June 29, 1613 the Globe Theatre in London burns to the ground
The Globe Theatre in London caught fire June 29, 1613 during a production of Henry VIII.
A canon misfire during the performance set the theatre’s thatch roof alight. No one was hurt, aside from one man who’s breeches caught fire. Luckily for him, there was plenty of ale and onlookers used it to douse the flames. Sadly their wasn’t enough beer to save the Globe Theatre. It burned to the ground in about 2 hours.
The Swan, 1595 | The Rose, 1592 | The Globe, 1599 | The Hope, 1613 | The Globe, 1614
Reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre
Issued in 1995
Designer: Cyril Walter Hodges
No longer since than yesterday, while Burbage’s company were acting at the Globe the play of Henry VIII, and there shooting off certain chambers in way of triumph, the fire catched and fastened upon the thatch of the house, and there burned so furiously, as it consumed the whole house, all in less than two hours, the people having enough to do to save themselves.
Reverend Thomas Lorkin in a letter to Sir Thomas Puckering June 30, 1613.
From Shakespearean Playhouses, A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration, Joseph Quincy Adams, reprint 1960, pp 254
Here’s a good article on the fire https://www.historyextra.com/period/elizabethan/globe-theatre-fire-london-shakespeare-william-facts/
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