Few towns of Stratford-upon-Avon's modest size are so well known, not only in Great Britain but throughtout the world. This fame is to be attributed to the fact that England's national poet and playwright was born, brought up and buried there, but this is not all that makes Stratford an historic town. For the first 700 years of its existence, Stratford was a successful market town, and its history is still reflected in the town's surviving features: its medieval Guild of the Holy Cross, its timber-framed shops and houses, and its public buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries.