Mad Travel Guides: Shakespeare’s Original Globe

A visit to Shakespeare’s Globe on Bankside, and a groundling ticket to a play there, is a must for any Shakespeare lover who finds their way to London. But make sure to schedule some extra time before the performance, because a mere 200 yards away from the reconstructed theatre is the site of the original Globe, where fifteen of Shakespeare’s plays were performed when they were brand new.

Quick Info

• Address: Park Street, near Southwark Bridge Road (Google map)

How to Get There

From Shakespeare’s Globe, continue down Bankside past Southwark Bridge Road. Turn right on Bank End and right again on Park Street. Follow Park Street until you are nearly back to Southwark Bridge Road. The Globe site is on the left in a parking lot between two buildings. Look for a stone wall with a bronze plaque honoring Shakespeare in front of black gates.

History

In 1599, Shakespeare’s company was unable to agree on new lease terms for the theatre they had been using, The Theatre in Shoreditch. They owned the theatre itself, though not the land it was built on, so they dismantled it, carried the timbers across the Thames to the new site in Southwark, and rebuilt it as the Globe.

The theatre burnt down on June 29, 1613 during a performance of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII. A cannon misfired and set the thatched roof on fire. The theatre was destroyed but rebuilt the following year with a tiled roof. The second Globe was used until 1642, when the Puritan administration in England shut down all the playhouses. Two years later, still unused, it was pulled down. Excavation on the site began in 1989 and uncovered about five percent of the original foundations.

What to See

Four panels just inside the gates give a history of the Globe site and its excavation. The foundations that were discovered were covered over again for protection, but colored bricks mark the outlines of the remains. The rest of the foundations lie beneath Anchor Terrace (the building on the right), which is a landmarked nineteenth-century building, and so cannot be excavated.

Don’t Miss

The Millenium Bridge nearby on Southbank leads across to St. Paul’s, and might cover the approximate route Shakespeare would have taken (by boat) to cross the Thames from his rooms to Southwark and to the Globe.

What’s Around

Shakespeare’s Globe has several café and restaurant options inside, including the Swan Brasserie and Bar. There’s also a Golden Hind pub nearly directly north of the Globe site on Bankside.

Around the corner from the Golden Hind pub is the reconstruction of Francis Drake’s famous ship, the Golden Hind. Also close by is Southwark Cathedral, where Shakespeare’s brother Edmund is buried.