Literary London

Where the books were written, set, sold, printed and buried: from the Globe to the graves, the bookshops to the presses.

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Stratford-upon-Avon, by train from Marylebone

The Shakespeare town itself, reachable in a day from Marylebone: the house he was born in, the church he is buried in, and his company's theatre on the river.

Day trip: train from MaryleboneShakespeareWriters' housesGravesGo inside

The trains from Marylebone arrive a few streets from Henley Street, where the half-timbered house Shakespeare was born in in 1564 has been shown to visitors since the 1840s; the Birthplace Trust also keeps New Place, the site of the house he bought when he was rich, Hall's Croft, his daughter's home, and Anne Hathaway's thatched farmhouse at Shottery, a walk across the fields. Holy Trinity, by the Avon, has his grave in the chancel under the curse against anyone who moves his bones, and the Royal Shakespeare Company plays his work on the riverbank in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the Swan most nights of the year. A day gives the town; a matinee makes it.

Where
Chiltern Railways from London Marylebone, NW1 6JJ

Trains from Marylebone daily; advance fares from £6.40

Some services change at Leamington Spa. The Birthplace, the houses and the theatres keep their own hours.

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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