Newington Butts Theatre

The Newington Butts Theatre stands beneath the busy pavement of the Elephant and Castle roundabout today, but in the sixteenth century, it occupied a lonely plot of land known as Lurklane. Built around 1575, it ranks among the very first purpose-built playhouses in England, constructed to escape the strict theatrical bans enforced by the City of London. Its name derives from the medieval archery practice grounds that once defined this area, as the rise of gunpowder eventually rendered the old archery butts obsolete and opened the space for commercial use.