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Trent Severn Waterway Locks, Ontario, Shakespeare's Sonnets, Kensington Pottery and Anne Hathaway's Cottage

Last month I visited Lock 15 Healey Falls near Havelock/Campbellford Ontario. It was fascinating to learn about the history and how the locks work. Did you know that donkeys helped build the waterway!?!

After our educational time with the Lockmasters, we ventured onto gravel roads and came upon a yard sale at a house that backed right onto the Trent Severn. Sitting on one of the folding tables was a platter of a 'lock' !!! I had to have it! 

And this vintage platter (I paid $10) had further meaning.  I've been digging into my ancestors from the UK and this platter had a wonderful story. The pictorial was a famous place in England:  Anne Hathaway's Cottage. Writers, poets and potters, you will appreciate this.

The Trent–Severn Waterway is a 386-kilometre-long (240 mi) canal route connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn. Its major natural waterways include the Trent River, Otonabee River, Kawartha Lakes, Lake Simcoe, Lake Couchiching and Severn River. Its scenic, meandering route has been called "one of the finest interconnected systems of navigation in the world".

The canal was surveyed as a military route, but the first lock was built in 1833 as a commercial venture. This connected a number of lakes and rivers near the centre of the waterway, opening a large area to navigation by steamship. The government had begun construction of three additional locks when the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 broke out. This led the government to re-examine the project, concluding that the route would have too many locks to allow rapid movement for military purposes. They decided that the locks under construction would be completed, but the rest could be turned into timber slides. This left the completed inland section with no outlet, which business interests addressed by connecting to the route with a number of new toll roads, plank roads, and later, railways.

John A. Macdonald's government restarted construction in the 1880s, adding a number of new locks and pushing the route westward before construction once again halted. For many years after this, the canal was used as a political tool to garner votes from areas along the route, with little construction being carried out. It was not until just before the turn of the century that a number of political changes built up incredible pressure on Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals and serious work started once again. The canal reached Peterborough and Lake Simcoe in 1904. The final sections were greatly delayed by World War I, with the link to Trenton opening in 1918, followed by the link to Georgian Bay in early 1920. The first complete transit of the waterway was made in July of that year.

By the time the route was completed, its usefulness as a commercial waterway was over; ships plying the Great Lakes had grown much larger than the canal could handle, and the railways that had connected to the canal now took most of its freight. But the introduction of motor boats found the Trent–Severn perfectly positioned as a pleasure boating route, and today it is one of Ontario's major tourist attractions. Its passage through cottage country, both Muskoka in the west and the Kawarthas in the east, draws thousands of visitors every year. It also forms a major portion of the Great Loop. Today it is officially organized as a National Historic Site of Canada linear park operated by Parks Canada. It is open for navigation from May until October, while its shore lands and bridges are open year-round.

William Shakespeare (c. 23 April 1564– 23 April 1616)was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" or simply "the Bard". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI of Scotland to the English throne.

Stratford upon Avon

Stratford upon Avon is situated on the River Avon in the Heart of England and is the famous birthplace of England’s greatest poet and playwright, William Shakespeare. This market town is a perfect combination of old and new, and with its beautiful surroundings, is a fine place to visit for a relaxing holiday.

There are many places to visit and attractions including; The Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Town Walk - taking you around the historical sites of Stratford, Anne Hathaway’s Cottage - home of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's sweet-heart and wife, Shakespeare’s Birthplace.

 The River Avon (locks) meanders much more than the Severn, it winds on amidst willow trees through small villages Stratford on Avon- Birthplace of William Shakespeare- visit the house where Shakespeare was born and grew up, and Anne Hathaway's Cottage- where the young Shakespeare courted his future wife. There are 5 houses associated with Shakespeare to visit. Royal Shakespeare Theatre- this major British Theatre produces around 20 productions a year , not only from Shakespeare's plays, but also new work from living artists. The Edstone aqueduct is the longest aqueduct in England at 475 feet (145 m), and it is unusual in that the towpath is at the level of the canal bottom

1. Shakespearean (or English) Sonnet:

   • Rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
   • Divided into three quatrains (four-line stanzas) and a final rhymed couplet (two lines).
   • Example: Many of Shakespeare's sonnets, such as Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?").

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

By William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;

Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:

   So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Kensington Pottery Ltd

c.1922–post-1965

Earthenware manufacturer at the Kensington Works, Hanley (1922-1937) and subsequently at Trubshaw Cross, Burslem. Mr. Gerald Wood, the managing director of the Arthur Wood Group acquired a controlling interest in the Kensington Pottery in about 1937, subsequently moving the pottery to the Longport site of Price Bros. (Burslem) Ltd. The two businesses were merged in January 1962 and subsequently operated as Price & Kensington Potteries. (Kensington Pottery Ltd, was still listed as an active member of the Arthur Wood Group in 1965, although not in 1967).

The Kensington Pottery was primarily a manufacturer of fancy earthenware (animal models, figurines, ornamental teapots and novelties), but also produced teapots and general domestic earthenware. The Kensington Pottery Ltd used the trade name ‘Kensington Ware’ and the mark was a Staffordshire knot enclosing the initials ‘KPB’. See the entries for Wood (Arthur Wood & Son (Longport) Ltd) and for the Price & Kensington Potteries Ltd.

About Anne Hathaway’s Cottage

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage in Stratford-upon-Avon is the childhood home of William Shakespeare‘s wife, and the site where they began their early courtship. Today it remains the same wattle-and-daub structure, transporting visitors back in time to Shakespearean England.

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage history

Anne Hathaway is famous for being the wife of William Shakespeare, one of the most well-known playwrights in the history of the English language.

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage was built as a farmhouse in 1463 and initially consisted of just 3 rooms, 2 of which still survive today in the form of the kitchen and parlour. Anne’s grandfather John Hathaway was the first to live there as a tenant sheep farmer, and Anne herself was born there in 1556.

Following her father Richard’s death in 1581, Anne’s brother Bartholomew inherited the farm, expanding it with an upper floor and new chimneys. It is almost certain that the Hathaways knew the Shakespeares and it is likely that the pair spent some time together at the cottage, before in November 1582 Anne and William were married while she was 26 and he 18.

This age difference, alongside the fact that Anne was already pregnant with their child, has caused many to suspect that they had a ‘shotgun wedding’ in order to maintain their honour, however there is little else to suggest this. The pair went on to have 3 children together and following Shakespeare’s retirement in 1613 he moved back to Stratford-upon-Avon to be with Anne.

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage remained in the Hathaway family for 13 generations, until in 1846 financial troubles forced them to sell. In 1892 it was purchased by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, who run it as a museum today.

Anne Hathaway’s Cottage today

Today Anne Hathaway’s Cottage hosts a range of fascinating items and stories to discover. Highlights include a 17th century chair gifted to the Hathaway family by Anne and Shakespeare’s granddaughter, and the ornate Hathaway Bed made between 1580 and 1650.

Outside, the sculpture garden features works inspired by Shakespeare’s most beloved plays, while the Cottage Gardens consist of acres of pleasant orchards and greenery.

The Cottage is also a 10-minute drive to Shakespeare’s Birthplace, where visitors may continue to explore the great playwright’s life.

COPYRIGHT 2007-2025 Patti Friday b.1959.