CHAPTER III
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane: the Site
The original Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,
was built in an oblong stable yard in the
centre of the block of property bounded by
Brydges (now Catherine) Street on the west, Russell Street on the north, Drury Lane on the east,
and Little Brydges Street and Vinegar Yard on
the south (fig. 1). At the time of the building
of the theatre in 1662–3 the yard was already
surrounded by buildings on all four sides, and the
only access to it was by a narrow passage at the
west end leading into Brydges Street and by
another at the east end to Drury Lane (Plate 1b).
When the operations of the theatre required more
space, the existence of buildings all around the site
made any expansion extremely difficult to achieve.
These difficulties were greatly increased by the
fact that the ground landlords of the site of the
theatre, the Earls of Bedford, who had for many
years owned the freehold of the entire block of
property described above, had between 1635 and
1659 disposed of the fee farms of most of the
ground around the theatre. Until the 1790's
the separate fee-farm ownerships thereby established prevented any effective widening of the
theatre on the north and south sides, and although
enlargements of the site did take place from time
to time, notably under David Garrick, Drury
Lane Theatre remained hemmed in by the surrounding buildings until Henry Holland rebuilt
it in 1791–4. By this time the fourth and fifth
Dukes of Bedford had repurchased the freehold of
most of these surrounding buildings, and Holland
was therefore able to design a much wider theatre
with less constricted access. The present theatre
erected in 1811–12 now occupies what is virtually
an island site, with the principal entrances from
Catherine Street and Russell Street (see figs. 1–6).
The site leased by the fifth Earl of Bedford in
December 1661 to the building shareholders had
some years previously formed part of a strip of land
some 60 feet wide, extending westward from
Drury Lane to the wall of Covent Garden (later
Brydges Street). This strip had been leased in
1616 by Edward, third Earl of Bedford, to
Sir Edward Cecil, later Viscount Wimbledon, for
a term dependent on three lives. (ref. 1) During the
currency of this lease part of the site of the future
Theatre Royal was occupied by an earlier and
probably short-lived playhouse. A survey made in
or after May 1635 mentions here a stable, coachhouses, a riding-house and 'A playhouse 31 foote
broad & 40 foote longe: boarded walles & sheded
with pann tiles'. (ref. 2) This may perhaps be identified
with the temporary playhouse licensed by the
Lord Chamberlain in April 1635 to a group of
French players, and which was erected within the
short space of seventeen days from the grant of the
licence in the 'manage' (i.e. riding school) of
Monsieur Le Febure in Drury Lane. (ref. 3)
When the lease of 1616 expired in 1652 the
middle portion of the strip, comprising the future
site of the Theatre Royal, passed into the tenure
of Richard Ryder, carpenter, and was described
in the fifth Earl of Bedford's lease of 20 December
1661 to the theatre building shareholders as 'the
Rideing Yard'. (ref. 4) By this time the Earls of Bedford had sold the fee farm of most of their ground
surrounding the site of the theatre (see fig. 1).
The lease of 20 December 1661 to the building
shareholders was for a term of forty-one years
from Christmas 1661 at an annual rent of £50.
