If his decision to become an actor was unusual, Shakespeare's choice of destination was no surprise - London. The only genuine city in England, London was the governmental, business and cultural center of the kingdom, a combination of Washington, New York and Los Angeles all rolled together! Thousands were attracted to London because it offered so many more opportunities than did villages and towns.

This view of the city is from Southwark, the south bank of the Thames River. In the background one sees the City of London, dominated by the massive cathedral of St. Pauls (not the new St. Pauls which was built later). Off to the right is London Bridge, famed in the nursery rhyme for "falling down." To the left, outside of this picture, were the palace at Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament. Everywhere one sees spires of churches, and the city was organized into parishes. Because of legal restrictions, development was discouraged outside the city limits. As a consequence, London was terribly overbuilt with narrow streets and crowded tenements. Travel across town was usually done by the water taxis one sees on the river in this picture.

Southwark, the foreground of the picture, in what was called the "suburbs," lay beyond the legal control of city officials. It was home to the disreputable occupations, specifically whorehouses, bear baiting pits (where wild animals fought dogs for public amusement) and the public theaters. Look for the octagonal buildings flying flags. (The theaters ran up flags when there was a performance that day.) If there was anyplace where the young Shakespeare could succeed in a shameful profession, it was in London, the one place in England where actors had moved off the road and into permanent buildings.

Nearly everything you see in this picture was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. Londoners thought St. Pauls would be safe and brought their valuable papers and books to the cathedral. All the flammables simply made the church burn faster when the fire reached it. London Bridge suffered the same fate. . It is likely that a lot of Shakespeare's papers and books were destroyed in the fire. The only major building in this picture that is still standing is Southwark Cathedral, in the right foreground. Shakespeare's younger brother Gilbert is buried there.