Stratford Armouries [SEP] inception
Stratford Armouries
Stratford Armouries is an Arms and Armour museum on the outskirts of Stratford-upon-Avon. The museum contains the personal arms and armour collection of James Wigington and is open to the public.
History.
The Wigington family arrived in Warwickshire around 1750. In the nineteenth century James's Great Grandfather Thomas Mabbutt was the managing director of the Abingdon Gunworks Company in Birmingham manufacturing Snider, Chassepot and Martini guns. Stratford Armouries was built in 2007 on an site - the former RAF Snitterfield. The museum houses
the Stratford Butterfly Farm, which is on the eastern side of the river and the Bancroft Gardens and Stratford Armouries located three miles () from the centre of Stratford on Gospel Oak Lane.
Each year on 12 October (unless this is a Sunday, in which case 11 October) Stratford hosts one of the largest mop fairs in the country. Ten days later, the smaller Runaway fair is held.
The Guild Chapel, at the intersection of Church Street and Chapel Lane, had a long association with Shakespeare's