The site (A on fig. 1) was described as measuring
in length 112 feet east to west and in breadth 59
feet at the east end and 58 feet at the west end. (ref. 5)
Access was by means of two passages, from Drury
Lane and Brydges Street. These dimensions were
repeated precisely in the later leases granted by
the Dukes of Bedford to the building shareholders
in 1695, 1710/11, and 1731/2, (ref. 6) and it was
within the boundaries of this curtilage that the
first theatre was built in 1662–3 and (after the
fire of 1671/2) the second in 1674. The first
theatre did not occupy the whole site; in front
of the west end there was a small yard (B on fig. 1)
which measured 10 feet by 58 feet. (ref. 7)
The freehold of the plot of ground immediately
east of the theatre also belonged to the Earl of
Bedford, who on 1 May 1662 leased it to William
Hewett (ref. 8) (see fig. 1, land marked 'leased to
Hewett May 1662'). Hewett was one of the two
trustees for the building shareholders in their
lease of 20 December 1661, but his status in this
second lease is uncertain. However, it seems
likely that he was again serving as trustee for the
building shareholders. (ref. 9) Little is known about
what use was made of this site other than that by
June 1663 several of the building shareholders
and/or actors held a sub-lease of part of it, where
then stood several newly built messuages. (ref. 10) In a
sub-lease of the theatre granted in June 1683 by
the building shareholders to Charles Davenant,
Thomas Betterton and William Smith (ref. 11) the length
of the playhouse is given as 140 feet, that is eastwards 28 feet beyond the 112-foot-long curtilage
of the theatre site itself. As there is no evidence
that the theatre building had been extended eastward, it seems probable that part at least of this
second plot was used in conjunction with the
theatre even from this early date; but it was not an
integral part of the playhouse, and when the
ground lease to Hewett expired in 1702 the
second Duke of Bedford granted the new lease
not to the building shareholders but to Christopher Rich, who was then managing the affairs of
the theatre. This lease states that five houses and
other buildings then stood on this eastern plot, and
that the passage from Drury Lane to the theatre
still extended through the middle of the site. (ref. 12)
Fig. 1. Site plan, 1661–1748. Based on leases and fee-farm grants in Greater London Record Office. Hatched areas represent land sold by the Earls of Bedford before 1661. Unhatched areas represent land owned by the Earls and Dukes of Bedford
A Site leased for theatre, 20 December 1661 (marked with
thick line)
B Yard of first theatre
C Hall
D Sparrow's Nest
E (? Great) Scene Room
F (? Little) Scene Room
G Green Room
A lease plan of 1710 shows the plot marked C
on fig. 1 (which was later used as a hall to the
theatre, see Plate 6) as 'let to players'. (ref. 13) By 1739
the plot marked D on fig. 1 was in the tenure of
Charles Fleetwood, who was then in control of
the theatre. (ref. 14) This was then known as the
Sparrow's Nest (probably because a John Sparrow
had occupied it in the 1670's), (ref. 15) and was used for
a wardrobe. (ref. 16)
It has previously been assumed that the extra
28 feet at the east end of the theatre mentioned
in the sub-lease of 1683 (see above) was taken up
by a scene room which therefore measured 28 feet
by 58 feet. (ref. 17) This is not the case; the site of the
scene room was on the south side of the theatre on
ground the fee farm of which had been sold by the
fourth Earl of Bedford in 1635 to Henry Wicks. (ref. 18)
In about 1662–4 John Higden, who had acquired
this fee farm from Wicks, (ref. 19) leased part of his
ground, of unknown dimensions, to eight of the
actors for a term of forty years at an annual rent of
£30. In 1684 Higden's son was the defendant in
a Chancery suit in which he recited the lease
granted by his father to the actors and mentioned
that 'the Scene Roome . . . did and does stand
upon this defendant's father's land'. (ref. 20)
Fig. 2. Site plan, 1748–78. Based on leases and plan of 1778 in Greater London Record Office. The broken line denotes
the position of the frontispiece, 1778. By 1778 the whole of the passage from plot A to Drury Lane had been built over
In 1683 the actors were ejected from the scene
room for failure to pay the rent, and the property
(rebuilt after the fire of 1672) was then leased for
nineteen years to the directors of the new united
company of actors—Charles Killigrew, Charles
Davenant and their principal associates. (ref. 20) In
1714 when William Collier, then the sub-lessee
and chief manager of the theatre, held the lease
of the scene room, it was described as the 'Great
Scene Room' (? E on fig. 1) and the 'Little
Scene Room' (ref. 21) (? F on fig. 1). The plan of c. 1748
reproduced on Plate 6 marks plots E and F as
'taken into the playhouse'. It also marks plot G
on fig. 1 as the Green Room, which could be
entered from either Little Brydges Street or
Vinegar Yard.
Between 1748 and 1791 there was considerable piecemeal expansion of the site of the theatre.
In 1748 the fourth Duke of Bedford renewed the
ground lease of the playhouse itself (A on fig. 2) to
David Garrick and James Lacy for a term of
twenty-one years commencing at Christmas 1753.
