[Bibliographical Note.—Most of the documents are at Dulwich, and are printed in full or in abstract by W. W. Greg in Henslowe Papers, and by J. P. Collier in Alleyn Memoirs and Alleyn Papers. The Register of the Privy Council adds a few of importance. Valuable summaries of the history of the theatre are given by W. W. Greg, Henslowe's Diary, ii. 56, and W. Young, History of Dulwich College (1889), ii. 257. The Catalogue of the Manuscripts and Muniments at Dulwich (1881-1903) by G. F. Warner and F. B. Bickley is also useful.]
The settlement of the Chamberlain's men in 1599 at the
Globe, hard by the Rose, on Bankside, probably led Henslowe
and Alleyn to plan during the same year a countermove,
by the transference of the Admiral's men to a new theatrical
locality in the rapidly growing districts on the north-west
boundary of the City. The Rose, although not built fifteen
years, was in decay, and the swamps of the Bankside had not,
especially in bad weather, proved attractive to visitors.
The new centre might be expected to serve in summer and
winter alike, and, while in a place 'remote and exempt' from
the City jurisdiction, would be convenient for the well-to-do
population, which was establishing itself in the western
suburbs, along the main roads of Holborn and the Strand.
The Fortune on the north, and the Blackfriars, opened about
the same time on the south, delimited a region which has
remained almost to our own day the head-quarters of the stage.
The actual site selected lay just outside Cripplegate between
Golding or Golden Lane and Whitecross Street, in the county
of Middlesex, the lordship or liberty of Finsbury, and the
parish of St. Giles without Cripplegate. The title-deeds at
Dulwich make it possible to trace the history of the property
or part of it back to the reign of Henry VIII, but for the
present purpose it is sufficient to begin with 11 July 1584,
the date of a lease by Daniel Gill, son of William Gill, gardener,
to Patrick Brewe, goldsmith, of five tenements on the east
side of Golding Lane and one on the west side of Whitecross
Street at a rent of £12 a year. This lease Brewe assigned to
Alleyn on 22 December 1599, for a sum of £240. Subsequently,
in 1610, Alleyn bought up a reversionary lease for £100, and
also, after troublesome negotiations with the numerous
descendants of Daniel Gill, the freehold of the property for
£340.[1] This purchase, however, and probably also the
original lease, included a good deal more than the actual
plot on which the theatre was built. The deed of sale
recites six tenements on the east of Golden Lane and six
on the west of Whitecross Street. It is pretty clear,
- ↑ Henslowe Papers, 14; Henslowe, ii. 56.
