The New Murrey and Blue blog

Whenever I see a reference to Shakespeare’s Dark Lady, I can’t help thinking of George Harrison’s Dark Sweet Lady. (Go here Bing Videos if you wish to hear it.) There’s no connection at all, of course, except for the title!  

What caused me to make the above comment? Why this article The mystery of Shakespeare’s ‘Dark Lady’ tied to Wem country house | Whitchurch Herald about Soulton Hall, Wem in Shropshire.

It’s always exciting when diligent research turns up something new, as witness the stir that has been caused by Philippa Langley’s work on he missing princes in the Tower. Events around Soulton Hall in Wem may not be in quite the same league, but are important all the same.

There has long been a mystery around Shakespeare’s Dark Lady, for example here Has Shakespeare’s dark lady finally been revealed? (telegraph.co.uk, but in countless other places on the internet. However, as far as I knew she has never been connected with Wem in Shropshire. I’m confessing ignorance here, because there may indeed have been such a link before, but for my purposes now, I’m concentrating on the Whitchurch Herald link above.

The present owner of Soulton Hall  in Wem, has unearthed compelling evidence that connects the Bard with not only the town, but with the hall itself. “….Tim Ashton of Soulton Hall has completed detailed research into these links, and has suggested that some historians associate Elizabeth Wriothesley of Hodnet and the ‘scandalising circumstances of her marriage’ with the Dark Lady of the sonnets….” This lady has, it seems also been suggested a the original of Juliet Capulet.

The Bard’s As You Like It is said to have been based on a “….1590 text called Rosalynde written by Thomas Jodge Jr – whose family held the manor of Soulton….”

There is more in the article, including a reference in Richard III, concerning where the treacherous 2nd Duke of Buckingham was arrested. And now “….Helen Morgan MP for North Shropshire has joined the All Party Parliamentary Group for Shakespeare after the breakthrough….”

So it’s a case of Watch This Space. Research such as this might—just might—turn up something new about Buckingham. Maybe even about Richard. I’m not suggesting that it will, but one can but hope.

The hall is now a hotel English Country House Hotel near Shrewsbury – Shropshire Accommodation (soultonhall.co.uk) so if you fancy soaking up the atmosphere for yourself, you can. There is also an interesting and well illustrated article here Soulton Hall – Wikipedia.