Shakespeare's Globe: The Rebuild That Needed Permission for Its Thatch

Shakespeare's Globe stands on the south bank of the Thames at Bankside in Southwark. It is the third Globe on this bank, and the Globe says it was built as close to the original site as possible, just one street nearer the river. Approached from the river, it reads as a circular timber-framed playhouse with white lime-plaster walls and a thatched roof. The thatch is the giveaway. The Globe says its water-reed roof is the first in London since the Great Fire of 1666, and that it had to fight for special permission, because there has been a law against thatched buildings in London since 1666. Every other building in the central city is roofed in tile, slate, lead or a modern membrane.

Three Globes

The first Globe opened in 1599, built by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the company William Shakespeare wrote for and part-owned. In 1613 a mis-fired prop cannon set the thatch alight and the theatre burned down within two hours. The company rebuilt it in a year, with a tiled roof. That second Globe operated until Parliament shut it by decree in 1642.

Bankside lay in the Bishop of Winchester's Liberty, a stretch of south-bank land under the bishops' manorial jurisdiction where the City's law did not run. The ruin of the bishop's palace stands a short walk east along Clink Street.

How the rebuild started

Sam Wanamaker was born in Chicago in 1919. He first visited Britain in 1949 and went to look for the site of the original Globe. All he found, by the Globe's account, was a plaque on a brewery wall that was not even correctly positioned. He returned in 1951 and stayed. In 1970 he set out to build the Globe, and in 1971 he founded the Shakespeare Globe Trust. The Globe says it then took twenty-three years to find the land, get planning permission and raise the money, and that he died on 18 December 1993, while the building was still under construction.

The theatre officially opened in 1997, although workshops and performances had taken place on the stage since 1995. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in June 1997. The architect was Theo Crosby.

The construction

The Globe is an icosagon, a twenty-sided polygon, with a capacity of 1,570 in the open-air theatre: about seven hundred standing in the yard and the rest seated. It is built from oak beams and lime-plaster walls, under a water-reed thatched roof. The builders made every joint in the same way as the original and fixed the timbers together using wooden pegs, though safety regulations meant that modern scaffolding and cranes were used on the site.

The thatch is the most visible piece of that commitment. Building regulations meant the thatch had to be lined with fire-retardant material, and a concealed sprinkler system sits in the roof. The reeds came from Norfolk, in some six thousand bundles by one account.

Beyond the main stage

The complex also includes the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, an indoor theatre that opened in 2014. The Globe runs summer seasons in the open-air theatre; the 2026 season runs to 25 October. The outside of the building can be walked past for free, and guided tours of the theatre run daily, though the Globe says the theatre is open only at specific times for tours and performances, so book ahead.

What the walk does with it

The South Bank and Bankside walk reaches the Globe as its eighth stop, from the paved strip just north of the building. From there you see the white walls and the thatch; the stage and yard are hidden. The walk then carries on to Southwark Bridge, the bishop's ruined palace, Southwark Cathedral and the George Inn.