IRELAND YARD

APOTHECARIES HALL

IRELAND YARD, ST. ANNE'S CHURCHYARD

This is the last known piece of stonework connected to the Dominican Priory that the eye can see above ground. This is the last architectural construction, left, linked,definitively, in time, to Shakespere's Blackfriars plays and the theatre of the age....Like a theatrical blarneystone..there's not exactly a rush....but the future never knows...!!!

IRELAND YARD, ST. ANNE'S CHURCHYARD

IRELAND YARD, ST. ANNE'S CHURCHYARD

" On this plot of land stood in the middle ages part of the Provincial's Hall of the Dominican Priory of Blackfriars with the Dorter over.

When the Priory was dissolved in 1538 the parish church of St Ann Blackfriars was built on this site. This church was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 and not rebuilt. The parish was united with St. Andrew By-The-Wardrobe. The site thereafter was used as a churchyard alternately with the one in church entry.

It was closed in 1849. By arrangement with the Rector and Churchwardens the site has been maintained since 1964 by the Corporation of London. "

The Dorter was a bedroom. Ireland Yard, after the dissolution came into the hands of one William Ireland. It was his deed of conveyance that is recorded as having been transferred into the hands of an actor - William Shakespeare for the sum of £140....Although most certainly he never lived in the location, Ben Jonson is also known to have had a property here around 1607...

The Provincial's Hall would have been seen from Shakespeare's gatehouse property. Jonson's Every Man in his Humour is known to have been performed in the Blackfriars Theatre as was other writers' work. Shakespeare left the gatehouse to his daughter, Susannah in his will.

BURGON ST LOOKING NORTH TOWARDS CREED LANE

CARTER LANE FROM CREED LANE BURGON ST TO RIGHT

LOOKING ALONG CARTER LANE FROM JUNCTION OF LUDGATE BROADWAY AND BLACKFRIARS LANE

ST PAUL'S AREA COPPER PLATE MAP 1550s

This detail from the third discovered part of the Copper Plate London map gives a better idea of the closeness of the buildings at the time. This section, containing valuable information of the area around St Paul's Cathedral, was discovered in the 1990s in Germany and it is thought that there are fifteen sections in all, making up the first map of London. The map predates 1561 since it was then that lightning struck and demolished the spire and masonry below and was not rebuilt until after the Great Fire. Its proximity to Blackfriars can be seen clearly from the winding lanes between. Carter Lane, just below St Paul's, still exists and was a notorious parking place of horses and coaches on performance nights at the Blackfriars Theatre. It is hard not to imagine how chaotic it must have been when looking at the width of the street today. Now some fifteen years since the dissolution the fragmentation and rebuilding of the monastic buildings can be seen as depicted from the actual time. The blue fill is the area covered in this chapter.

BLACKFRIARS PRE 1530s WILLIAM NEWTON 1855

This section of a larger map, based on maps of the time, gives a Victorian eyed view to the layout of the Blackfriars area prior to the dissolution. To the right, at the water's edge Baynard Castle; then to the left the monastic land of the Blackfriars; again to the left the stinking sewer that was the Fleet River. This river was incorporated into Joseph Bazelgette's sewerage system during the mid Victorian period and is now no longer visible except under the streets. To the left of the Fleet River : Bridewell Palace, now infamously connected as a term for detention centres it originally started life as one of Henry VIII's residences. He lived here from 1515 - 1523. Upon his departure Bridewell then went on a slippery slope downwards before finally becoming a school which then moved to a site in Milford near Witley, ( Surrey ), and was renamed King Edward's School. See Wikipedia for more.

At the right hand edge of the Fleet River can be seen the westernmost edge of the old London Wall and identifies the western edge of what we know as the old City of London. The actual city limit if entering from Westminster began at Temple Bar - hence the name. Tradition has it that the monarch needs to get permission at this point to enter the city. The wall will be covered in a separate section.

It is also worth pointing out that the thoroughfares St Andrews Hill, Creed Lane and Ludgate Hill still exist as streets and in name as all the major city routes still do. The map gives the illusion of space. In fact the city by Shakespeare's time was heaving under the weight of population numbers and housing.

BAYNARD CASTLE PUB

Baynard Castle relates to an actual castle dating back to the time of William the Conqueror and was built by a follower by the name of Baynard and predated the setting of Blackfriars Monastery. It had a chequered history full of Royal and noble incident for which the internet will provide much in detail. In 1275 the site was presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury by Robert Fitzwalter for the foundation of the London House of Dominican Friars and a new Baynard Castle was built on the river's edge in an adjacent location slightly south east of the monastery. The castle had been destroyed and rebuilt many times but finally succumbed in the Great Fire of 1666 by which time it had gone from being a castle to a palace and finally a mansion but always known as Baynard Castle.....The pub is no longer known as Baynard Castle.

