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Shakespeare's Lost Interiors

Inventory of Thomas Dixon alias Waterman

'There take an inventory of all I have'

Henry VIII (Act III, scene 2)

 

This probate inventory belonged to Thomas Dixon, alias Waterman, who was an innkeeper in Stratford. It was transcribed and published by the famous Shakespeare scholar J.O.Halliwell-Phillipps between 1862 and 1864. This document provides a record of the objects found in Thomas’ inn and house at the time of his death in 1603. It is one of the most detailed inventories we have from early modern Stratford. Importantly, it sheds light on the type of goods people were investing in during the period Shakespeare lived at New Place. The ‘ten yardes of waynscote’ listed ‘in the hall’, for instance, suggests that wood panelling was used to decorate this room. 

Inventories provide a useful starting point when studying early modern furnishings. They contained lists of personal possessions and household goods usually taken upon a person’s death. Items were often (but not always) grouped according to room or type. In this way, inventories help us to understand what sort of items filled early modern homes.