On this day in 1576, the actor and theatrical impresario James Burbage leased the land on which he later built London’s first play-house, known simply as “The Theatre”, in Shoreditch.  In 1599, sometime after the twenty-one year lease ran out, the building was disassembled and reassembled in Southwark – as “The Globe” – by James’s son Cuthbert Burbage.

The buried remains of “The Theatre” in Shoreditch came to light during archaeological excavations in 2008.