Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has placed Hall’s Croft on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, signalling the “substantial conservation challenge” the 17th-century building faces.
The property made headlines last October when a vehicle accidentally reversed into its side, damaging several timbers and exposing the oldest parts of the house interior to the elements. No one was hurt in the incident.
Hall’s Croft, which was once the home of Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna and her husband John Hall, was on the verge of collapse when it was taken into custodianship in the late 1940s. Its popularity with visitors placed stress on its ancient timbers and it has remained closed for conservation work to its lower floors since 2020.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is currently undertaking an initial programme of conservation work to stabilise the building and remove temporary steel supports installed in 2012. This phase of work, due for completion in October 2026, is largely funded by a £1m donation from the playwright and philanthropist Ken Ludwig.
Once this stabilisation phase is complete, the trust will move to develop a larger multi-year conservation programme, which includes major work to the building’s façades, replacement of the roof and significant intervention to the interior.
This programme of works, which could cost as much as £10m, will “only be achievable through substantial external funding from institutional funders, philanthropists, and partners”, the charity said in a statement,
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Rachael North, chief executive of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said: “Hall’s Croft is a building of exceptional historical importance, and its condition demands a serious and sustained response. Inclusion on the Heritage at Risk Register is an important and necessary step. It allows us to be transparent about the challenges we face and to begin building the partnerships required to secure the building’s future.”
Deborah Williams, regional director of the Midlands at Historic England, added: “Halls Croft is an internationally significant building and adding it to the Heritage at Risk Register is a positive first step in helping bring the building back into use.
“I know that Shakespeare Birthplace Trust take their role as custodians of this shared history very seriously and they understand that being added to the At Risk Register is the first step on the journey to be removed from it.”