Shakespeare family home damaged as car backs into it

A Grade I-listed building once home to a member of William Shakespeare’s family has been damaged by a car reversing into it.

Hall’s Croft in Stratford-upon-Avon was damaged on Friday morning after the car backed into it, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust said.

The “remarkable” 17th century building, once home to the bard’s daughter Susanna and her husband John Hall, was already undergoing a significant conservation project to help preserve it. It would now be assessed for repairs with experts.

“Every incident like this reminds us how vulnerable our shared heritage is,” the trust said.

The trust takes care of several of William Shakespeare’s family homes in the town and runs visitor and exhibition centres.

It has appealed for donations to help repair Hall’s Croft as rising conservation costs and a shortage of skilled craftspeople made it “ever harder” to protect buildings.

According to the trust the main part of the timbered building was built in 1613. For most of its history, it was the home of prosperous, professional people and in the mid-1800s it served as a small school.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust bought in 1949 and, after substantial repairs and alterations, opened it to the public in 1951.