The amateur Stamford Shakespeare Company was founded in 1968 by Jean Harley, the present Artistic Director, with a performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in the Monastery Garden of the town's historic George Hotel. It was under the auspices of the Stamford Arts Centre Committee in aid of the proposed new Arts Centre and restoration of the Georgian Theatre in St Mary's Street.

In 1971, with the arts centre programme well under way the theatre group became independent and was named for the first time, the Stamford Shakespeare Company.

Open air Shakespeare plays continued at The George for nine years until the last performance in 1976. The hotel could no longer accommodate the summer open air theatre because of building work including a new car park and in August, 1976 the company had to look for another location.

By chance,Tolethorpe Hall came on the market in a near derelict state early in 1977 and it was acquired by the Stamford Shakespeare Company with the help of a generous private loan later repaid. The main interest was a natural amphitheatre in the grounds which was quickly converted into a concrete stepped, raked auditorium covered by a temporary canvas canopy. The first season opened May, 1977. with performances of 'Macbeth" and "The Taming of the Shrew".

The canvas canopy, erected and taken down each
year for 16 years covered a 400 seat auditorium.
It was replaced in 1993 with a permanent high tensile canopy.

There were no great ambitions and the only objective was to continue performing open air Shakespeare for local audiences. But after nine years, in 1985, the cost of restoring and maintaining the historic hall and the need for improvements to meet regulations made it necessary to find more income. The only solution was to increase the number of performances and attract bigger audiences.

The decision was taken in 1985 to extend publicity into all the surrounding counties and further afield. From then onwards audiences increased each year from less than 6,000 in 1985 to 32,000 in 1993 and 34,000 in 1994. It had evolved from a local to a regional and eventually to a nationally-known theatre.

The canvas canopy protecting the 400-seat auditorium from summer showers was erected and taken down each season for 16 years. In 1993 it was replaced by a permanent, high tensile fabric canopy of similar material to that used seven years later for London's millennium dome. Seating was increased to 600 increasing income needed to meet the cost of productions, publicity and site improvements.

Roof of the new high tensile fabric canopy, covering 600 seats, was erected in 1983.
It is the only theatre structure of its kind in Europe.

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Another landmark came two years later in 1995 when the Arts Council of England made available a National Lottery Grant of £490,000 for improvements costing £700,000 for which the company was able to provide 25% over a four year period to qualify for the grant.

Lottery grant improvements included a new toilet block, new theatre seating, a new backstage workshop and store, the enlargement of a theatre restaurant and winter rehearsal room, an orangery extension to the hall used as a functions and rehearsal room, and the rebuilding of the collapsed upper floor of the west wing for a new wardrobe room. The orangery is also used for interval coffee.

The increased accommodation made it possible for the company to establish in 2001 the now highly successful Tolethorpe Youth Drama school for young people on Saturday mornings. The orangery also provides a studio for the Welland Valley Arts Society's portrait group one day a week, and is used by other local organisations for meetings and lunches out of the theatre season.

Tolethorpe Hall after the completion of most of the restoration
work and the addition of an orangery in 1997.

1000 Year History of Tolethorpe

The origins of Tolethorpe Hall go back to the late 11th century. It overlooks classic English parkland and the Rutland village of Little Casterton just two miles north of Stamford, five minutes off the A1, and 92 miles north of London.

The countryside of Tolethorpe has changed little in 1000 years. The first recorded settlement was that of Toli, the Dane in 800 who gave his name to the site. For 800 years from around 1088 until 1839 it was the home of three distinguished dynasties, the de Tolethorpe (1088 - 1316), the Burton (1316-1503) and the Browne (1503 - 1839) families. The de Tolethorpes were a Norman family who came over after the 1066 Norman Conquest of England. They built the first manor house on the site. The Burtons and the Brownes held positions of high office including early Members of Parliament and High Sheriffs of Rutland. The Burtons also fought in France in the armies of Edward III, Richard II and Henry VI. Sir William Burton was standard bearer to Henry VI and Francis Browne was a Member of Parliament for Stamford in 1509 and a courtier of Henry VIII.

Tolethorpe Hall, 1684, an illustration from Wright's
"The History and Antiquities of Rutland, 1684"
Showing its small medieval windows later replaced during a Victorian restoration.

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The American Connection

Tolethorpe was the birthplace, circa 1555, of Robert Browne who became the leading and most active campaigner for the Separatist movement seeking a separate church from the church of England at the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Also known as the Brownists, Shakespeare referred to the movement in a line in "Twelfth Night" of Sir Andrew Aguecheeck: "I would as lief be a Brownist as a politician".

It was Browne's followers, mainly from Lincolnshire and East Nottinghamshire, who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 to become the Pilgrim Fathers of America. Their first harvest is commemorated on Thanksgiving Day. Browne could be said to be the Father of the Pilgrim Fathers linking his is home, Tolethorpe Hall, with the birth of America. Descendents of the Browne family of Tolethorpe were among the pioneers of the early days of America, especially in Baltimore, Maryland, and Watertown, near Boston, Massachusetts. The names of two of them, Richard and Abraham, Puritans who arrived with Wintrop's fleet in 1630,are recorded on the monument to the pioneers at Watertown. Browne's son, Edward, was one of Lord Baltimore's gentlemen who surveyed Baltimore and the State of Maryland.

The oldest house in America, preserved and open to the public was built in 1698 at Watertown by Abraham Browne, the grandson of the early pioneer, mentioned above. The first shot in the American Revolution which drew British blood was fired by Solomon Browne on Lexington Green in 1775.

The last member of the Browne family to live at Tolethorpe Hall was Countess Mary Pomfret who, died childless in 1839. It was the end of 300 years of the Browne dynasty at Tolethorpe.

The Abraham Brown House, the oldest house in America, built in 1968 by Abraham Browne at Waterton, near Boston. It replaced an earlier house built by his grandfather, also Abraham, but destroyed by fire.

In the 1850s, Tolethorpe Hall was acquired by a wealthy banker, Charles Ormiston Eaton, whose private bank was eventually acquired by Barclays Bank at the end of the 19th century. Charles Eaton undertook a major restoration of the historic hall in the 1860s adding bay windows to the two wings and landscaping the gardens.

The Eaton family owned Tolethorpe Hall until 1967 when it was sold with 68 acres. The estate included the historic Tolethorpe Mill, the Dower Cottage, the Victorian Lodge. The new owner sold it off in lots leaving the Hall and coach house with seven acres. The coach house was later sold off as a private dwelling. Tolethorpe Hall Hall was acquired by the Stamford Shakespeare Company in 1977 in a near derelict condition.

The condition of Tolethorpe Hall in 1977, when acquired by
the amateur Stamford Shakespeare Company.

The hall with seven acres of overgrown grounds had been neglected for nine years.
The hall was near derelict. The roof of the west wing had collapsed
and holes in the remaining roof area had let rain in.

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