File:Hall's Croft, Old Town, Stratford-upon-Avon (4965447352).jpg

Was heading towards the Holy Trinity Church when I saw another part of the Shakespeare heritage - Hall's Croft.

This house was home to Doctor John Hall, The Stratford Physician. He was a General Practitioner in the Town from 1600 until his death in 1635. He married Shakespeare's eldest daughter Susanna in 1607.

The house is run by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

It is a Grade I listed building.

Town house now museum and club and attached wall. Early C16 with c1600 addition to right; C19 and C20 alterations and 1920s and 1950s restorations. Timber-frame with plaster infill on coursed rubble plinth; tile roof with stone and brick stacks. 3-unit plus cross-wing plan. 2 storeys with attic; 4-window range. Left half has jettied 1st floor with 2 gables, the right half has gable to right. Entrance to left of centre has studded and battened door with overlight. Wooden-mullioned windows: 4-light window to left of entrance and small 2-light window to right; right end has 2-storey canted bay window with dentilled cornice and 1:3:1-light windows; 1st floor has 3-light ovolo-mullioned window flanked by 4-light windows and 2-light window to right; gables to left have 3-light windows. Large cross-axial stack has 4 clustered and attached brick shafts. Left end has close studding with square framing to 1st floor; right end has storey-height posts with middle rail. C20 timber gutters and lead rainwater heads and downspouts. Right return has single-storey addition with flat-roofed projection to front which has entrance with battened door; return has segmental-headed windows with 8:16:8-pane sashes, and 2-storey timber-framed wing to rear; entrance has studded and battened door with strap hinges. Rear has right end as to front, with varied mullioned fenestration; wing to left has storey-height posts; re-entrant block has gable to each side and paired mullioned windows, entrance to angle with plank door. Large axial stack to left end, and stack to left of right end gable with diagonal brick shafts. INTERIOR: heavy chamfered beams and joists; ground floor has flagged floors. Hall has stone fireplace with Tudor arch in square-headed architrave, battened door to room to left, which has similar fireplace; room to right end has stone fireplace and C17 panelling with entablature; open-well staircase to rear wing has simply turned balusters, dentilled handrail and string, and square baluster-form newels with finials; rear kitchen has large elliptical-headed fireplace with fan-spit and battened doors. 1st floor has right end room with barrel vaulted ceiling and Tudor-arched fireplace; room to left, formerly ?3, has 2 similar fireplaces. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached wall extends approx 43.5m to left along Old Town; coursed rubble with brick coping, paired gates with timber gatepiers to right end attached to house. HISTORICAL NOTE: formerly the home of John Hall, 1575-1635, an eminent local physician, and his wife Susanna Shakespeare, 1583-1649, from their marriage in 1607 until they moved to New Place after her father William Shakespeare's death in 1616; it was bought by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 1949 and opened to the public; part is used by the Festival Club. (VCH (offprint): Styles P: The Borough of Stratford-upon-Avon and the Parish of Alveston: London: 1946-: 15-6; Fox L: Hall's Croft: Norwich: 1981-).

<a href="http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=366336&resourceID=5" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Hall's Croft, Stratford - Heritage Gateway</a>