This new lease also included a number of adjoining buildings and houses: three in Russell
Street against the north side of the theatre (B), of
which the one at the east end was turned into a
side entrance to the theatre; six houses in the
passage to Drury Lane (C), including a hall to the
theatre and the Sparrow's Nest (D); and three
houses in the passage to Brydges Street (E and F).
These buildings were let for a variety of terms
according to when the current leases fell in, but
the lease of the whole site was calculated to expire
on 25 December 1774; the rent increased as the
various buildings became vacant, reaching the
maximum of £210 per annum on 25 December
1759. (ref. 22)
It was probably about this time, 1748–9, that
Garrick and Lacy also acquired the leases of two
properties adjoining the theatre which did not
belong to the Duke of Bedford. These were a
house in Russell Street (G on fig. 2) which is
shown on the plan of c. 1748 (Plate 6) as containing a passage to the playhouse and was
probably used for the new passage to the boxes
made in 1750: and a house in Little Brydges
Street (H on fig. 2) which is shown on the same
plan as containing two passages into the theatre. (ref. 23)
In 1749 the Duke of Bedford granted Garrick
and Lacy a lease of two more houses in Russell
Street (I on fig. 2) between those they already
had. (ref. 24) Three years later, in 1752, a new passage
into the theatre from Brydges Street (F) was
opened on the south side of the old passage. (ref. 25) In
1753 Garrick and Lacy obtained a lease of the
Rose Tavern on the corner of Russell Street and
Brydges Street (J on fig. 2) from the Duke of
Bedford. (ref. 26)
In 1762 Garrick and Lacy decided to make
some substantial alterations to the playhouse and
applied to the fourth Duke of Bedford's son, the
Marquess of Tavistock, who then possessed a life
interest in the property, for a renewal of the lease.
The new lease, dated 24 March 1762, (ref. 27) extended
the site at either end (K and L on fig. 2) and
granted a reversionary term of twenty-one years
from 25 December 1774 of the theatre and all
other buildings leased by the Bedfords to Lacy
and Garrick in or since 1748 (A—J excluding G
and H on fig. 2). The fine was £2,100 and the
new rent £350 per annum from Lady Day 1775.
By this time the Dukes of Bedford were occasionally buying back the fee farms of some of the
property which their predecessors had sold in the
seventeenth century, and in 1764 the plot marked
M on fig. 2, which had been sold in 1642, was
repurchased. (ref. 28) Two years later the Marquess of
Tavistock leased it to Garrick and Lacy for a
term expiring at Christmas 1795—the date of
expiry of all the other plots in lease to them. (ref. 29)
This site was later used for scene rooms and a
'Lamp lighting' room. (ref. 30) Later in the same year,
1766, Garrick and Lacy also acquired from
Jeremiah Percy, plumber, a sub-lease of the adjoining small plot marked N. (ref. 31)
In 1775–6 the theatre was altered and embellished to the designs of Robert Adam, and these
improvements occasioned the acquisition of yet
more property. In 1775 Garrick bought the fee
farm of the Ben Jonson's Head Tavern in
Russell Street (ref. 32) (plot O on fig. 2), 'for the Better
accommodation of the said Theatre' and the joint
use of himself and Willoughby Lacy. This house
was used as a box-office lobby. (ref. 33)
The most striking of the alterations made in
1775 was the erection in Brydges Street of an
imposing facade (Plate 8) to the two existing
parallel passages which gave access to the theatre.
On either side of these passages were situated the
'Chair Room', the treasurer's office and a number
of lobbies. Some of the more recently acquired
buildings surrounding the theatre itself may also
have been renovated at this time. (ref. 30)
The plan of 1778 reproduced on Plate 7 and
redrawn on fig. 3 shows the theatre divided into
three parts—the west part, 'from Frontispiece
to outside of West Wall, which includes Boxes,
Pitt and Gallerys, with the Orchestra and part
of the Stage before the Curtain'; the middle part,
from 'the Shutter home to the Frontispiece'; and
the east part, 'with the two Closets home to the
Shutter'. This plan also shows that the theatre
had been considerably lengthened since its original
erection in 1672–4, for the east wall now stood
some 100 feet east of the site of Wren's east
wall. Some of this lengthening had probably taken
place before 1775—perhaps in 1762.
