Bear Gardens

Bear Gardens, SE1

Located just a few paces from both the Globe and the Rose Theatres, Bear Gardens was at the centre of the entertainment industry.   Bear and bull baiting were major spectator sports and there were several purpose-built arenas in this area.  They were all great crowd pullers and a source of stiff competition for the playmakers.

Bear and bull baiting were immensely popular in Tudor times and even monarchs were pleased to spend an afternoon watching the gristly set-piece fights.  Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I visited a baiting ring that stood just north of this site, the Queen apparently thinking it such an excellent amusement that she took the French and Spanish ambassadors along!

The bear garden that occupied this plot of land was built some time later, in 1662 and although this was after the Restoration, other bear and bull baiting rings managed to survive the Puritan backlash while all the theatres were closed down.  This seems a rather surprising choice, considering the strict moral code of the day.

So bear baiting went on all through the reign of Charles II and from its site in Bear Gardens, the Davies amphitheatre, as it was known, did a roaring trade.   The attraction continued to appeal to all levels of society and both the diarist Pepys and his contemporary Evelyn came here to watch shows. 

The tide of public opinion must have been beginning to change around then, though, for while Pepys notes that he and his wife 'saw some good sport of the bull's tossing the dogs - one into the very boxes' on the evening of August 14, 1666, he adds:  'But it is a very rude and nasty pleasure.' 

The house on Bear Gardens is now an art gallery with a studio where resident and visiting artists can be seen at work. PRINTSPACE welcomes visitors.
Open 11am - 6pm Tuesday- Sunday & Bank Holiday Mondays.

For details of exhibitions see: www.print-space.com.

Nearest tube:  Mansion House, Cannon Street (District and Circle lines) or London Bridge (Northern Line).

© 1997 - 2007 Jan Collie. All rights reserved.