In 1597, at thirty-three and newly wealthy from the London theatres, Shakespeare bought New Place — the second-largest house in Stratford, with ten fireplaces and its own barns and orchards. He lived here as a prosperous gentleman for the last nineteen years of his life, and he died here in April 1616. It was, by any measure, the house of a man who had won.
The building itself was demolished in 1759 by an owner tired of tourists. What stands on the site today is something more unusual than another restored interior: a contemporary garden that traces the footprint of the vanished house in bronze and stone, threaded with commissioned artworks responding to the plays, and set against the medieval Guild Chapel next door. It is thoughtful, quiet, and the best place in Stratford to think about the man rather than the myth.
Top things to do at Shakespeare's New Place
Walk the footprint of the house
The outline of the demolished mansion is marked in the garden, so you can stand in the room where Shakespeare died and see just how large a property his London success bought him.
Find the commissioned artworks
Bronze sculptures scattered through the garden respond to individual plays — a table of vanished guests, a tree hung with the fruits of the comedies — and reward slow looking.
See the archaeology and the exhibition
Excavations recovered the foundations, the well and fragments of the household. The exhibition in the adjoining Nash's House sets out what was found and what it tells us about how Shakespeare actually lived.
Sit in the Great Garden
Behind the house site lies a walled garden with an ancient mulberry said to descend from one Shakespeare planted. It is one of the few genuinely peaceful corners in the town centre.
How to get to Shakespeare's New Place
- Chapel Street, in the middle of town — two minutes from the Birthplace and one minute from the Guild Chapel.
- Every walking tour in Stratford stops outside, and the hop-on hop-off bus stops on Bridge Street, 250 metres away.
- From the railway station it is a level 12-minute walk via Greenhill Street and Wood Street.
Insider tips
- This is the quietest of the town-centre Shakespeare sites — a good choice at 11:00 when the Birthplace is at its busiest.
- Combine it with the Guild Chapel next door and Hall’s Croft a few minutes down Church Street for a very good hour of Old Town.
- Almost everything is outdoors, so save it for a dry spell and swap in Tudor World or the Schoolroom if it rains.
- The mulberry tree and the Great Garden are past the exhibition — many visitors turn back too early and miss them.
