Beargarden
Encyclopedia
The Beargarden was the facility for bear-baiting
, bull-baiting
, and other "animal sports
" in the London area during the 16th and 17th centuries, from the Elizabethan era
to the English Restoration
period.
, across from the City of London
on the south bank of the River Thames
in Southwark
; but its exact location is unclear, and apparently changed over time. Documentary sources from the middle 16th century refer to the bear-baiting rink as being in Paris Garden, the liberty
at the western end of the Bankside. The names of the facility and its location were merged in popular usage: John Stow
, writing in 1583, calls it "The Beare-garden, commonly called the Paris garden." Late-16th-century sources, however — the Speculum Britanniae map of 1593, and the Civitas Londini map of 1600 — show the Beargarden farther to the east, in the liberty of the Clink, where it sits on the northwestern side of the Rose Theatre
. The building could have been moved from its original location, much like The Theatre
was moved and rebuilt into the Globe Theatre
in 1598–99.
The date of the Beargarden's construction is unknown; it was in existence by the 1560s, when it is shown on Ralph Agas
's map of the city. Questions of the Beargarden's location and date are complicated by the fact that animal sports were conducted at more than one place in Southwark in this era; the Agas map shows both a bull-baiting and a bear-baiting ring, situated near each other (bulls to the west, bears to the east). John Taylor the Water Poet
, testifying in the Court of Exchequer
in 1620 or 1621, said that "the game of bear-baiting hath been kept in four several [i.e. separate] places, at Mason Stairs on the Bankside, near Maid Lane by the corner of Pike Garden, at the beargarden which was parcel of the possession of William Payne, and at the place where they now are kept."
Yet one main bear-baiting facility, the "Paris Garden," stood out in the public mind. In 1578, William Fleetwood, "Sergeant-in-law" and Recorder of London, described it as a place where foreign ambassadors met their spies and agents; at night it was so dark and obscured by trees that a man needed "cat's eyes" to see. Ambassadors and travellers were often shown the Beargarden; The prominent French nobleman the Duke of Biron was escorted there by Sir Walter Raleigh
on September 7, 1601.
On Sunday, January 13, 1583, eight people were killed and others injured when the scaffold seating in the Beargarden collapsed under their weight. Puritan
commentators, hostile to animal baiting as they were to other sports and pastimes (like play-going), attributed the accident to God's displeasure. The Beargarden closed for a time, but re-opened a few months later.
The English monarchy had had an official "bearward," an officer in charge of its "bears, bulls, and mastiff dogs," at least from the reign of Richard III
. In 1573 a Ralph Bowes was appointed Queen Elizabeth
's "Master of Her Majesty's Game at Paris Garden." ( Elizabeth herself, like other royals and aristocrats of her era, was a passionate fan of animal baiting.) In 1604, Philip Henslowe
(who had a financial interest in bear-baiting at least from 1594) and his son-in-law Edward Alleyn
purchased the royal office of the Mastership for £450, and maintained the practice of animal baiting along with their other business of theatre production. Henslowe bought out Alleyn's share in 1611, for £580 (though Alleyn re-acquired his share upon Henslowe's 1616 death). In 1613, Henslowe and new partner Jacob Meade tore down the Beargarden, and in 1614 replaced it with the Hope Theatre
. The Hope was equipped as a dual-purpose venue, hosting both stage plays and animal sports. Gradually, though, fewer plays were staged there, and the Hope was generally called the Beargarden after its primary use. Samuel Pepys
, in an entry in his famous Diary, describes a visit he and his wife paid to the Hope/Beargarden on August 14, 1666. (He called the spectacle "a rude and nasty pleasure.")
in 1544, mentions
Pepys describes a bull tossing a dog into a spectators' box. Others mention the bulls tossing dogs into the air and then catching the falling dogs on their horns again. On a few rare occasions (in 1604 and 1605, and in 1609 and 1610), lions were baited.
The shows at the Beargarden had surprising aspects; according to contemporary accounts, music and fireworks were used, and special effects were employed. German tourist Lupold von Wedel was at the Beargarden on August 23, 1584; he left a description that cites the usual and expected baiting of bulls and bears, and a horse chased by the dogs, plus people dancing, and a man who threw white bread to the crowd (they "scrambled for it"). And then,
The last recorded instance of animal baiting at the Hope/Beargarden occurred on April 12, 1682, when "a fine but vicious horse was advertised to be baited to death for the amusement of the Moroccan ambassador...and for as many as would pay to see it." The horse reportedly had killed several men and other horses. It survived and beat off the dogs; to please the clamoring crowd, the horse was stabbed to death with a sword.