Fig. 3. Site plan, 1778. Redrawn from the plan reproduced on Plate 7
A William Smith now Hughes, house belonging to the
Fund
B Jane Garland and Richard Brusby
C William Bayless
Russell Street
D Thomas Fosbrook. Box Book keeper
E Hall and Entrance in the Theatre
F William Kirk. Housekeeper
G Ditto and dressing-rooms over
H William Pope
I Yearley Waterer
K Francis Heath with the Box passage
Bridges Street
L Richard Newton
M Ditto next
N John Harrison and the principal passage to the Boxes
O Inmates over and the principal passage to the Pit and
Gallery
P Thomas Parsonage
Little Bridges Street
Q Charlotte Jones with passages to the First and Upper
Gallerys
R John Aickin
S Isaac Abrahams
T Property Room, Matted room and Carpenters Hall
Building
U Old Green room and New Green room Building
V Scene rooms and Lamplighting room
The Theatre
W East part with the two Closets home to the Shuttter
X Middle part from the Shutter home to the Frontispice
Y West part from Frontispiece to outside of West wall,
which includes Boxes, Pit and Gallerys with the
Orchestra and part of the Stage before the Curtain
Z Treasury. Gallery Staircases and Lobbys from the West
Wall of Theatre home to the Rose Tavern and long
Passage to the Pit from Marquis Court
(Inscribed) September 1778. J Hele
Charlotte Street
Pancras
Pencil note written on plots B and C: 'This Plan is certainly wrong as far as relates to Mr. Macnamara, it not shewing
it correctly. Ground is not in the Shape here represented. A. R. Brown March 1813.'
In May 1776 the site was again extended eastwards towards Drury Lane. This extension was
more difficult to achieve because the freehold of
the land (P and Q on fig. 2) between Drury Lane
and that leased by the Marquess of Tavistock
to Garrick and Lacy in 1762 did not belong to the
Duke but to one Arthur Jones. (fn. a) On 1 May 1776
Garrick and Lacy leased to Jones the passage,
which had been excepted out of the fifth Earl of
Bedford's original grant of the fee farm in 1656,
and which still bisected plots P and Q. On 2 May
1776 Jones leased to the Duchess of Bedford
(guardian of her grandson, the fifth Duke, who
was still a minor) the plots marked P, together
with the passage between them, which he had just
acquired from Garrick and Lacy. On the
following day the Duchess leased the same plots
(P), and the passage between them, back to
Garrick and Lacy for a term expiring at Christmas 1795. (ref. 35) The proprietors of the theatre no
longer required the passage from Drury Lane into
the theatre, 'a more commodious Passage' having
recently been made to it from Marquis Court (see
Plate 7). Part of plot P was used for two outbuildings one of which housed the fire engine,
and the other was intended to store the organ used
in oratorios. (ref. 36)
In December 1776 Garrick and Lacy purchased the leases of the two adjoining plots to the
east, marked Q. The ground between the two
halves of plot Q was described as 'Formerly old
Passage to said Theatre . . . with all Tenements
. . . afterwards Built or erected Thereon.' (ref. 37)
Meanwhile, the lease of the enlarged 'Great
Scene Room' (marked R on fig. 2), and of the
'Little Scene Room' (S), the latter now known
(probably after rebuilding) as the 'New Scene
Room', had been renewed in 1771 to Garrick
and James Lacy by Samuel Wegg, the owner of
the fee farm. This lease also included both the
adjoining plot to the west, marked T, where
stood two houses in Little Brydges Street, (ref. 38) and
the house on plot H. It is not known when the
houses on plot T first came into Garrick and
Lacy's possession.
Between 1776 and 1791 no additions were
made to the site of Drury Lane Theatre. By the
latter year both Drury Lane and Covent Garden
theatres had become too small to provide for the
needs of the increasing London audience and the
demand for a third London theatre was growing.
Rather than yield to this attack upon his monopoly
position Sheridan, who was now the principal
proprietor of Drury Lane, sought to forestall the
opposition by building a very much larger theatre.