PLAYHOUSE YARD VICINITY

Historical reverb abounds the Blackfriars area. Although, at the time there were constant attacks on the theatre and all that it represented to moral attitudes, and about Blackfriars, to the congestion and upheaval that took place on performance nights, one can't help noticing that regeneration is, when it's done properly pays homage to the past. The reason for this is that, just as we have, London itself is full of environmental DNA. That is to say that all areas of London have their own genetic fingerprint right from the first domicile and name. Merrie London was a theatrical place to reside, not to mention bawdy, but the importance of place through space and time cannot be under-estimated....and so reference to the monastic history whether through brand identity or architecture maintains a spiritual connection that bows or defers to our deeper expectations of place...

PLAYHOUSE YARD VICINITY

LOOKING SOUTH TOWARDS BLACKFRIARS STATION FROM PLAYHOUSE YARD

THE COCKPIT FROM IRELAND YARD

THE COCKPIT

Looking north up St Andrews Hill towards the Cockpit pub. To the left is Ireland Yard and it is in this location that one William Shakespeare purchased a property in 1613 as a sale and leaseback contract. It seems he is unlikely to have lived here but the purchase may have had something to do with the Blackfriars Theatre since this is the location of the Blackfriars Gatehouse...A man of property. What is known of Shakespeare biographically is known through legal documentation since this was a litigious period in history partly driven by the large amount of property dealing that was part of the economy of the time...But if Steven Spielberg were to be remembered in name only as a director through his credits and business dealings would we question any less his authority to intellectual copyright..?

PLAYHOUSE YARD

PLAYHOUSE YARD

PLAYHOUSE YARD

BLACKFRIARS LANE

BLACKFRIARS

The original monastery was built in 1275 and came to be known as " Blackfriars " due to the black robes worn by the Dominican Monks who occupied the monastery. The City of London prior to the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538 was extensively inhabited by religious estates in the form of monasteries, convents and churches and images from the time show a densely steepled skyline. The origins of the Reformation and Dissolution are complex and there are many internet sites and detailed books and research on the subject but suffice to say one consequence of the reformation established in the minds of the time the image of an island nation, separate and supreme, and it takes a writer of greatness to embody this idea - an idea that has and continues to inspire our now broader kingdom through its darkest times. There may always be questions regarding the true identity of William Shakespeare but there is no debate about the quality of the writing or to the depth and breadth of the content for in this little ice age change was occurring to the London population mentally. Shakespeare, it could be said was the first and greatest psychologist.

This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

William Shakespeare, "King Richard II", Act 2 scene 1

It is one of the paradoxes of our time that we should be seeking to rid Shakespeare from the education curriculum and for a nation to be asked to debate the question of what our national identity is.

The new playhouse bought a new audience, for the Blackfriars area in Shakespeare's time was an upmarket area to live. The admission costs were more expensive than at the Globe and consequently it was the courtiers and wealthy Londoners who attended this more intimate theatre. A new style of playwriting was produced in part inspired by the collaboration of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher who had been writing stage romances since 1607. It was in the hallowed timespace of the following images that A Winter's Tale, The Tempest, Cymbeline and Pericles, Prince of Tyre were first performed.


From http://www.william-shakespeare.info/the-blackfriars-theatre-picture.htm

The Blackfriars Theatre - The Elizabethan Playhouse

In February, 1596, James Burbage, already having difficulty with the landlord of the Theatre, ( the site now being occupied by Foxtons in Shoreditch High
Street ), bought Blackfriars. Blackfriars was purchased from the executors of Sir Thomas Cawarden estate, who was the previous owner, for £600. These buildings, were in the old precinct of the Dominican monks or “Blackfriars preachers”, and had formed part of their monastery. The freehold was for a "collection of rooms, large and small, cellars and yards and including seven great upper rooms”, which had formerly been one great room. Burbage turned these rooms into an indoor or “private” playhouse. Although under the control of the crown, and not the city officials, who were staunchly against the theatre, the Chamberlin's men were unable to use Blackfriars as their winter venue due to the local residents determined protests.

In 1600, Richard Burbage leased the Blackfriars to Henry Evans for 21 years for £40 per annum, but in August 1608, Richard Burbage took back the lease from Evans, and William Shakespeare and other players became part owners of what was to become the Blackfriars Playhouse. Unlike the public open amphitheatres theatres, private theatres such as the Blackfriars had roofs and catered to the wealthy, although 'commoners' were also allowed, but the price was 2d, double the cost of the Globe.

Blackfriars was equipped with artificial lighting and other amenities that the other playhouses did not possess. Although smaller than the Globe, only seating 700, Blackfriars was still able to present various special effects due to its trap doors and wires and belts to hang props and lower actors. The troupe performed at Blackfriars during the winter months while continuing to spend the summers at the Globe. In 1619 the local residents again tried to close the theatre but failed due to the intervention of the Privy Council.

The King’s Men continued to use Blackfriars, without interruption, until 1642 when, as with the majority of theatres, it was closed during the English Civil War. The Blackfriars playhouse fell into disrepair, and was demolished on the 6th of August, 1655. The site is still commemorated by Playhouse Yard, close to Apothecaries' Hall.

http://www.william-shakespeare.info/the-blackfriars-theatre-picture.htm