Nowadays, by contrast, the term "Bear Garden" is employed by a retailer of teddy bears
and stuffed animals. However, the Bear Pit is not entirely forgotten: Alleyn bought the manor of Dulwich in 1605 and in the course of establishing his tenure, implemented a requirement of Sir Francis Bacon's Star Chamber to establish a charitable school "for 12 poor children of the parish of Camberwell" - who appear in practice to have often been the players of the female parts at the Globe. Their own sub-company, named the Bear Pit, continued in the original School, which passed through the Dulwich College Lower School in the 1850s to Alleyn's School in 1887, and remains active to this day, run without any parental or scholastic support, regularly producing household names in the theatre. The intention of theatre as a medium for the young was further promoted by the secondment of the School's Head of English, Michael Croft, in the late 1950s to establish the National Youth Theatre. Although many members were from the School, their outreach achieved the target of opening the theatre to many of less advantaged backgrounds, and a worldwide movement resulted.
Bear-baiting
Bear-baiting is a blood sport involving the worrying or tormenting of bears.-Bear-baiting in England:Bear-baiting was popular in England until the nineteenth century. From the sixteenth century, many herds of bears were maintained for baiting...
, bull-baiting
Bull-baiting
Bull-baiting is a blood sport involving the baiting of bulls.-History:In the time of Queen Anne of Great Britain, bull-baiting was practiced in London at Hockley-in-the-Hole, twice a week – and was reasonably common in the provincial towns...
, and other "animal sports
Bait (dogs)
Baiting or dog baiting most commonly refers to the act of setting game dogs against a chained or confined animal for sport. The dogs bite, and tear to subdue the opposing animal by incapacitating or killing it. Baiting is a blood sport used for entertainment and gambling...
" in the London area during the 16th and 17th centuries, from the Elizabethan era
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
to the English Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
period.
History
The Beargarden was a round or polygonal open structure, comparable to the public theatres built in and around London starting in 1576. Contemporaneous illustrated maps of the city show a substantial three-story building that resembles the theatres nearby. It was located in the BanksideBankside
Bankside is a district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. Bankside is located on the southern bank of the River Thames, east of Charing Cross, running from a little west of Blackfriars Bridge to just a short distance before London Bridge at St Mary Overie Dock to...
, across from the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
on the south bank of the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
in Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
; but its exact location is unclear, and apparently changed over time. Documentary sources from the middle 16th century refer to the bear-baiting rink as being in Paris Garden, the liberty
Liberty (division)
Originating in the Middle Ages, a liberty was traditionally defined as an area in which regalian rights were revoked and where land was held by a mesne lord...
at the western end of the Bankside. The names of the facility and its location were merged in popular usage: John Stow
John Stow
John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
, writing in 1583, calls it "The Beare-garden, commonly called the Paris garden." Late-16th-century sources, however — the Speculum Britanniae map of 1593, and the Civitas Londini map of 1600 — show the Beargarden farther to the east, in the liberty of the Clink, where it sits on the northwestern side of the Rose Theatre
The Rose (theatre)
The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre , the Curtain , and the theatre at Newington Butts The Rose was an Elizabethan theatre. It was the fourth of the public theatres to be built, after The Theatre (1576), the Curtain (1577),...
. The building could have been moved from its original location, much like The Theatre
The Theatre
The Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse located in Shoreditch , just outside the City of London. It was the second permanent theatre ever built in England, after the Red Lion, and the first successful one...
was moved and rebuilt into the Globe Theatre
Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613...
in 1598–99.
The date of the Beargarden's construction is unknown; it was in existence by the 1560s, when it is shown on Ralph Agas
Ralph Agas
Ralph Agas , English land surveyor, was born at Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, about 1540, and entered upon the practice of his profession in 1566....
's map of the city. Questions of the Beargarden's location and date are complicated by the fact that animal sports were conducted at more than one place in Southwark in this era; the Agas map shows both a bull-baiting and a bear-baiting ring, situated near each other (bulls to the west, bears to the east). John Taylor the Water Poet
John Taylor (poet)
John Taylor was an English poet who dubbed himself "The Water Poet".-Biography:He was born in Gloucester, 24 August 1578....
, testifying in the Court of Exchequer
Court of Exchequer Chamber
The Court of Exchequer Chamber was an English appellate court for common law civil actions, prior to the reforms of the Judicature Acts of 1873-1875....
in 1620 or 1621, said that "the game of bear-baiting hath been kept in four several [i.e. separate] places, at Mason Stairs on the Bankside, near Maid Lane by the corner of Pike Garden, at the beargarden which was parcel of the possession of William Payne, and at the place where they now are kept."
Yet one main bear-baiting facility, the "Paris Garden," stood out in the public mind. In 1578, William Fleetwood, "Sergeant-in-law" and Recorder of London, described it as a place where foreign ambassadors met their spies and agents; at night it was so dark and obscured by trees that a man needed "cat's eyes" to see. Ambassadors and travellers were often shown the Beargarden; The prominent French nobleman the Duke of Biron was escorted there by Sir Walter Raleigh
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....
on September 7, 1601.
On Sunday, January 13, 1583, eight people were killed and others injured when the scaffold seating in the Beargarden collapsed under their weight. Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
commentators, hostile to animal baiting as they were to other sports and pastimes (like play-going), attributed the accident to God's displeasure. The Beargarden closed for a time, but re-opened a few months later.
