Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays and features one of the greatest speeches ever written in English. Now a new film focuses on the boy who could have inspired it: Hamnet.
Based on the eponymous novel by Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet is the fictionalised story of Hamnet Shakespeare, the Shakespeare's only son who died aged 11 – and how their consequent grief may have inspired the celebrated tragedy. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal star as the film's leads, with a release date planned for November 2025.
Fans of the Bard have been flocking to his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon for centuries – but where was Hamnet actually filmed?
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Where is Hamnet filmed?
Hamnet was primarily filmed across Herefordshire in July, August and September 2024.
Weobley, Herefordshire
The picturesque village of Weobley was given a 16th-century makeover, complete with carts and stacks of hay in order to recreate the market town of Stratford-upon-Avon. Some of Weobley's buildings date to medieval times, although an Iron Age settlement was also discovered within the village.
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Cwmmau Farmhouse, Herefordshire
This National Trust-managed farmhouse was used as Hewlands Farm, the childhood home of Agnes (or Anne) Shakespeare – known today as Anne Hathaway's Cottage. Location fees helped fund conservation work on the Grade II-listed 15th-century building, ahead of its opening for holiday bookings in December 2025.
Part of nearby Cwmmau Moors is recognised as a Site of Special Scientific Interest due to its wet mixed deciduous woodland, and elsewhere on the site you can see red-list threatened plants such as devil’s-bit scabious and tormentil.
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Top image: Jessie Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare and Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare for Hamnet. Credit: Universal Pictures International
