Hamlet Street (Stratford)

Stratford’s Hamlet Street runs from Pembroke Road to Warwick Road, with King Edward Park dividing the thoroughfare in two. These sections were long known as Hamlet Street North and Hamlet Street South.

One of more than 60 Shakespearean street names in Stratford, Hamlet Street honours the Bard’s most famous character. The Prince of Denmark is the star of Shakespeare’s longest play and has been portrayed by actors ranging from Laurence Olivier to Mel Gibson. Many of the tragedy’s famous phrases have entered common speech, including “cruel to be kind” and “method in the madness”, and there are over 50 film versions.

The northern end of Hamlet Street was for many years home to Stratford’s dump, with frequent complaints from locals about the smell of rotting rubbish. Residents also began petitioning Stratford Borough Council in 1918 to fund a footpath along their street, which they claimed “had been more neglected” than any other in town. The road “had only a pit-gravel surface, which in wet weather became water-logged” and formed small lakes. Sadly, letters to the Stratford Evening Post in 1921 were still complaining that houses along Hamlet Street South “have no access by footpath” with the allegation that “the policy of the Council seems to have been to neglect the out-lying streets and spend every penny on Broadway”.

In 1919, members of the Avon Bowling Club offered to supply “4000 yards of clay” to fill a large gully on Hamlet Street North, between Regan and Seyton Streets, “in order to make the street available for vehicles”. However, the council voted against the motion and the dangerous gully was only fenced off in 1924. Teams of unemployed men were eventually used to grade and metal Hamlet Street during the Great Depression, with the infamous gully finally replaced by “a fine, practically level street”.

Percy Thomson (1884-1962) held regular charitable fundraising parties at his famous gardens on Hamlet Street South. As Mayor of Stratford between 1929-1933 and 1938-1947, Thomson often hosted distinguished visitors at his home where they admired his extensive grounds. Thomson donated many oak trees for planting to beautify Stratford, including along Hamlet Street on Arbor Day in August 1923.

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.