British Quest

The UK’s national library has some wonderful Shakespeare artifacts available for public viewing, and right at the top of this list is Shakespeare’s First Folio. This is the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, published after his death by two colleagues from the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The British Library actually owns five copies of the 233 known to exist today, and their display copy is said to be the most widely seen First Folio in the world.

This London pub on St Andrew’s Hill marks the site of the old Priory Gatehouse, the only property Shakespeare owned in London. He bought the property for £140 in 1613, at a time when he’d more or less retired to spend his time in Stratford, and leased the building to the person he’d bought it from. However, given the property’s location close to the Blackfriars Playhouse and the Globe, it’s possible that Shakespeare stayed here on the occasions he visited London from Stratford.

No trip to London would be complete without checking out Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre – now one of the city’s most iconic buildings. Set on the south bank of the River Thames the building is a faithful reconstruction of the nearby Globe Theatre, and hosts plays through the summer. With its open roof, apron stage and yard around the stage for a standing audience (the groundlings, or stinkards), catching a performance here offers a unique insight into how Elizabethan audiences would have experienced Shakespeare’s plays.

The Royal Exchange was possibly the world’s first shopping mall, founded as a centre for London commerce in the 16th century where the monied classes could buy wigs, jewellery, perfume, hats, shoes, breeches, shirts, feathers, silks, drugs, wine, spices, paper, ink, candles, toys, and anything else you could think of. Although the building was destroyed by fire twice, today’s building – erected in the 1840s – is similar in style to the original, with dozens of arcaded shops arranged around a central courtyard, and it’s easy to imagine Mr Shakespeare wandering the shops to pick out a new ruffle!