The tour started in front of St Pauls cathedral. This was not the cathedral that Shakespeare would have known in his time. Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. The year of 1666 (note the last three numbers of the year, this caused extra suspision in the time) was catastrophic for London as it was the year of the Great London Fire. During the fire the Cathedral that Shakespeare would have known burnt down, together with the majority of other buildings from central London.
In Shakespeare's time this area was the centre of the book and stationary trade. The church yard whould have been used for book markets. A road near here is called Cheapside which means "marketplace". In the time of Shakespeare only the very centre was city. Places such as Soho and Knightsbridge were considered out in the leafy country.
Next we visited the Guildhall. The building we see here was started in 1411 so it would have been familiar to Shakespeare. It is the only stone building not connected to the church in London to have survived the Great fire of London. (I found it quite interesting, the square was in fact built on top of the old Roman ampitheatre of Londinium, gladiators would have even fought here.)
Next we visited a memorial to Shakespeare and his work but also to Henry Condell and John Hemminges. They were friends of Shakespeare and had worked together for 25 years. They were also business partners at the Globe Theatre. They later all became part of the group the King's Men, referring to the then in reign King John. 2000 plays were staged in this time, we now only know 230 of these.
When Shakespeare died Condell and Hemminges published all of his work in a bundle of what they call The First Folio. Shakespeare had not published them himself as there wasn't generally much call for it as most people were alliterates. There was also no such thing as copyright in those days in regard to the writers. Only once the text had gone to the publisher did the publisher have the copyright. Before The First Folios were published, publications had been made which were called the Quartos. These were probably pieced together by what actors and visitors of the plays remembered. As Condell and Hemminges were such good friends of Shakespeare and probably had more inside information that the Folios are considered the most accurate. Many texts of the plays would have been lost to us know had the Folio not been published, including Macbeth.
The Globe was not in the same location in 1599 as it is now. 3000 people used to be squeezed in into the theatre of which 1000 were standing. Now only 1500 are brought into the theatre for productions. The Globe Theatre from this age burnt down when a cannon was fired on stage and set light to the thatching. It was rebuilt but this building also burnt down in the London Fire. (An interesting fact about the acts was that they were in fact timed to candle light and this was the very reason why they exist. A candle would be lit at the beginning of an act and if correctly timed would have burnt down by the end, ready to light a new one for the next scene.)
Shakespeare lived in Noble Street, then known as Silver Street, a street next to part of the London Wall which can be seen on an old map of London from 1561, the Agas Map. Shakespeare's mention of this location was in a documented court case on a disputed dowery. Shakespeare moved often as he was a bit of a tax dodger. After Silver Street he bought a place in Blackfriars.
After passing the London Wall at Noble Street we headed off to the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great. The Gate you pass under to get to the small courtyard surrounding the courtyard would have been there in Shakespeare's times. The stone part of the wall was dated in the 1200s, the Tudor timbering in the 1500s. Elizabeth, The Tudors and Shakespeare in Love were all filmed in this church. (So was Sherlock Holmes, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Robin Hood, and King's Speech but these scenes were cut from the movie. A new unreleased movie, Shakespeare's "Richard II" was also filmed here.)
Back out through the gate and across the small square is St Bartholomew's Hospital. 300 protestants were burnt near here, Shakespeare's cousin was also executed in the area. (I didn't know but William Wallace was also executed here. He is a real hero of mine and although I've read quite bit about I hadn't known this was the spot. It was quite scary seeing the plaque suddening that commemorated his death.)
The tour ended near here. A lot more information was given during the tour but was irrelevant to my projects so I left it out here.
TIME COUNT:
1 Hour and 45 minutes on the tour
1 Hour processing notes for use in project
(As this is part of my preliminary research (Onderzoeksfase) I feel that the time should be included. I shall be doing this for all relevant parts on my trip including my meeting with Meghan. I understand this was not originally the idea, but to be honest I think since I made the effort and went to the expense of going to London with one of the main reasons being to meet her that I deserve to mention the time count.)
STILL TO COME...
-Shakespeare in London Locations
-Shakespeare's Globe and Meeting Meghan
-Inspiration at the British Museum
-Brief Overview of other things I visited on my trip
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