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Provider: University of Victoria
Database: The Map of Early Modern London
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TY - ELEC
A1 - Tavares, Elizabeth
ED - Jenstad, Janelle
T1 - Sun Tavern
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/SUNT1.htm
UR - https://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/edition/7.0/xml/standalone/SUNT1.xml
ER - New Fish Street (also known in the New Fyſhe ſtreate
. Variant spellings include Street of London Bridge
, Brigestret
, Brugestret
, and Newfishstrete
(Harben 432; BHO).
As the only bridge in London crossing the Thames until
Thames Street was the longest street in early modern London, running east-west from the ditch around the Tower of London in the east to St. Andrew’s Hill and Puddle Wharf in the west, almost the complete span of the city within the walls.
The church of St. Magnus the Martyr, believed to be founded some time in the eleventh century, was on the south side of Thames Street just north of London Bridge. According to Stow, in its churchyard haue béene buried many men of good worſhip, whoſe monumentes are now for the moſt part vtterly defaced
, including
Bridge Within Ward is west of Billingsgate Ward. The ward is named after London Bridge.
Billingsgate Ward is west of Tower Street Ward. The ward is named after Billingsgate, a water-gate and harbour on the Thames.
According to Harben, Ludgate Street ran east-west from St. Paul’s Churchyard to about Old Bailey, though, the actual street probably stretched further west to the point where Ludgate Street became Fleet Street (Harben). It is often used synonymously with Ludgate Hill but MoEML understands Ludgate Hill to have been, rather, the raised portion of the larger Ludgate Street. A section of Ludgate Street was also called Bowyer Row, [so called] of Bowiers dwelling there in old time
(Stow 1598, sig. T1v).
The Bear Garden was never a garden, but rather a polygonal bearbaiting arena whose exact locations across time are not known (Mackinder and Blatherwick 18). Labelled on the Agas map as The Bearebayting
, the Bear Garden would have been one of several permanent structures—wooden arenas, dog kennels, bear pens—dedicated to the popular spectacle of bearbaiting in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The city of London, not to be confused with the allegorical character (
Sugarloaf Alley ran north-south from Leadenhall Street to Fenchurch
Street, on the west side of Bricklayers’ Hall. Sprinckle allie
but had been renamed Sugarloaf Alley after a
shop sign.
Cripplegate Ward is east of Aldersgate Ward and Farringdon Within Ward, encompassing area both inside and outside the Wall. The ward is named after Cripplegate.
The Sun Tavern was a victualing house on the east side of New Fish Street, just north of London Bridge between lower Thames Street and Little Eastcheap.
The Julian calendar, in use in the British Empire until September 1752. This calendar is used for dates where the date of the beginning of the year is ambigious.
The Julian calendar with the calendar year regularized to beginning on 1 January.
The Julian calendar with the calendar year beginning on 25 March. This was the calendar used in the British Empire until September 1752.
The Gregorian calendar, used in the British Empire from September 1752. Sometimes
referred to as
The Anno Mundi (year of the world
) calendar is based on the supposed date of the
creation of the world, which is calculated from Biblical sources. At least two different
creation dates are in common use. See Anno Mundi (Wikipedia).
Regnal dates are given as the number of years into the reign of a particular monarch.
Our practice is to tag such dates with
Research Assistant, 2018-2021. Lucas Simpson was a student at the University of Victoria.
Project Manager, 2020-2021. Assistant Project Manager, 2019-2020. Research Assistant, 2018-2020. Kate LeBere completed her BA (Hons.) in History and English at the University of Victoria in 2020. She published papers in
Programmer, 2018-present. Junior Programmer, 2015-2017. Research Assistant, 2014-2017. Joey Takeda was a graduate student at the University of British Columbia in the Department of English (Science and Technology research stream). He completed his BA honours in English (with a minor in Women’s Studies) at the University of Victoria in 2016. His primary research interests included diasporic and indigenous Canadian and American literature, critical theory, cultural studies, and the digital humanities.
