/fiche , WAR , SoG , BIR

PROBATE RECORDS: Records of the Peculiar Court of Stratford-upon-Avon (which includes the various hamlets in the parish of Old Stratford) are at STR
They comprise 389 wills and admons 1685-1849 with index; 150 wills and inventories, 1559-1721, with a register of wills proved, 1658-1699, now forming part of the records of the Stratford Corporation.

Printed indexes to wills proved in the P.C.C.(where there was property in more than one diocese) can be consulted at STR
These at present cover 1383-1700 and 1750-1800.
Note, if the will dealt with property in more than one parish it would probably have been proved in the Diocesan Court of Worcester.
Printed indexes 1451-1652 at STR
Most pre 1650 Stratford wills proved at Canterbury or Worcester are available at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in copy form. In addition, many probate and office copies of wills survive in bundles of deeds and other collections. These can be traced through the general purpose name index. Wills from Shakespeare's Town and Times, ed. E.V.Hall (2 series, 1931 and 1933) STR , SoG

CENSUS RETURNS: All WAR , STR
1765 Householders named with household numbers STR , WAR , CamGp
1831 (Borough only) Householders named with household numbers STR
1831 (Old Stratford) Householders named with household numbers STR
1851 and Fenny Drayton and Mickleton and 1881 Fenny Drayton BIR
1851 BMSGH SI v.11 SoG , BIR
1851 vVIII (RR) , SoG
1881 BCP , BMSGH(PS) Fulbrook
1851 BMSGH SI v.11
1881 BCP , BMSGH(PS) Mickleton
1851 BMSGH SI v.13
1881 BCP , BMSGH(PS) Old Stratford
1851 BMSGH SI v.11
1881 BCP , BMSGH(PS) Borough of Stratford
1851 BMSGH SI v.11
1881 BCP , BMSGH(PS)

INDEXES
Burial 1813-1837
Marriage 1558-1837
Pallot 1790-1812
Poor Law and Old Stratford c1690-1860
Pre-1841

CENSUS

MANORIAL RECORDS: 1463-1836 STR
Drayton 1338-1829 STR
Bishopton Manor, Court Rolls and ministers accounts 1371-1471.
History of the manors of Old Stratford, Clopton, Clifford, Drayton, Bishopton, Milcote and Shottery, Rev.J.H.Bloom, 1905.

DEEDS: A great many at STR particularly amongst The Wheeler papers.
Deeds of Clopton and Stratford, see Compton, Long (Warriner of Weston Park Collection) WAR

OTHER SOURCES: The following are all at WAR
John Bachelor, family papers 1808-1866.
The Bree family of Beausale and Stratford.
Clopton and the Cloptons, Sir A.Hodgson, 1892.
Sir Arthur Hodgson of Clopton House, obituary notices.
In Memoriam, Rev J.D.G.Collins 1879 (obituary notices 1867-1879).
Wills of the Hart family 1745-1841.
Map of Lordship belonging to Lord Conway 1704.
Inclosure awards, Bushwood 1824 (with Rowington, Drayton 1779 (with Binton), Welcombe, Bishopston and Shottery 1787.
Plan of High St., Chapel St., and Church St. 1785.
Plan of borough 1828.
Plan and survey of Ryland estate c1853.
Shottery, map with field names c1930.
Shakespeare and the Bawdy Court of Stratford, E.R.C. Brinkworth (based on the Act Books of the Ecclesiastical Court of Stratford, discovered amongst the Sackville papers by Kent Archives Office).
Master Richard Quyney, Bailiff of Stratford-upon-Avon, friend of William Shakespeare, E.I.Fripp.
Stratford-upon-Avon, History of the Streets: Chapel St. and Bridge St., ed R.Bearman, 1974 and 1977. Ts , SoG , WAR
Stratford-upon-Avon, extracts from the Sketch Book of Washington Irvine, 1900.
Register of the Guild of Holy Cross, The Blessed Mary and St.John the Baptist of Stratford-upon-Avon 1907.
The old houses of Stratford-upon-Avon, H.E.Forrest, 1925.
Stratford-on-Avon, A Borough History, P. Styles, 1946.
History of Welcombe Hall and the Phillips family. Focus, Vol.2 No.9.
The history of the following streets in Stratford appeared in various issues of Focus from Vol.1 No.3 to Vol.2 No.5: Bridge St., High St, Wood St, Old Town, Waterside, Ely St, Guild St. and Union St..
The rich, the poor and the migrant in the eighteenth century in Stratford-upon-Avon, Population Studies No.20 Spring 1978.
Notes on old houses in Stratford-upon-Avon, TBMIAS Vol.XXIV 1898.
The following articles have appeared in War.Hist.:
A History of Stratford's Mediaeval House, Vol.1 No.1.
William Wells Quartermain, a Stratford artist, Vol.1 No.6.
The Board of Health in Victorian Stratford, Vol.1 No.6.
Bishopston Spa, Shottery, Stratford- on-Avon, Vol.2 No.6.
Fires in Stratford-on- Avon in the 16th and 17th centuries, Vol.3 No.3.
Dugdale Occasional Papers: No.14.
Some Aspects of the Building Industry in Mediaeval S-on-A, T.H.Lloyd. No.20
A Splendid Occasion: the Stratford Jubilee of 1769, Levi Fox.
Minutes and accounts of the Corporation of Stratford-upon-Avon and other records have been published by the Dugdale Society for the following dates: Vol.1 1553-1566, Vol.2 1566-1577, Vol.3 1577-1586, Vol.4 1586-1592.
Light on the lives of the women of Stratford-upon-Avon, Occasional paper published by the Warwickshire History Society, 1976.

The following are all at STR
Rate books 1774-1913, giving heads of households and (from 1838) owners of all houses in the borough.
Burgess rolls, 1835 onwards.
These give the names and addresses of those entitled to vote in the local elections based originally on a property qualification.
John Lane (postmaster of Stratford), diaries 1799, 1818; accounts 1817-1845.
Fred Lane, Clerk to Petty Sessions, account book.
Messrs Lane, solicitors 1850-1883, with index of papers.
Typescript calendar of Stratford Petty Sessions records 1815-1880.
Stratford-upon-Avon Hospital, list of patients with addresses.
The Wheeler papers includes Collection of Poor Rate 1833-1866, Overseers of the Poor accounts 1819-1835, List of persons authorised to kill hares in Stratford-upon-Avon or Snitterfield division of Barlichway 1848-1879. Obituary Notices, indexed from 1860-1907.

Assessments, collectors duplicates for Borough of S-o-A 1822-1824. BIR
Letters to William Oakes Hunt of Stratford (Clerk of the Peace) mid 19th century.
One volume letters Leigh family of Stratford 1756-1809, William Hamper, antiquary, letters, BIR
Kent Archives Office holds a collection of family papers which include: Visitation books 1622-1624, Marriage Bonds 1618-1621, Administration Bonds 1587-1595, Act book 1590-1608, Precedent book 1559-1564.
A brief handlist of the records of Stratford-upon-Avon, J.O.Halliwell, 1862. BMSGH (RL) .
Cooke, Roberts & Daniels - see Alcester.
Gibbins family - see Ettington.

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