A newly discovered 17th-century map sheds light on William Shakespeare's life in London.
Fans of William Shakespeare – or those who recently watched Hamnet - already know that the famous playwright came from Stratford-upon-Avon. But he made his name in London, though few traces of him remain in the British capital.
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Now, a newly discovered 17th-century map sheds new light on the Bard’s London life, pinpointing for the first time the exact location of the only home Shakespeare bought in the city – the place where he may have worked on his final plays.
Shakespeare expert Prof Lucy Munro from King's College London identified the location and size of the property he bought in 1613.
“I came across it in the London Archives when I was looking for other things," Munro said.
She uncovered three documents – two from the London Archives and one from the National Archives – that provided more information.
It had long been known that the playwright owned a house in the Blackfriars, a 13th-century Dominican friary, and it was thought to have been located near the gatehouse. But the new discovery means we now know its size (not huge), layout (L-shaped) and exact location. The property covered what are now the eastern end of Ireland Yard, the bottom of Burgon Street, and parts of the buildings at 5 Burgon Street and 5 St Andrew's Hill.
The discovery means that the blue plaque for Shakespeare on St Andrew's Hill is not "near" the site of his London house, but on the spot it used to exist.
The other two documents relate to the sale of the Blackfriars property by Shakespeare's granddaughter in 1665.
It’s not certain whether Shakespeare lived in his London property or just rented it out. But Munro said that the size of the house and its location a five-minute walk from the Blackfriars Theatre suggest he may have spent more time in London toward the end of his life than is widely assumed. She said that he may have worked here on his final plays, “Henry VIII” and “The Two Noble Kinsmen,” both co-written with John Fletcher.
Shakespeare used the profits of his plays to build a family house, now demolished, in Stratford, about 160 kilometers northwest of London. He died there in 1616 at the age of 52.