For this he needed a bigger site, but even after
the various additions made to the site since 1748
the basic difficulty remained—the theatre was still
largely hemmed in by ground not belonging to the
Dukes of Bedford. It was clearly desirable that
the site of the new theatre should not be in several
separate ownerships, and accordingly in 1789–90
Sheridan requested the fifth Duke of Bedford to
purchase those pieces of ground which would be
required and to grant a new ground lease of the
enlarged site so formed. (ref. 39) The Duke agreed to
co-operate, and by the summer of 1791 he had
either bought or contracted for most of the properties required. On 30 July 1791 he agreed with
Sheridan and Linley that he would before Christmas 1795 grant them a ninety-nine-year lease of
all the ground which they wanted. This ground
is shown in fig. 4. In order to complete the unification of ownership of the site Sheridan and
Linley agreed to sell to the Duke their fee farm of
the Ben Jonson's Head in Russell Street (A on
fig. 4), which Garrick had bought in 1775. (fn. b) The
lease was to commence at Christmas 1795, the
date of expiry of the current ground lease of the
site of the existing theatre. (ref. 41) On 6 August 1791
the fifth Duke granted Sheridan and Linley a
short lease expiring at Christmas 1795 of those
pieces of ground of which the conveyances to him
had by then been completed. (ref. 42)
In the event the Duke did not succeed in purchasing part of one plot in Drury Lane which he
had covenanted to buy. The purchase of the freehold of plot B on fig. 4 was held up by legal difficulties, but as this ground was occupied by old
houses in Drury Lane whose site was not immediately required for the rebuilding of the theatre,
this delay had no great significance. Ultimately
plot B was bought by the theatre proprietors'
trustees in 1807, and sold by them to the sixth
Duke in 1812. (ref. 43)
Fig. 4. Site plan, 1791–1809. Based on leases and plans in Greater London Record Office
Boundary of the area which the Duke of Bedford agreed to lease to Sheridan and Linley in 1791
Duke of Bedford's freehold land
Land purchased by the Duke of Bedford in 1791
Land in lease to the Duke of Bedford from the freeholder, Arthur Jones
Outline of H. Holland's theatre
Columns of the colonnades
Fig. 5. Site plan, 1812–20. Based on lease plan of 1812 in Greater London Record Office
Outline of Wyatt's theatre
Land leased to the Company of Proprietors by the sixth Duke of Bedford in 1812
The small plot D within the walls of the theatre but outside the boundary of the agreed site was already held by Sheridan
and Linley under a lease granted by Jeremiah Percy to Garrick and Lacy in 1766 (N on fig. 2)
In the agreement of 30 July 1791 Sheridan
and Linley covenanted to rebuild the theatre and
to erect new houses on those parts of the site which
were not occupied by the theatre itself. (fn. c) The
agreement states that these building works were to
be carried out in accordance with the designs prepared by Henry Holland and which had already
been approved by the fifth Duke. (ref. 41) Shortage of
money prevented Sheridan and Linley from fulfilling the whole of their covenant, and the land
at the corner of Russell Street and Brydges
Street remained vacant until after the burning of
the theatre in 1809 (Plate 21b). Because of their
failure to meet their obligations the Duke refused
to execute the new ground lease which he had
undertaken to grant to Sheridan and Linley,
though he continued to receive his rent under the
terms of the agreement of 30 July 1791.
The old playhouse closed its doors on 4 June
1791, and the first performance in the new house
took place on 12 March 1794.
