If you want to understand how a glover's son from a provincial market town became the greatest writer in English, this is the building to visit. The medieval Guildhall on Church Street housed the borough council downstairs and King Edward VI Grammar School upstairs — and it was in that schoolroom, under a rigorous Latin curriculum, that Shakespeare was almost certainly educated between the ages of seven and fourteen.
The Guildhall was also where travelling acting companies had to perform for the corporation before they were licensed to play in the town. John Shakespeare was a town official when the Queen's Men and Leicester's Men came through, and his son would very plausibly have watched professional actors at work in this room. Next door, the Guild Chapel hides one of the most remarkable rediscoveries in English medieval art: a vast Doom painting, whitewashed over on the orders of Shakespeare's own father, now conserved and back on view.
Top things to do at Guild Chapel & Shakespeare's Schoolroom
Sit in the schoolroom
You can take a place at the desks in the room where Shakespeare was taught, in a school that has been running continuously since the 15th century and still teaches pupils today.
Try a Tudor lesson
A costumed schoolmaster runs short Tudor lessons through the day — Latin, rhetoric and the threat of the birch. It is funnier and better done than it sounds.
See the Guildhall itself
The great timber-framed hall downstairs is where the corporation met and where travelling players performed. Standing in it does more for the imagination than any exhibition.
Find the Doom painting
In the Guild Chapel next door, the Last Judgement painted above the chancel arch was whitewashed in 1563 by John Shakespeare in his role as town chamberlain — and has now been painstakingly uncovered.
How to get to Guild Chapel & Shakespeare's Schoolroom
- Church Street, at the southern end of the town centre, two minutes' walk from New Place and Chapel Street.
- Five minutes from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and eight from Henley Street.
- On the route of every guided walking tour in Stratford.
Insider tips
- This is the least crowded of the major Stratford attractions and one of the most rewarding — do not leave it to last.
- The chapel is separately run and often free to enter; check whether the Doom painting is open before you go.
- Great for children over about seven, who tend to enjoy the Tudor lesson more than the house interiors.
- Combine with New Place across the road and Hall's Croft down the hill for the best hour in Old Town.
