Shakespeare’s long-lost London home identified after 360 years
- By Web Desk -
- Apr 21, 2026
LONDON: The long-lost London residence of William Shakespeare has been identified more than 360 years after it disappeared in the Great Fire of London.
Historical records show that although Shakespeare spent most of his later years in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon, he also owned property in London’s Blackfriars precinct, according to a report by Popular Science.
The area, named after a Dominican friary dating back to the 13th century, lies in central London near the Millennium Bridge. A plaque at 5 St. Andrew’s Hill commemorates the purchase, noting that on March 10, 1613, Shakespeare acquired lodgings in the Blackfriars Gatehouse near that site.
Archival evidence shows that Shakespeare’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Hall Nash Barnard, sold the property in 1665. The house was destroyed the following year in the Great Fire, which wiped out a significant portion of the city. For centuries, historians were unable to determine its exact location.
Now, the mystery appears to have been solved. According to Lucy Munro, a researcher at King’s College London, three newly uncovered documents have pinpointed the precise location of Shakespeare’s London home.
“I was doing research as part of a wider project and couldn’t believe it when I realized what I was looking at—the floor plan of Shakespeare’s Blackfriars house,” Munro said.
The documents, housed in the London Archives, include a detailed rendering of the Blackfriars precinct drawn in 1668, just two years after the Great Fire.
Munro noted that while some historians have suggested Shakespeare purchased the property purely as an investment, there is no definitive evidence to support that claim.
“After all, he could have bought an investment property anywhere in London, but this house was close to his workplace at the Blackfriars theatre,” she explained.
Over the past century, buildings constructed on the site have housed a variety of businesses, including a printing company, an architecture firm, and a carpet wholesaler.