What Londoners Really Did for Fun: Bears, Brothels & Shakespeare

I took the Missus on a tour of the Liberty of the Clink on London’s Southbank, an area where many vices were legal from medieval times through the Tudor period.

Home to brothels, bear-baiting arenas, and the Globe Theatre, this infamous district was where Londoners really let off steam. A fascinating journey through the scandalous, shocking, and dark side of old London!

Chapters
00:00 Welcome to the Liberty of the Clink
02:05 The Wincester Geese
08:25 London's Bear Garden
13:00 Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
16:50 Band of Brother's Speech
17:30 See You Next Time

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#MedievalLondon #TudorLondon #LondonHistory #HistoryTour #HiddenHistory #Walkingtour #Shakespeare

Disclaimer:
I’ve made every effort to source and use archival materials that are either in the public domain or licensed under Creative Commons. If any copyrighted material appears, it’s used under the principles of fair dealing for purposes such as commentary, criticism, education, and research.

Archive:
Clip from: Hamilton, (2020 film), Walt Disney Pictures
Clip from: Henry V, (1989 film), BBC
Bear baiting, Dbadke, no changes made:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Cross Bones Graveyard, ProfDEH, no changes made: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Western Side of Cross Bones Graveyard, Doyle of London, no changes made: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Bull and Bear Baiting arenas, Stephencdickson, no changes made: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Images courtesy of the Folger Digital Image Collection:
Sketch view of London with Bankside and the theatres ca. 1595
A view inside the Theatre by Walter C. Hodges, c. 1576
Conjectural, cut-away view of the interior of the Globe by Joseph Quincy Adams.
Courtesy of Cambridge University Press: The Theatre by Walter C. Hodges