Is the New Place mulberry Shakespeare's own tree?

Not the tree itself, which was felled in 1756. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust believes the mulberry in the Great Garden grew from a cutting of it, and puts its age at around 270 years. The link is tradition rather than proof.

Can you visit the mulberries?

Yes, both stand in Shakespeare Birthplace Trust gardens with paid entry, New Place on Chapel Street and Hall's Croft near Holy Trinity Church. Check the Trust's site for hours and prices.

When does the New Place mulberry fruit?

In July and August. The Trust harvests the fruit for its New Place Mulberry Gin Liqueur.

What is unusual about the Hall's Croft mulberry?

Its trunk grows almost horizontally through a flower bed. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's blog noted in 2013 that old mulberries tend to lean and split with age.

United Kingdom

Ancient Trees in Stratford-upon-Avon

Stratford-upon-Avon's two old mulberries both grow in gardens of the Shakespeare family. The one at New Place, where the poet's last home stood, is believed to have grown from a cutting of the mulberry he is said to have planted, which was felled in 1756; the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust puts it at around 270 years. The other, in the garden of Hall's Croft, where his daughter Susanna lived, grows almost sideways through a flower bed. Both stand in ticketed Trust gardens a short walk apart in the Old Town.

All 2 trees

The New Place Mulberry

Black Mulberry · 270 years

Shakespeare's own mulberry was cut down in 1756, and this one may be its child. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which looks after the site of his last home at New Place, believes the black mulberry in the Great Garden grew from a cutting of the tree the poet is said to have planted, felled that year by the Reverend Francis Gastrell. Both halves of that sentence are tradition. The Trust says believed, and so do we. The Trust puts the tree at around 270 years old, which fits a cutting taken soon after the felling. Its blog called it, in 2013, a venerable and massive tree still bearing fruit, and it still earns its keep. The Trust harvests the mulberries for a New Place Mulberry Gin Liqueur. The felled tree did not disappear either. Its wood became souvenirs, among them a chair dated 1862 that is said to have been made from it. One tradition ended up as furniture, the other is still growing in the garden where it began. A second, younger mulberry shares the garden, planted by the actor Dame Peggy Ashcroft in 1969. It split in 2013. New Place is ticketed and about ten minutes on foot from Stratford-upon-Avon station.

The Hall's Croft Mulberry

Black Mulberry

The mulberry at Hall's Croft grows sideways. Its trunk runs almost horizontally through a bed of flowers in the garden of the house where Shakespeare's daughter Susanna lived with her husband, the physician John Hall. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which owns the house, wrote in 2013 that once supported it would take on the character of the much older mulberries at New Place. Leaning is what old mulberries do. The same post quotes the Royal Horticultural Society's advice that they lean and split with age. Whether this one has since been given its supports, nobody has published. That 2013 post is the only account of the tree we have found. It does not give its age, its girth or even its species, though black mulberry, the kind at New Place, is the likely answer. Nobody has dated it. If you visit, tell us what you find, how far it leans now, and whether it fruits. It shares the town with the New Place mulberry, which the Trust believes grew from a cutting of Shakespeare's own, a short walk away through the Old Town. Hall's Croft is ticketed, near Holy Trinity Church, about twelve minutes on foot from the station.

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Frequently asked

Is the New Place mulberry Shakespeare's own tree?: Not the tree itself, which was felled in 1756. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust believes the mulberry in the Great Garden grew from a cutting of it, and puts its age at around 270 years. The link is tradition rather than proof.
Can you visit the mulberries?: Yes, both stand in Shakespeare Birthplace Trust gardens with paid entry, New Place on Chapel Street and Hall's Croft near Holy Trinity Church. Check the Trust's site for hours and prices.
When does the New Place mulberry fruit?: In July and August. The Trust harvests the fruit for its New Place Mulberry Gin Liqueur.
What is unusual about the Hall's Croft mulberry?: Its trunk grows almost horizontally through a flower bed. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's blog noted in 2013 that old mulberries tend to lean and split with age.
More like this: One of these trees also appears in The Autumn Harvest.
Ancient trees in nearby cities: Adlestrop · Stow-on-the-Wold · Hawling · Coln Rogers · Painswick · Wolverhampton · Oxford · Kemble · Every city on the map

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