Fig. 4 shows that Holland's theatre as actually
built was not completely restricted to land owned
by the fifth Duke of Bedford, for a small piece of
the stage was built upon ground which had been
leased to the Duchess of Bedford in 1776 by the
then owner of the freehold, Arthur Jones (see
page 35). According to Holland's nephew,
Henry Rowles, writing in 1815, this mistake
occurred because Holland had been misled by the
plan of 1778 of Garrick's theatre (reproduced on
Plate 7), which purported to show all the ground
then occupied by the theatre as being in the
ownership of the Duke of Bedford. Even the
lawyers were confused, for in the agreement of
30 July 1791 the Duke had covenanted inter alia
to lease plot C on fig. 4 for a term expiring in
1894, although his own term in it only extended
to 1844. In 1800 more of the land owned by
Jones was used for the erection of a large carpenter's shop, measuring 60 feet by 20 feet,
at the east end of the theatre. This was built by
Mr. John Jackson of Pimlico, upon a platform
about ten feet above the ground and on the same
level as the stage, for which it was sometimes
used as an extension. (ref. 45)
As the Duke of Bedford held the ground lease
of plot C on fig. 4 from the freeholder, Arthur
Jones, the existence of this divided ownership of
the freehold of the site of the theatre did not
present any problems until the destruction of
Holland's theatre by fire on the night of 24
February 1809. But when the present Theatre
Royal, Drury Lane, was built in 1811–12, to the
designs of Benjamin Dean Wyatt, no part of it
stood on Jones's land, which was now owned by a
Mr. Macnamara. The latter was left with the
ruins of the now useless carpenter's shop and a
small part of the old theatre, and he therefore
claimed damages for contravention of the lease
against his tenant, the sixth Duke of Bedford.
A jury in the Court of King's Bench found for the
plaintiff and in 1815 the Duke's steward reported
that £1,100 had been paid to Macnamara for
the damages awarded to him. (ref. 46)
Fig. 6. Site plan, 1903. Based on lease plan of 1903 in Greater London Record Office
The new theatre was already nearly completed
when, on 11 July 1812, the sixth Duke of Bedford granted a new ground lease to the jointstock company, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Company of Proprietors, which had been responsible for the rebuilding, for a term expiring at
Christmas 1894. (ref. 47) (fn. d) The ground granted by this
lease is shown on fig. 5. The plot there marked A,
formerly the Ben Jonson's Head (the freehold of
which had been bought from Sheridan by the
Company of Proprietors and sold to the Duke of
Bedford in March 1814) was the subject of a
separate lease made to the company in July 1814,
also for a term expiring at Christmas 1894. (ref. 51)
The plot marked B on fig. 5 (the freehold of
which had been bought by the theatre proprietors'
trustees in 1807 and sold to the Duke in 1812)
was also the subject of a separate lease to the
company in January 1813, again for a term expiring at Christmas 1894. (ref. 52) In 1814 the present
two-storey building had been erected on this and
the adjoining ground at the corner of Russell
Street and Drury Lane; it was originally used as a
scene room. (ref. 53)
On the south side of the theatre there remained
some vacant land between the theatre and the
north side of Little Brydges Street and Marquis
Court (formerly Vinegar Yard). In 1824 this
was enclosed by a wall and iron railings and a
number of outbuildings were subsequently erected
there. (ref. 54) The houses on the south side of Little
Brydges Street and Marquis Court which had
been included in the lease of 1812 were sublet to supplement the company's income. (ref. 55)
When the ground lease of 1812 expired in 1894
the new lease of the theatre granted by the
eleventh Duke of Bedford did not include any
property on the south side of Little Brydges
Street.
The final alterations to the curtilage of the
theatre were made in 1897–1903. As part of his
agreement with the eleventh Duke in 1897 (ref. 56)
Arthur Collins, the lessee, undertook to make a
narrow private passage extending along the whole
of the south side of the theatre and to enclose it
with the high wall which now separates this
passage from the blocks of flats later built on the
north side of the extension of Tavistock Street.
In compensation for the resultant loss of some
buildings on the south side of the theatre Collins
was given permission to rebuild the property
room and paint-shop (A and B on fig. 6) at the
east end of the theatre, with a front to Drury
Lane. This agreement was subsequently taken
over by the present company, Theatre Royal
Drury Lane Limited, (ref. 57) which completed the
work and in December 1900 obtained from the
Duke a lease embodying these alterations to the
site. (ref. 58) At the same time the company also obtained a separate lease of Nos. 67–70 (consec.)
Drury Lane, (ref. 59) C on fig. 6, which had been
rebuilt in 1899–1900 to the designs of P. E. Pilditch. (ref. 60) In 1903 both these leases were surrendered and the Duke granted a new lease of the
whole site for a term expiring in 1977. (ref. 61) The
company thus obtained possession of all the premises between the east end of the theatre and
Drury Lane, and thereby concluded the process
of piecemeal enlargement of the site which had
been going on ever since the building of the first
theatre there in 1662–3.