We visited Warwickshire for the first time at Easter and when I blogged about it Debbie at ExUrbanis commented that she had had relatives who had lived in Warwickshire years ago and she mentioned Temple Grafton. Well I had never heard of the place but when I looked it up I realised that it was just four miles away from where we had been staying, the small town of Alcester. I told Debbie that the next time we were in that area I’d take some photos, and here are some of them.

Temple Grafton is a tiny place, but absolutely ancient, it’s mentioned in records as far back as 710, it does have a few modern houses but there are also thatched ones, like the ones below. They are leaning and bulging every way you can think but, it’s quite something to think that William Shakespeare might actually have been in these houses as this was the village where he ‘courted’ Ann Hathaway and it’s thought they got married in the church here. Although I think that to say that he courted her might be just a touch too romantic as they obviously weren’t your typical love’s young dream couple as Ann was so much older than William and was pregnant. Methinks she took advantage of the poor lad!

This is the very church, St Andrew’s – it’s big for such a small place but of course there might have been a lot more houses way back in Shakespeare’s time.

The photo below is of the front view and gateway, it’s really a very pretty church and it has quite a lot of gravestones in the churchyard, I walked around checking them all for names linked with Debbie’s family but didn’t find any.

This photo is of the First World War Memorial which is situated just to the left when you walk through the church gateway. Not many names really but no doubt each one was a disaster for the family involved.

This is a close up of the names, just in case anyone is interested in such things. I’m sure you will be Debbie, there are two Odells on it and they were in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment so you’ll be able to look them up in military records.

I still have a few more photos of buildings in Temple Grafton but I’ll keep them for tomorrow, or I should say – later today as it’s almost 2 o’clock in the morning.