Janelle Jenstad is Associate Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Director of
Elizabeth E. Tavares is an assistant professor in the department of English at Pacific University. Specializing in early English playing companies, theatre history, and Shakespeare in performance. Tavares’ scholarship and reviews have appeared in
Programmer at the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media Centre (HCMC). Martin ported the MOL project from its original PHP incarnation to a pure eXist database implementation in the fall of 2011. Since then, he has been lead programmer on the project and has also been responsible for maintaining the project schemas. He was a co-applicant on MoEML’s 2012 SSHRC Insight Grant.
Playwright, printer, and pamphleteer.
Playwright, poet, and author.
Poet. Helped establish Whitefriars Theatre.
Theatre financier. Husband of
Bohemian etcher. Moved to London in
Poet and playwright.
Playwright.
Historian and author of
Poet.
Poet.
Dramatic character in
Dramatic character in
Dramatic character in
Dramatist.
Most MoEML documents, or significant fragments with mol: prefix and accessed through the web application
with their id + .xml.
The molagas prefix points to the shape representation of a location on MoEML’s OpenLayers3-based rendering of the Agas Map.
Links to page-images in the Chadwyck-Healey
Links to page-images in the
The mdt (MoEML Document Type) prefix used on
The mdtlist (MoEML Document Type listing) prefix used in linking attributes points to a listings page constructed from a category in the central MDT taxonomy in the includes file. There are two variants, one with the plain _subcategories
, meaning all subcategories of the category.
The molgls (MoEML gloss) prefix used on
This molvariant prefix is used on
This molajax prefix is used on
The molstow prefix is used on
The molshows prefix is used on
The sb prefix is used on
Our editorial and encoding practices are documented in detail in the Praxis section of our website.
The Sun Tavern was a victualing house on the east side of New Fish Street, just north of London Bridge between lower Thames Street and Little Eastcheap. Settled just under St. Magnus, the tavern sat on the boundary between Bridge Within Ward and Billingsgate Ward. A small sign with an orb and a dot, the common marker of the symbol for the sun in this period, hung out into the street to mark its location (Digges).
The tavern may have been able to accommodate groups easily, as it was frequently used for meetings.
payd for a dyner whan Master parson with othere
members of the St. Mary-at-Hill paryshe were with hym at the sonn
(Littlehales 170–182). The same church’s record indicate an unpaid bill to the tavern in
Ah Ben !Say how, or when Shall we thy Guests Meet at those Lyrick Feasts, Made at the Sun, We cannot verify that this toponym refers to Sun Tavern. Sugden’s Topographical Dictionary to the Works of Shakespeare and His Fellow Dramatists identifies the mention ofSun Tavern with both the Sun Tavern on New Fish Street and aSun Tavern on Ludgate Street. See Sugden’s entries forDog (Sugden 153) andSun (Sugden 492).The Dog, the triple Tunne? Where we such clusters had, As made us nobly wild, not mad; And yet each Verse of thine Out-did the meate, out-did the frolick wine.
for to spend at the Readyng of that booke,in reference to
at the Sonne in new fyshstreate(Henslowe;
at the tavarn in fyshstreate for good cheare(Henslowe;
Other literary allusions suggest the site was closely affiliated with the playhouse industry (Cerasano). In
the Sun’s in New Fishstreetafter a pageant of the signs of the zodiac (Middleton 2.1). The clown,
dry—a euphemism for sobriety—throughout the play. Allusions to the Bull and Bear garden in the same scene reinforce a connection between the Southwark entertainment venues and the Sun Tavern (Middleton 2.1).
The play
to buy a sugar loafe: and goe you to the Sunne, and fetch me a gallon of Ipocras(
There were four taverns using the name of the Sun in this period, although the only one marked with a sign on the Agas map is that in New Fish Street.
The water-poet I haue fared
better at three Sunnes many times before now,
in Aldersgate-street, Criplegate, and new Fish-
street; but here is the oddes, at those Sunnes
they will come vpon a man with a Tauerne bill
as sharp cuting as a Taylers Bill of Items.