My Visit to Mary Arden's Farmhouse at Wilmcote

Front view of Mary Arden's Farmhouse

Courtyard

     











                                                                                              

Living Room

backyard

The kitchen

              

View of garden

Cotswold sheep

                          





  
                                        My Visit to Mary Arden’s Farm at Wilmcote

  We continued our journey to Wilmcote, eight miles from Stratford-upon-Avon to see the well-maintained Mary Arden’s Farm House , where Shakespeare’s mother , Mary Arden, was born and brought up. The original name of this farm house was “Glebe Farm”. It was a big Tudor type of  two-storey mansion surrounded by vast grounds and woods where one can get an idea about a rich landlord’s way of life of those times with various activities like breeding different types of animals and birds, cultivating  gardens, milking cows, threshing corn, making butter and enjoying country sports . Mary Arden(1540-1608) , the youngest of Robert Arden’s family of eight daughters, inherited this estate after her father’s death in 1556. She married John Shakespeare, who was working as a tenant in her father’s land, in 1557. She belonged to a rich Catholic family of nobles who served the kings like Henry VII and William, the conqueror.

This House has two storeys built in Tudor style with a thatched roof . Though the exterior walls were rebuilt in brick, the construction of  the  rooms were kept in their original state as they had been in  1514.The living room meant for entertaining guests leads to a parlor where old-fashioned wooden furniture is seen. In the kitchen various utensils and household tools are seen. The room for making butter was added in later times.

Hereford cattle

Courtyard

          

                                                                                               

the hawk in the Farm

Pigs in the Farmyard

Baggot goats in the Farm

The white owl

Longhorn Cattle

  

Shirehorses in the farm

Whenever the dreaded disease, plague broke out in Stratford, Shakespeare might have spent some here along with his mother and other siblings. The beautiful gardens, agricultural activities and rural sports impressed his mind so much that one can find descriptions of country sports and pleasures in his plays and poems. Just outside the kitchen we found ladies attired in Tudor fashion baking bread on mud-built ovens holding a pair of tongs. A young girl was stacking hay in a wheel barrow to feed horses in the stable. The Cotswold Sheep are kept in a shed. In Elizabethan age people consumed sheep milk often than cow’s milk. We also saw a huge cider-press with an enormous revolving wheel. Two shire horses of gigantic size were led by two short ladies . A horse carriage was nearby.  As we passed through farm land we saw two huge hairy creatures with dense curly brown hair resting in the dark hollows below. They are a special Hungarian breed of pigs called Mangalitza pigs. In those days pigs were in immense demand and every Englishman kept pigs for consumption  We also witnessed the feats performed by a large white owl which obeyed the commands of the trainer. Hawking was a popular pastime in Elizabethan times. We saw various types of birds like hawks, owls, wood peckers, falcons, geese and hooded vultures. We also saw other special breeds of animals like Baggot goats with snow-white backs and black front, long horn cattle with bent curved horns, Tamworth pigs with brown shaggy skin, geese and Gloucester cattle with white patches on their backs.

 The life of a prosperous landlord in 16^th century with age-old customs and practices is brought before our very eyes, and I could not but feel the impact of this type of life on Shakespeare’s plays which abound in lyrical descriptions of Nature, country pleasures, queer beliefs and superstitions  and folklore of those times. The custodians of this building organized nature trails, and demonstration shows so as to re-create the atmosphere those times and give a wealth of information about that age. Just beside this farm there was another farmhouse of Arden’s neighbor, Adam Palmer, called now “Palmer’s Farm”. It was acquired by Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 1930. At first the authorities mistook Adams Farm as the residence of Mary Arden and only in 2000 they were able to find out the authentic building of Mary Arden. Arden’s Farm was taken under care by Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust in 1968 just as an adjoining building to Arden’s Farm. After 2000 they found out that it was the real residence of Mary Arden’s family. The rural Farm House with a spacious garden surrounded by woods and with enclosures for various animals and birds and the practical demonstration of country customs and various household activities enlighten and entertain all visitors irrespective of age and temperament.

                            ***************************************************************

    25th May, 2014                                            Somaseshu Gutala