The working life of Museum of London

Welcome back to The Theatre

Remember the face?  Here it is with the other shards we found to fit:

Our pottery specialist, Jacqui Pearce, says :

The face is outlined in relief, as are the nose, mouth, eyes and beard. The only indication of costume is a deep ruff, which is clearly shown surrounding the neck and giving the head a sharply defined appearance that became popular in the late Elizabethan period. The ruff was a detachable collar that fitted over the shirt and all round the neck. It developed c. 1570 from the increasingly elaborate pleated collar worn by gentlemen from the 1540s onwards. The fashion lasted for about a quarter of a century and in its most extreme form, during the last decade of Elizabeth’s reign, it could span the width of the shoulders. By c. 1610, the end was in sight as turn-down lace or linen collars began to displace the ruff in fashionable costume. Those of lesser rank did not attempt to ape the costume of their betters, so the ruff remained largely the preserve of noblemen and gentlemen. The short pointed beard is also typical of the fashion amongst gentlemen during the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth. 

Was the jug directly related in some way to the playhouse? Could it even have been specially commissioned, perhaps as a portrait of a known figure of the time? Whether or not a direct portrait was intended, the Shoreditch bearded man is represented as a fashionable gentleman or nobleman of the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth. The execution of the features falls more in the realm of caricature than of faithful rendition, so we shall probably never know his identity. However, the location of the find, in debris deposited following the demolition of The Theatre, shows that it was in all likelihood used in the immediate vicinity. If so, then it is not too far-fetched to suppose that it was used by those who frequented the venue and attended or were involved in the productions that took place there.

Could this be the face of the  Bard or one of his associates or characters?  Could this jug have once been an example of Tudor marketing and merchandising, Burbage trying to make yet more money from his Theatre goers with some commemerative items?  We shall probably never know for sure, but the argument is compelling and as Jacqui later told us about this unique find “[there are] no parallels of this kind of decoration are known of to date”.

A bit of a recap…

When we first arrived on the site it was a rather unprepossessing 20^th century warehouse with some surviving Victorian walls.

Archaeological investigation is built into the planning process for new developments to prevent important archaeology from being lost, so after doing a Desk Based Assessment (DBA) which is a piece of historical research including checking old maps, other historic documents, the geology of the area and archaeological reports for digs in the local area.  The DBA helps to form an idea of what we might expect to find and we use it to design the first Written Scheme of Investigation (WSI).  A WSI is a document setting out what we will do for each phase of archaeological work.

So armed with DBAs and WSIs, machines mattocks and trowels in 2008-9 we archaeologically evaluated the site.  In an evaluation we dig test pits or trenches to determine if there is anything that may require a more thorough investigation, it corresponds to an archaeological testing of the water.

Fortunately, no basement had ever been built on this site, the result – archaeology!

Some more of the archaeological story so far…

When archaeologists write reports, we have to follow a set format.  When we discuss the site we start by talking about the earliest activity and then work forward to the present.  The language is also a little formal, but it is an official document and will be used by the client in some of their dealings with local planning authorities.

However, here we will talk about the site as it is being dug, from now to then:

Then…

Sealed below the concrete floors was a 19^th century cobbled yard. These cobbles had in turn had sealed layers of demolished 18^th century terraced houses that had once lined the street frontage, with gardens to the rear and can be seen on historical maps.  Some of these historical maps are available to se online via MAPCO’s database:

http://www.motco.com/default-Markou.asp 

Below the 18^th century buildings were found earlier, 17^th century structures which we have interpreted as being a part of the brew house and bakery complex providing the for nuns of Holywell Priory but more of nuns, dissolution, beer and pies anon.

However, it was from under the garden soils that what we had hoped for but dared not expect to find emerged, the jewel in this site’s crown.  Removing the garden soil revealed the curiously polygonal wall of The Theatre and a hard gravel surface, all that seemingly remained following its sudden dismantlement in 1598 (and therein lies a tale of which also, more anon). 

Here are Heather and Val planning The Theatre remains:

Here is a plan of The Theatre remains:

It was hard to suppress the excitement at the finding of these remains; here were Burbage’s very walls (brown on the plan) and the gravel yard surface (biege on the plan), while it may sound like a very mundane feature, was the very surface upon which the groundlings stood to watch the entertainments of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Richard Talton, Will Kemp and a host of others, some of whom will be introduced to in later posts.

The curious case of the dog…

Retuning to the 18^th century gardens mentioned before, for it was while digging through these we had one of those poignant moments that archaeology can so often provide.

We found the remains of a small dog, he was about the size of Cocker spaniel, had been laid out carefully, as if asleep, and tucked in beside him, was his bowl.

This then was the story of a personal or family sorrow, a real human moment encapsulated in the ground, one that only archaeology can connect us with.

This is why archaeology is so important, we are miners of moments, taking glimpses, often so very fleeting, of such human events and with those we can repopulate and personalise the events of the past that history would simply have overlooked.

Pottery, pits, postholes and walls are all grist to mill of archaeology but they are all also connected to the people who created them, people not so unlike us.  Some of them even kept dogs and loved them enough to have performed this touching ritual.

LP Hartley wrote in the Go-between: “the past is foreign country, they do things differently there”.  But we often find that on the human scale this is not always so.

And back to now…          

In later posts we will bring you more stories great and small, human and historic: of earthquakes, dancing, entertainment, legal disputes, beer and pies and of how the Tower Theatre Company is planning to protect The Theatre with a theatre.

There’s many a slip twixt cup and lip…

We leave you now with another exciting find:

Charlotte is holding an almost complete goblet that was found in a deposit just beyond The Theatre’s outside wall, we will learn more from our about this find from our pottery specialist and will update you as soon as we can; it raises some tantalising questions!  But for now I will fumble up a loose adieu!

Useful inks:

Tower Theatre Company: http://www.towertheatre.org.uk/

Tower Theatre Company’s new theatre and The Theatre: http://www.thetheatre.org.uk/index.htm

Footage of the 2009 evaluation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=savcpQFVu8w

MOTCO UK directory and image database, antique maps, prints and books:

http://www.motco.com/default-Markou.asp

Museum of London: http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/english

Museum of London Archaeology: http://www.museumoflondonarchaeology.org.uk/English/