Upper Avon, river: see Avon 3, river, England.

Stratford-on-Avon, town (1991 pop. 20,941) and district, Warwickshire, central England, on the Avon River. A market town with light industries, Stratford owes its fame to its associations with William Shakespeare. A gabled building on Henley St., believed to be the poet's birthplace, is open to the public. The site of the home he purchased in 1597, and where he died in 1616, is marked (the building having been torn down in 1759). His grave is beside that of his wife, Anne Hathaway (whose home, "Anne Hathaway's Cottage," is near Stratford), in the old Church of the Holy Trinity. The church has a bust and memorial to the poet and a stained-glass window (given by Americans in 1885) depicting Shakespeare's "seven ages of man."

The town's principal memorial is the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, where annual Shakespeare festivals are held. The first theater, built in the late 19th cent., was destroyed by fire in 1926, but the attached gallery, library, and museum were saved. The current theater was dedicated as the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1932. The Royal Shakespeare Company operates several venues in Stratford, including the Swan Theatre.

Most of the structures and places in Stratford connected with the life of Shakespeare were acquired by the nation in the 19th cent. Edward VI's Grammar School, which Shakespeare may have attended, is national property. Shakespeare scholars from all over the world attend the Shakespeare Institute of the Univ. of Birmingham. In 1964 the Shakespeare Centre was established on Henley St. in Stratford.

Lower Avon, river: see Avon 1, river, England.

Eden, Anthony, 1st earl of Avon, 1897-1977, British statesman. After service in World War I he attended Oxford and entered (1923) Parliament as a Conservative. He soon made his mark as a champion of peace, internationalism, and the League of Nations and was made lord privy seal (1934-35) and "traveling ambassador." He served (1935) as British minister for League affairs and became foreign minister in 1935. He resigned in Feb., 1938, because of his opposition to Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement of the Axis powers, but at the beginning (1939) of World War II he was called back to the cabinet as secretary of state for dominion affairs. After Winston Churchill became (May, 1940) prime minister, Eden was briefly secretary of war before returning to the foreign office in Dec., 1940. He was instrumental in concluding the wartime Anglo-Soviet Alliance and in establishing the United Nations. He remained in Parliament under the Labour government of 1945-51, and with the Conservative victory of 1951 he returned once more to the foreign office. As chairman of the 1954 Geneva Conference, he helped to negotiate a temporary settlement of the conflict in Indochina. He was knighted in 1954 and became prime minister upon Churchill's resignation in 1955. Eden's decision to use armed intervention in the Suez Canal crisis of 1956 provoked great controversy. His health collapsed, and he resigned in Jan., 1957. He was raised to the peerage as earl of Avon in 1961.

East Avon, river: see Avon 2, river, England.

Bristol Avon: see Avon 1, England.

Avon, 1st earl of: see Eden, Anthony, 1st earl of Avon.

Avon Lake, city (1990 pop. 15,066), Lorain co., NE Ohio, on Lake Erie; inc. 1917. It is chiefly a residential suburb of the Cleveland-NE Ohio industrial area. The city has an electric power plant; automobiles are assembled and factories produce plastics and aluminum castings. Several beaches are there.

Avon, former county, SW England, bordering the Severn estuary and the Bristol Channel. Created in 1974 from S Gloucestershire, Bristol, and N Somerset. it was dissolved in 1996 into four unitary authorities: South Gloucestershire, Bristol, North Somerset, and Bath and North East Somerset.

Avon [Celtic,=river], name of several rivers in England. 1 Also called Bristol Avon or Lower Avon, rising in SW England at Tetbury, Gloucestershire, and flowing 75 mi (121 km) E, S, and then NW through Bath and Bristol to the Severn River at Avonmouth. It is navigable for large vessels to Bristol, an important port. 2 Also called East Avon, rising at Devizes, Wiltshire, S England, and flowing 48 mi (77 km) S past Salisbury to the English Channel at Christchurch. It is navigable for small craft below Salisbury. 3 Also called Upper Avon, the most famous of the Avon rivers, sometimes known as Shakespeare's Avon. It rises near Naseby, Northamptonshire, S central England, and flows 96 mi (154 km) SW to the Severn River near Tewkesbury, passing Rugby, Warwick, and Stratford-on-Avon.

or Lower Avon

River, southwestern England. Rising in Gloucestershire, it flows 75 mi (121 km) southwest through Bristol and into the Bristol Channel at Avonmouth, Bristol's port. Below Bristol it has cut through a limestone ridge to form Clifton Gorge, noted for its suspension bridge.

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Town (pop., 2001: 22,187), Warwickshire, England. It is located on the River Avon. The town's first royal charter was granted in 1553. For centuries it was a country market town, but it became a tourist centre because of its association with William Shakespeare, who was born and died there; his grave is in the parish church of Holy Trinity. The Shakespeare Centre in Stratford includes a library and an art gallery (opened 1881) and a theatre (opened 1932). Every year from March until October, Shakespeare's plays are performed in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

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or Lower Avon

River, southwestern England. Rising in Gloucestershire, it flows 75 mi (121 km) southwest through Bristol and into the Bristol Channel at Avonmouth, Bristol's port. Below Bristol it has cut through a limestone ridge to form Clifton Gorge, noted for its suspension bridge.

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