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TY - ELEC
A1 - DeSouza Correa, Dominic
ED - Jenstad, Janelle
T1 - Shoreditch
T2 - The Map of Early Modern London
ET - 7.0
PY - 2022
DA - 2022/05/05
CY - Victoria
PB - University of Victoria
LA - English
UR - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/SHOR1.htm
UR - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/xml/standalone/SHOR1.xml
ER -
A suburban neighbourhood located just north of Moorfields and outside Londonʼs City Wall, Shoreditch was a focal point of early modern theatrical culture. Following a boom in Londonʼs population
Research Assistant, 2018-2021. Lucas Simpson was a student at the University of Victoria.
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Student contributor enrolled in
Actor with the
Actor. Son of
Actor. Father of
Actor with the
King of England
Queen of England and Ireland
King of England and Ireland
Poet and playwright.
Playwright and writer.
Actor. Killed in a duel by
Historian and author of
Historian and author of
Mistress of
Murdered by
Actor. Buried at St. Leonard.
Actor. Buried at St. Leonard.
Swiss physician, traveller, and diarist.
A low-lying marshy area just northeast of Moorgate and on the way to the Curtain, Moorfields was home to a surprising range of activities and accompanying cultural associations in early modern London. Beggars and the mentally ill patients of neighbouring Bethlehem Hospital often frequented the area. Some used the public space to bleach and dry linen, and the full of noysome waters
(Stow 2:77) until
The city of London, not to be confused with the allegorical character (
Originally built as a Roman fortification for the provincial city of Londinium in the second century C.E., the London Wall remained a material and spatial boundary for the city throughout the early modern period. Described by high and great
(Stow 1:8), the London Wall dominated the cityscape and spatial imaginations of Londoners for centuries. Increasingly, the eighteen-foot high wall created a pressurized constraint on the growing city; the various gates functioned as relief valves where development spilled out to occupy spaces
The first purpose-built playhouse in England, the Theatre, located in Shoreditch, was constructed in
St. Leonard’s church—also known as
Finsbury Field is located in northen London outside the London Wall. Note that MoEML correctly locates Finsbury Field, which the label on the Agas map confuses with Mallow Field (Prockter 40). Located nearby is Finsbury Court. Finsbury Field is outside of the city wards within the borough of Islington (Mills 81).
St. Mary Spital was an Augustinian Priory and
Hospital on the east side of Bishopsgate Street.
The Priory dates from 1197. The old precinct of St.
Mary Spital is visible on the Agas map. The church itself was
demolished after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in
In
Built in
The Swan was the second of the Bankside theatres. It was located at Paris Garden. It was in use from
The Globe was the open-air, public theatre in which
Shoreditch Street, also called Sewersditch, was a continuation of
Bishopsgate Street, passing
northward from Norton Folgate to the small town of Shoreditch, a suburb of London in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, for which the road was likely named. Shoreditch first appears in
manuscripts in ditch of Sceorf
[or Scorre]
(Weinreb and Hibbert
807).
Described by Weinreb as redolent of squalor and vice
(Weinreb 39), London’s Bankside district in Southwark was known for its taverns, brothels and playhouses in the early modern period. However, in approximately
Although its name evokes the pandemonium of the archetypal madhouse, Bethlehem (Bethlem, Bedlam) Hospital was not always an asylum. As Priorie of Cannons with brethren and
sisters
, founded in one of the Sheriffes of London
(Stow 1:164). We know from
Bishopsgate Ward shares its western boundary with the eastern boundaries of Shoreditch and Broad Street Ward and, thus, encompasses area both inside and outside the Wall. The ward and its main street, Bishopsgate Street, are named after Bishopsgate.
Spitalfields was a large area of open fields east
of Bishopsgate Street and a good distance north of
Aldgate and Houndsditch. Spitalfields, also
recorded as
Spittlefields
and
Lollesworth,
is
unmistakable on the Agas map. The large expanse of fields is clearly marked
The Spitel Fyeld.
There have been many relics unearthed during archeological excavations in Spitalfields.
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Location:
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Located just north of Moorfields and outside of the City Wall, Shoreditch was a suburban neighbourhood that grew considerably during a boom in Londonʼs population in the
Even the origins of the name
Soerdig) to
In the all Persons
(Strype 4: 34).
continual Building of small and base Tenements, for the most Part lately erected,
lining the way from the former St. Mary Spital towards Shoreditch, as well as many small cottages
below (Stow 2:73). Further up from Holywell, summer houses
in the neighbouring suburb of Moorfields (Stow 2:77). In addition, numerous almshouses were founded by the various guilds and livery companies for their aging members.
Evidently the Queen’s decree was largely ignored, as it was reissued in bad commodities
and false and insufficient wares
(Strype 3: 32), though this is a common complaint in times of mass migration.
The above accounts depict a district beginning to teem with activity in a city that was becoming, in the words of stranger, and newer, and chang’d every hour
(Jonson 1.1.102). Elegant properties nestled cheek by jowl with smaller houses and tenements and emerging businesses. The building of the Theatre in
Prostitution (historically associated with the theatre) became notorious in Shoreditch, having spread out to other suburbs
following great swarms of these women
there (Platter 175).
It is thus highly likely that Shoreditch was one of the suburbs London, what are thy suburbs but licenced stews?
(Nashe 80).
Drinking was also a particularly popular pursuit in early modern London. never seen more taverns and alehouses
(Platter 189). Shoreditch was no exception, boasting plenty of taverns and alehouses, which greatly proliferated during this period (Clark 41). Evidently players themselves were known to be a regular feature of the drinking and social culture; was visited by players almost daily
(Platter 170). Of the great many inns, taverns, and beer-gardens,
much amusement may be had with drinking, fiddling and the rest
(Platter 170).
As one would expect with a strong drinking culture, there was a somewhat rowdy atmosphere. One particularly noteworthy event was the duel between quarrelsome disposition of the time
(Stopes 72). Only the year previously,
An environment such as Shoreditch evidently drew its share of criticism and disapproval. Official complaints against the drinking culture and the general rowdiness of Shoreditch were frequent and lamented not only the great number of dissolute, loose, and insolent people harboured in such and the like noisome and disorderly houses, as namely poor cottages, and habitations of beggars and people without trade
but al’sso the stables, inns, alehouses, taverns, garden-houses converted to dwellings, ordinaries, dicing houses, bowling alleys, and brothel houses
(Schoenbaum 126).
Besides the Curtain and the Theatre, one of the notable sites of Shoreditch was St. Leonardʼs Church. It occupied more or less the same spot as the current building, at the intersection of two Roman roads, Old Street and what is now Kingsland Road/Shoreditch Highstreet. The earliest traceable reference to the original church is some time in the
Though outside the borders of Shoreditch, the nearby hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in neighbouring Bishopsgate Ward was another important landmark of early modern London. Popularly known as
Urbanization of the Shoreditch area increased throughout the
Shoreditchʼs early theatrical history has not been forgotten. While there is currently no local theatre scene, there were popular playhouses up until the