Shakespeare and Staffordshire... are there any connections? Erm, not really. Write-ups about Stafford point out that the actors company that Shakespeare was a member of came to the town, but that's about it.
Howver, it's claimed that the two inscriptions on this massive tomb in Tong Church (which is on the Staffordshire-Shropshire border) might have been written by the Man. One of them reads:
Ask who lyes heare but do not weep,
He is not dead he dooth but sleep
This stoney register, is for his bones
His fame is more perpetual than theise stones
And his own goodness with himself being gon
Shall lyve when earthlie monument is none
...whose rhythm sounds a little trite for Shakespeare, but then, after all, this is a dedication, not a piece of thoughtful poetry. However nothing is proven.
For an interesting refelection on this debate, see The Shakespeare Blog
Read the blog and can see it's not easy to get a photo of teh tomb
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