'Action is eloquence'
Friends of Shakespeare's church seek help to save history
The Times Herald Record, Middleton NY
The grave of William Shakespeare near the altar inside Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Stratford upon Avon, England Thursday Jan 11, 2007. The church in which William Shakespeare is buried is in need of some 2.5 million pounds (US$ 4.7 million) worth of repairs, notably to the 14th century tower and the 18th century spire.
(AP Photo / Alastair Grant)
Adopt a gargoyle. Sponsor a spire.
It could help save the 800-year-old Holy Trinity Church, where William Shakespeare was baptized and where he lies buried with his wife, Anne Hathaway, in stratford-upon-avon, England.
Church officials hope fans of the Bard around the world will help raise $6.3 million needed to repair a cracked spire, broken windows and eroding bricks — and address damage from years of dry rot and the death watch beetle.
"It's absolutely desperate," said Josephine Walker of the Friends of Shakespeare's Church, which is in charge of fundraising. "It's raining, and as we speak, rain is pouring in through the clerestory windows."
It's a common story in the parishes of England, where hundreds of medieval churches need frequent loving care. The Church of England estimates some $680 million worth of repairs is under way or urgently needed, and few of the crumbling churches have connections to anyone as famous as Shakespeare.
The Friends of Shakespeare's Church already has an American fundraising arm — but church officials are concerned by the drop in Britain's tourist numbers following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as well as the July 7, 2005, suicide assault on London's transit system and more recent terrorism alerts. The number of U.S. tourists fell 13 percent from 2000-05, when 4.2 million Americans visited Britain, according to government figures.
Catherine Penn, one of the trustees of the Friends, said urgent work had been done to repair the crumbling parapet, but donations from tourists have dropped for other repairs at the church, in Stratford-upon-Avon, 120 miles northwest of London.
She urged supporters to "sponsor a gargoyle" to help the fund.
Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity April 26, 1564, and the church's burial register lists him as "Gulielimus, filius Johannes Shakspeare" (William, son of John Shakespeare).
After a career writing and staging his plays in London, Shakespeare retired to Stratford in 1611, and was buried in the chancel — an area near the altar — on April 25, 1616, two days after his death.
Some 100,000 people visit Holy Trinity every year to view his resting place, with its inscription, "Will Shakspeare, Gent." The memorial was erected a few years after his death, and the plump-looking likeness on the gravestone is considered a good one.
"People say he looks like a well-fed pork butcher," said church warden Bill Hicks.
Shakespeare's prominent burial spot was not in honor of his supreme literary skill, but because in 1605 he bought privileges in the church that, among other things, obliged him to keep the chancel in good repair. But within a few years of his death, the structure was in danger of becoming one of the "bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang," mentioned in Shakespeare's Sonnet 73.
Church officials say repairs now are needed to the spire, the chancel, the north and south aisles, and the north and south transepts.
On the north transept, the orange stone buttresses are badly weathered and stained-glass windows are decaying. Stone on the south transept — which is missing a cross — is similarly weathered and shows signs of dampness.
"It's a wonderful place with a wonderful heritage," said the Rev. Martin Gorick, the church vicar. "For 800 years this has been a meeting place, and we want to keep it that way."
And just in case anyone might think of moving his remains, Shakespeare's gravestone offers a curse, written by the Bard himself.
"Good frend, for Iesus sake, forbeare
To digg the dyst encloased heare
Bleste be ye (the) man (who) spares thes stones
And curst be he (who) moves my bones."
www.shakespeareschurch.org
