River Avon, Stratford.
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre overlooking the River Avon.
Travelling back from Tardebigge, where we were yesterday, we came back through Stratford, to take a look at the navigations there. There is the Stratford Canal, which comes down from the Midlands to join the River Avon.
Today’s photograph of the River Avon, Stratford, is a fairly standard view, looking towards the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. The current theatre dates back to 1932, replacing the previous one (built 1879) destroyed by fire in 1926. It is a Grade II* listed building.
The Stratford Canal was restored and subsequently reopened in 1964. It was one of the first canal restoration schemes. This connects to the river just to the right of this picture.
The River Avon, Stratford, was also one of the early restoration schemes. The upper part had become unnavigable by 1877, the lower part had fallen into disrepair, but was not necessarily completely unnavigable. Restoration began in 1950, with the final return to full navigation in 1974, marked by a ceremonial reopening by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
Interestingly, the word “Avon” comes from the Celtic “Abona”, which means… “River”! In effect, therefore, this is the River River.
Photograph Details
- Taken: 14 Mar 2017
- Camera: Canon 5D MkIII
- Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm 1:2.8 L II USM
- Focal Length 24mm
- F/5.6
- 1/400 Sec
- ISO 100