By the tip of his profession, William Shakespeare was a bona fide movie star boasting a number of properties throughout England. Historic paperwork point out the legendary playwright spent nearly all of his later years within the city of his youth, Stratford-upon-Avon, however he additionally owned property within the Blackfriars precinct. Named after the Dominican friary relationship again to the thirteenth century, the area is positioned in east London not removed from Millennium Bridge—and about 100 miles southeast of the playwright’s hometown. There’s even a plaque positioned at 5 St. Andrew’s Hill commemorating the latter actual property transaction: On tenth March 1613 William Shakespeare bought lodgings within the Blackfriars Gatehouse positioned close to this web site.
“Close to this web site” is a pivotal element, nonetheless. Archival proof exhibits Shakespeare’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Corridor Nash Barnard, bought the property in 1665, however the residence burned down together with round 15 % of the town’s housing throughout the Nice Hearth of London the next yr. Over the following centuries, historians couldn’t make certain of the property’s precise location.
After 360 years, the thriller seems lastly solved. In response to Lucy Munro, a Shakespeare knowledgeable at King’s Faculty London, three newly positioned paperwork pinpoint the precise spot of the author’s London residence.
“I used to be doing analysis as a part of a wider mission and couldn’t consider it after I realized what I used to be —the floorplan of Shakespeare’s Blackfriars home,” Munro mentioned in a press release.
Housed within the London Archives, the floorplan is seen in a rendering of the Blackfriars precinct drawn in 1668, simply two years after the Nice Hearth. A portion of the property spanning the gate itself isn’t on the map as a result of it lacked a basis, however the different part clearly measured 45 toes extensive from east to west and 13 to fifteen toes extensive on both finish. Though there aren’t any inside layouts, historians consider that the construction was massive sufficient to be cut up into two properties. This implies that Shakespeare might have sometimes stayed on the location whereas additionally utilizing it as a supply of further revenue.
“It has generally been thought that he purchased his Blackfriars property merely as an funding, however we don’t know that that is true, or that he by no means used it for himself,” defined Munro. “In spite of everything, he may have purchased an funding property wherever in London, however this home was near his office on the Blackfriars theatre.”
Shakespeare’s personal profession additionally helps the speculation. In 1613, he co-authored Two Noble Kinsmen with fellow London playwright John Fletcher, and visited the town once more the following yr.
“We…know that Shakespeare was visiting London in November 1614—is it unlikely that he stayed in his personal home?” Munro mentioned.
Over the previous 100 years, companies positioned in properties constructed on the positioning of Shakespeare’s residence have included a printing firm, an structure agency, and a carpet wholesaler. However most appropriately of all? The Nationwide E-book Affiliation.
