Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire Beggars Bushe 1615

This is an unusual entry as it refers to an actual bush. It doesn’t refer to any beggars. Inevitably, this being Stratford upon Avon, William Shakespeare must be mentioned. He didn’t use ‘beggars bush’ as a literary phrase, although he does refer to being “married under a bush, like a beggar” in As You Like It (Act III, Scene 3). However, he may have known this actual bush.

Boundaries of “the north part of the ffield of Old Stratforde Welcombe and Bushopton towardes Warwick leadyng from a certayne gate called Clopton gate to a certayne Bushe within the ffields of Welcombe aforesayd called Beggars Bushe alias Bragges’ etc.” Circa 1615.

The entry is in Folio 84.ER1/1/68, part of what were formerly known as ‘Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Mss’, comprising a series of volumes of a very miscellaneous nature. These are part of the Wheler Papers, compiled by Robert Bell Wheler, 1783-1857, of Stratford-upon-Avon, solicitor and author of The History and Antiquities of Stratford-upon-Avon, 1806.

It is in the hand of Thomas Greene, the Town Clerk and cousin of William Shakespeare. It is contemporaneous with the contentious enclosure of Welcombe, in which both men were involved as collectors of the Tithes.

The entry is unusual in referring to an actual bush. “Bragges” may be the owner.

Warwick Road (A439) runs north east out of Stratford, south east of Snitterfield towards Sherbourne. The location is about 1km north of the the centre of Stratford, in what would have been open ground. It is probably now part of the grounds of the hotel at Welcombe Hall.

I have not been able to trace any other reference to Clopton Gate. However, it is possible that this the same location referred to by Shakespeare as recorded Greene’s papers for 17.11.1614 that “They assured him they meant to enclose no further than to Gospel Bush, and so up straight, (leaving out part of Dingles to the Field), to the gate in Clopton Hedge . . .” (p.77 Brooke, T, Shakespeare of Stratford, London 1926, p.77 and quoted in Honan, P. Christopher Marlowe, Oxford (2005) p.192).

It is possible that Beggars Bush and Gospel Bush may be the same; the ironic reversal is similar to the change from Beggars Bush to Kings Bush which is recorded at Godmanchester.

VCH says of Stratford at this time “The borough was bounded on the north by the Gild Pits (now Guild Street) and on the west by the line of Grove Road and Arden Street which was the road from Old Stratford to Bishopton. Beyond, on each side, the common fields began, whence Greenhill Street derived its alternative name of Moor Towns End. A glimpse of the appearance of Stratford in Shakespeare’s time is afforded by another survey, of 1582, which records nearly 1,000 elm trees and 40 ash on the corporation property alone. Different points on the borough boundaries were marked by elms, and the last of these landmarks, the One Elm, or Gospel Elm, opposite the corner of Arden Street and the Birmingham road, was cut down and sold in 1847. “
(VCH A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 3: Barlichway hundred (1945), pp. 221-234)

The earliest record entry is probably the same location as, or the transferred origin for Lower Beggars Busha field name recorded in 1840. (Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Records Office: Slatter Son and More, Solicitors of Stratford-Upon-Avon [DR325/376 – DR325/2516] Greaves, Richard 1840-72 Draft deeds, correspondence, accounts etc. relating to piece of land called Lower Beggars Bush, along the Warwick Road, Stratford-upon-Avon

OS Grid

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Posted: March 19th, 2011 | Filed under: Places | Tags: Godmanchester, Stratford, Warwickshire, bush | No Comments »