This article is edited from the original article on King's College London.

The exact location of William Shakespeare's only known London property can now be placed on a specific stretch of Blackfriars, thanks to a previously unknown floorplan uncovered in the archives.

The research, led by Shakespeare scholar Professor Lucy Munro at King's College London, identifies not just the spot where Shakespeare bought 'lodgings' in March 1613, but also key details about the property's footprint and context within the old Blackfriars precinct.

A long-standing mystery, newly resolved

For centuries, scholars have known that Shakespeare owned a house in Blackfriars late in his career, but the precise location was uncertain. The blue City of London plaque at 5 St Andrew's Hill commemorates the purchase, yet carefully notes the gatehouse was 'near this site'.

That ambiguity mattered: the Blackfriars precinct changed dramatically over time, and the gatehouse complex was later destroyed and rebuilt, leaving historians with educated guesses rather than an address.

What the documents reveal

Munro traced the property through three archival documents (two held by The London Archives and one by The National Archives). The most decisive is a plan of part of the precinct drawn in 1668, after the Great Fire of London, which anchors the house's position and dimensions.

The plan confirms that the portion spanning the gate does not appear because it lacked a foundation, but the adjoining section is clearly mapped. Its footprint measures 45 feet east to west, with a width of 15 feet at the eastern end and 13 feet at the western end. While the drawing does not show individual rooms, later evidence indicates it was substantial enough to be divided into two houses by 1645.

Rethinking Shakespeare's later years

The discovery also nudges scholars to revisit a familiar story: that Shakespeare effectively retired from the London theatre world soon after 1613 and settled permanently in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Because the Blackfriars house sat close to the Blackfriars theatre, the purchase may have been more than a passive investment. Munro notes that Shakespeare was still writing and co-authoring work around the time of the purchase, and records also place him in London in 1614 — making it plausible he sometimes stayed in property he owned.

What happened to the house

The remaining documents clarify how the property left Shakespeare's family: his granddaughter, Elizabeth Hall Nash Barnard, sold it in 1665. Just a year later, the Great Fire of London destroyed it, along with countless other buildings.

By matching the 1668 plan to today's street layout, Munro's research shows the house covered what are now the eastern end of Ireland Yard, the bottom of Burgon Street, and parts of the buildings at 5 Burgon Street and 5 St Andrew's Hill — meaning the plaque on 5 St Andrew's Hill sits on the spot!

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