The English monarchy had had an official "bearward," an officer in charge of its "bears, bulls, and mastiff dogs," at least from the reign of Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
. In 1573 a Ralph Bowes was appointed Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
's "Master of Her Majesty's Game at Paris Garden." ( Elizabeth herself, like other royals and aristocrats of her era, was a passionate fan of animal baiting.) In 1604, Philip Henslowe
Philip Henslowe
Philip Henslowe was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London...
(who had a financial interest in bear-baiting at least from 1594) and his son-in-law Edward Alleyn
Edward Alleyn
Edward Alleyn was an English actor who was a major figure of the Elizabethan theatre and founder of Dulwich College and Alleyn's School.-Early life:...
purchased the royal office of the Mastership for £450, and maintained the practice of animal baiting along with their other business of theatre production. Henslowe bought out Alleyn's share in 1611, for £580 (though Alleyn re-acquired his share upon Henslowe's 1616 death). In 1613, Henslowe and new partner Jacob Meade tore down the Beargarden, and in 1614 replaced it with the Hope Theatre
Hope Theatre
The Hope Theatre was one of the theatres built in and around London for the presentation of plays in English Renaissance theatre, comparable to the Globe, the Curtain, the Swan, and other famous theatres of the era....
. The Hope was equipped as a dual-purpose venue, hosting both stage plays and animal sports. Gradually, though, fewer plays were staged there, and the Hope was generally called the Beargarden after its primary use. Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
, in an entry in his famous Diary, describes a visit he and his wife paid to the Hope/Beargarden on August 14, 1666. (He called the spectacle "a rude and nasty pleasure.")
Spectacle
Surviving descriptions of the "entertainment" offered at the Beargarden have an extraordinary ring to a modern ear and sensibility. The crowds were amused at the whipping of the old blind bear "Harry Hunks" until the blood ran down his shoulders. (At least some bears — perhaps the fiercest, longest-enduring ones — were given names: "George Stone," "Ned Whiting," and the most famous, "Sackerson.") There are extant descriptions of horses with apes tied to their backs set upon by dogs. An early account, from the visiting Duke of NajeraHouse of Lara
The House of Lara or Casa de Lara are a noble family, known from the medieval Kingdom of Castile.Two of its branches, those from the Duke of Nájera and from the Marquis of Aguilar de Campoo were considered Grandees of Spain...
in 1544, mentions
- "...a pony with an ape fastened on its back, and to see the animal kicking among the dogs, with the screams of the ape, beholding the curs hanging from the ears and neck of the pony, is very laughable."
Pepys describes a bull tossing a dog into a spectators' box. Others mention the bulls tossing dogs into the air and then catching the falling dogs on their horns again. On a few rare occasions (in 1604 and 1605, and in 1609 and 1610), lions were baited.
The shows at the Beargarden had surprising aspects; according to contemporary accounts, music and fireworks were used, and special effects were employed. German tourist Lupold von Wedel was at the Beargarden on August 23, 1584; he left a description that cites the usual and expected baiting of bulls and bears, and a horse chased by the dogs, plus people dancing, and a man who threw white bread to the crowd (they "scrambled for it"). And then,
- "Right over the middle of the place a rose was fixed, this rose being set on fire by a rocket: suddenly lots of apples and pears fell out of it down upon the people standing below. Whilst the people were scrambling for the apples, some rockets were made to fall down upon them out of the rose, which caused a great fright but amused the spectators. After this, rockets and other fireworks came flying out of all corners, and that was the end...."
The last recorded instance of animal baiting at the Hope/Beargarden occurred on April 12, 1682, when "a fine but vicious horse was advertised to be baited to death for the amusement of the Moroccan ambassador...and for as many as would pay to see it." The horse reportedly had killed several men and other horses. It survived and beat off the dogs; to please the clamoring crowd, the horse was stabbed to death with a sword.
Nowadays, by contrast, the term "Bear Garden" is employed by a retailer of teddy bears
Teddy bear
The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...
and stuffed animals. However, the Bear Pit is not entirely forgotten: Alleyn bought the manor of Dulwich in 1605 and in the course of establishing his tenure, implemented a requirement of Sir Francis Bacon's Star Chamber to establish a charitable school "for 12 poor children of the parish of Camberwell" - who appear in practice to have often been the players of the female parts at the Globe. Their own sub-company, named the Bear Pit, continued in the original School, which passed through the Dulwich College Lower School in the 1850s to Alleyn's School in 1887, and remains active to this day, run without any parental or scholastic support, regularly producing household names in the theatre. The intention of theatre as a medium for the young was further promoted by the secondment of the School's Head of English, Michael Croft, in the late 1950s to establish the National Youth Theatre. Although many members were from the School, their outreach achieved the target of opening the theatre to many of less advantaged backgrounds, and a worldwide movement resulted.