The Centre of Archaeology was commissioned in July 2017 by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust to undertake a Heritage Impact Assessment of the land surrounding Anne Hathaway's Cottage, Shottery, Warwickshire (NGR SK 1854 4474). The assessment comprised a search of the readily accessible documentary and historic cartographic sources from the Warwickshire Historic Environment Record, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust archives and information obtained from online archaeological catalogues. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has put together plans to redevelop the land immediately to the west and south of Anne Hathaway's Cottage. The plans involve the proposed construction of a new visitor centre, coach and car park and field path approach(s) to the cottage. A relief road is to be constructed to the west of site and vehicular access to the proposed site is planned via a roundabout to the southwest. This relief road is to be constructed as part of a wider approved housing scheme, which is proposed for development in fields to the northwest and south of Anne Hathaway's Cottage and gardens. The proposed development sits within an area of archaeological potential. Based upon recent archaeological investigations in the immediate vicinity in 2014, 2015 and 2016, future groundworks across the proposed development area have the potential to expose dispersed and ephemeral prehistoric funerary remains, Roman field boundaries and outlying Roman, Anglo-Saxon and medieval settlement features. These are likely to be of a similar nature to those exposed elsewhere. The historic environment record registers a significant number of events, monuments and listed buildings within the wider study area. The largest representation in the archaeological record is that of prehistoric and Roman features, as identified in recent archaeological investigations, this is despite known historical evidence that Shottery was in existence in the Anglo-Saxon period, becoming established as a deliberately laid out settlement in the medieval period. The majority of the extant listed buildings around Shottery date to the post-medieval period, the obvious exception to this being Anne Hathaway's Cottage which his 15th century in origin. None of these recorded monuments, events and listed buildings exist within the proposed development itself. The proposed development lies within the setting of Anne Hathaway's Cottage, a Grade I listed building and the impact on setting is therefore a key issue. In general, the construction of the proposed visitor centre and its associated coach and car parking would not greatly influence the setting of the nearby listed Anne Hathaway's Cottage and gardens. Any impact is offset by the benefits of creating improved parking areas, minimising traffic past the Cottage and re-designing the visitor experience.
William Mitchell (Sun,) studied this question.