Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/59

 ii s. xii. JULY 17, i9io.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

51

stated in the Coram Rege Roll as being bounded by Maiden Lane on the south. The Thomas Brand here referred to was probably the father of Nicholas Brand, who granted the lease of the land to the brothers Burbage, Shakespeare, and others ; "his wharfe," therefore, was undoubtedly on the north side of the sewer in Maiden Lane ; and the reference can hardly be assumed to apply to a wharf on the south side, unless evidence can be produced to show that Thomas Brand, at that time, owned land on the south of the sewer.

The next reference made by MRS. STOPES is also helpful as showing that the Playhouse was on the north of Maiden Lane. Here it appears that "Thomas Burte, Dier," is pre- sented in 1594 for not repairing the sewer running between the back of his garden and the Park. This "Thomas Burte, Dier," mentioned in the Sewers Record is doubt- less the same ''Thomas Burte, Dier," mentioned in the Coram Rege Roll docu- ment.

From the Roll, ''Thomas Burte, Dier," is shown to be in occupation of one of the garden plots on the north side of the way or lane (Globe Alley). His garden plot abutted " upon a piece of land called the Park on the north." From the Sacramental Token Books, as previously shown, the Park was the name of the cottages which fronted upon Bankside.

The statement in the Sewers Record is, therefore, in entire accordance with the statement in the Coram Reg 3 Roll, and both statements are compatible with the Sacra- mental Token Books, which show the Park to have been on Bankside.

These three contemporary documents, in fact, support each other in a perfectly natural way. The " Sewars Presentments ' ' call upon Thomas Burte to repair the sewer next the Park. The Sacramental Token Books show the Park to have been on Bankside. The Coram Rege Roll states that Thomas Burte occupied one of the garden plots abutting upon the Park on the north.

I do not think anything could be much clearer or more definite as showing that this garden plot was on the north side of Maiden Lane, and there can be no denying the fact that this garden plot formed "part of the holding on which the Globe was built.

It is possible for an error to appear in any document ; but it is much more than improb- able that three documents, each having been prepared independently of the others, could all make the same error.

The sewer in question here, which ran at the back of Burte's garden and divided his garden from the Park cottages, lay close on 200 feet to the north of the sewer in Maiden Lane. A reference to this sewer next the Park in support of a theory that the Play- house was south of Maiden Lane is untenable.

In 1603 it was

"ordered that the farmers of gardens adjoining the sewer on the south side of Maiden Lane, trom George Archer's house until the corner of the park, shall dense every one of them their parts of the same sewer."

After the definite statement that the land referred to was on the south side of Maiden Lane, a reference to the park, meaning the Lord Bishop of Winchester's Park, which was also on the south side of Maiden Lane, would be quite legitimate. But this refer- ence in any case appears to me to be entirely negative : it supports neither MBS. STOPES'S view nor my own.

Perhaps here it may be worth recording that, in the course of excavations which were made some ten or twelve years ago, I came across a set of bowls and the jack on the land lying to the south of Park Street (Maiden Lane). They were found in the black mud, some five or six feet below the surface, on the site of the boiler-house of Messrs. Barclay & Perkins's Brewery, which here abuts upon the south side of Park Street. The bowls were, and are still, I believe, preserved in a glass case in the brewery.

Finally, it appears in the " Sewars Pre- sentments " in 1605 that

"the owners of the Playhouse called the Globe in Maid Lane shall, before the 20th Aprill next, pull up, and take clene out of the sewar, the props or posts which stand under their Bridge .on the north side of Mayd Lane."

This seems to me to be fairly conclusive. A nuisance was being created by ths fact that the owners of the Globe had put their props or posts in the sewer on the north side. No doubt then, as now, the liability to abate a nuisance lies against the owner or occupier of the land w r here the nuisance exists. The owners of the Globe were called upon to abate the nuisance because, in fact, they were the owners of the land under the bridge on the north side of Mayd Lane.

So far as I know, neither the contemporary documents, nor any of the long series of " Views " of Southwark, support the conten- tion that the Globe Playhouse of Shakespeare was on the south side of Park Street.

. GEORGE HUBBABD, F.S.A.

(To be concluded.)