The corner of Shoreditch High Street and Holywell Lane
The walk starts at the corner of Shoreditch High Street and Holywell Lane. The nearest stations are Shoreditch High Street (Overground) which is a couple of minutes walk, and Liverpool Street which is about 9 minutes walk.
Make sure that you are standing at position (1) on the map.
Going south from here is The Liberty of Norton Folgate, then Bishopsgate, which turns into Gracechurch Street, which leads to London Bridge. Going north from here is Shoreditch High Street then Kingsland Road. In fact, this road is the remains of the start of Ermine Street, a Roman road that connected London with Lincoln and then on to York. The word Ermine comes from Earninga, the name of a tribe who inhabited an area in what is now called Cambridgeshire and
Going south from here is The Liberty of Norton Folgate, then Bishopsgate, which turns into Gracechurch Street, which leads to London Bridge. Going north from here is Shoreditch High Street then Kingsland Road. In fact, this road is the remains of the start of Ermine Street, a Roman road that connected London with Lincoln and then on to York. The word Ermine comes from Earninga, the name of a tribe who inhabited an area in what is now called Cambridgeshire and
Hertfordshire.
Bishopsgate is named after a gate in the City of London Wall, so called
because it had a stone mitre carved on it. Bishopsgate Street, in Shakespeare’s
time, was an area of coaching inns.
Borough High Street, on the south side of the London Bridge, was also a
coaching inn area.
The only remaining inn of this type in London, rebuilt after a fire in 1677, is the George Inn in Borough High Street, which is still a working pub. The George is not part of this walk, but is well worth a visit if you are around there.
The only remaining inn of this type in London, rebuilt after a fire in 1677, is the George Inn in Borough High Street, which is still a working pub. The George is not part of this walk, but is well worth a visit if you are around there.
There is a legend that Shoreditch is named after Jane Shore,
mistress of Edward IV, Richard III’s elder brother (1461), although this is
thought to be a myth arising from the story line in a play by Thomas Heywood, “Edward IV” (printed 1600). In fact, more likely, as the area was called "Soersditch"
long before Jane Shore, Shoreditch probably means Sewer Ditch. The headwaters of
the river Walbrook are around here, which might have made the ground boggy.
If you have lots of time and energy, and want to extend this walk, a
quarter of a mile up Shoredich High Street is St Leonard's Church. However, it
is not the building that was there when Shakespeare was alive (this one was built in 1736–40)
and is only worth the visit if you are really interested. This is the church
mentioned in the line “when I grow rich said the bells of Shoreditch” from the
nursery rhyme “Oranges and Lemons”. It
is the burial place of a number of Tudor period actors including James Burbage,
the founder of The Theatre, his son Richard, who was the leading man in many of
Shakespeare's plays, and the actor Gabriel Spenser, who was killed by Ben Jonson in
a duel.
The playwrights Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe both lived in Norton Folgate, the road leading south from here.
The playwrights Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe both lived in Norton Folgate, the road leading south from here.
We are now going to walk down Holywell Lane. It was
named after the priory that was on the site before the dissolution (1536-41)
and led to Finsbury Field. Turn right
into King John Court, and go to the end. Turn left into New Inn Yard. On the right is New Inn Broadway. Go into it, and on the left, a few metres up, is a mural of Romeo and Juliet. To the right of it is a new building, with a ground floor display area, showing information about "The Theatre", the first theatre that William Shakespeare was attached to when he came to London. Before this new building was put up, remnants of The Theare were found beneath the ground here. Return to New Inn Yard, turn right and go to the
junction with Curtain Road. On the right is a Foxtons Estate Agency. On its
Curtain Road side are two plaques to “The Theatre” (marked 2 on the map).
