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The Royal Grecian Theatre was a music hall theatre, located in the grounds of the Eagle Tavern, a public house at Shepherdess Walk, just off the City Road in Shoreditch, in the East End of London. The Eagle, best known for its association with the nursery rhyme Pop goes the weasel survives (albeit rebuilt), but the theatre does not.
The Shepherd and Shepherdess tavern had been built at the site sometime prior to 1745, in what was then a rural part of the parish of Shoreditch. Invalids would stay at the tavern to benefit from the pure country air. The tavern was popular for cream cakes and furmety. Shepherdess Walk is likely to take its name from the old tavern. the tavern was demolished in the 1820s. [2]
The Eagle Tavern was built on the site in the 1820s, and in 1832 a pavilion, known as the Grecian Saloon, was built in its grounds. The saloon was rebuilt in 1841, becoming a theatre proper. It received a licence in 1858, and became the Royal Grecian. Alterations in 1858 made it a 2500-seat theatre. In 1877 a new 4000-seat theatre was built on the site of the old ballroom.
The Eagle's influence on the Music Hall genre was profound, being described as:
The father and mother, the dry and wet nurse of Music Hall
In 1882 the buildings were put up for auction by the owner, T. G. Clark, who had in turn purchased it from George Conquest in 1879. The premises were bought by the Salvation Army. The theatre was demolished in 1900 and the Eagle rebuilt. The Eagle pub, which is still in business. [1]
Marie Lloyd,, known as the Queen of the Music Hall, worked at the Eagle as a waitress at the age of 15. [4] Her father John who was a waiter there also secured her an unpaid role as a table singer at the venue. [5]
In 1851 Benjamin Conquest became proprietor. The musical directorship of the Grecian changed hands in 1870, general musical director William Edroff died leaving his son Andrew to direct the bands in the ballroom and on the outdoor platform. Edward Barrett, however had been the leader of the theatre orchestra. Barrett's son Oscar took over music for the dramas and pantomimes in 1870.
The nursery rhyme Pop Goes the Weasel refers to the old tavern:
Up and down the City road,
In and out the Eagle,
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop goes the weasel.
The pub features in Charles Dickens Sketches by Boz, when the Eagle is visited by Jemima Evans and Samuel Wilkins.
Crofton Park is a mainly residential suburb and electoral ward in the London Borough of Lewisham.
Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England, and is in northeast London and is part of the East End. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. It lies immediately northeast of the City of London financial district, and was once part of the civil parish and subsequent Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, prior to its incorporation into the London Borough of Hackney.
Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north-east of the border with the City of London and is considered to be a part of London's East End.
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Britain between bold and scandalous music hall entertainment and subsequent, more respectable variety entertainment differ. Music hall involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts, and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. In North America vaudeville was in some ways analogous to British music hall, featuring rousing songs and comic acts.
City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road. Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for the eastern part of London's first bypass, the New Road from Paddington to Islington, which was constructed in 1756. The City Road was built in 1761 as a continuation of that route to the City of London.
Old Street is a 1-mile (1.6 km) street in inner north-east Central London, England that runs west to east from Goswell Road in Clerkenwell, in the London Borough of Islington, via St Luke's and Old Street Roundabout, to the crossroads where it meets Shoreditch High Street (south), Kingsland Road (north) and Hackney Road (east) in Shoreditch in the London Borough of Hackney.
Strand is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster, Central London. The street, which is part of London's West End theatreland, runs just over 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) from Trafalgar Square eastwards to Temple Bar, where the road becomes Fleet Street in the City of London, and is part of the A4, a main road running west from inner London.
"Pop! Goes the Weasel" is a traditional English and American song, a country dance, nursery rhyme, and singing game that emerged in the mid-19th century. It is commonly used in jack-in-the-box toys and for ice cream trucks.
Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning of Ermine Street, the ancient road running from London to York (Eboracum). The gate was rebuilt twice in the 15th and 18th centuries, but was permanently demolished in 1760.
Coventry Street is a short street in the West End of London, connecting Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square. Part of the street is a section of the A4, a major road through London. It is named after the politician Henry Coventry, secretary of state to Charles II.
St Martin Orgar was a church in the City of London in Martin Lane, off Cannon Street. Its name is said to derive from one Ordgarus, a Dane who donated the church to the canons of St Paul’s.
St Leonard's, Shoreditch, is the ancient parish church of Shoreditch, often known simply as Shoreditch Church. It is located at the intersection of Shoreditch High Street with Hackney Road, within the London Borough of Hackney in East London. The current building dates from about 1740 and is Grade I listed. The church is mentioned in the line ""When I grow rich", say the bells of Shoreditch" from the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons.
Spinner's weasel or clock reel is a mechanical yarn-measuring device consisting of a spoked wheel with gears attached to a pointer on a marked face and an internal mechanism which makes a "pop" sound after the desired length of yarn is measured. The pointer allows the spinner to see how close she/he is to reaching a skein. The weasel's gear ratio is usually 40 to 1, and the circumference of the reel is usually two yards, thus producing an 80-yard skein when the weasel pops.
Herbert Campbell, born Herbert Edward Story, was an English comedian and actor who appeared in music hall, Victorian burlesques and musical comedies during the Victorian era. He was famous for starring, for many years, in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane's annual Christmas pantomimes, predominantly as a dame.
Conduit Street is a street in Mayfair, London. It connects Bond Street to Regent Street.
Benjamin Conquest, born Benjamin Oliver, was the manager of the Garrick and Grecian Theatres.
George Augustus Oliver Conquest was a playwright, theatrical manager, acrobat and pantomimist described as "the most stunning actor-acrobat of his time".
Devereux Court, a street in the City of Westminster located just south of the Strand and east of Essex Street, is completely pedestrianised. This narrow lane is lined with well-preserved seventeenth-century buildings. The court's distinctive dog-leg layout has remained unchanged since its establishment in the 1670s on the grounds of Essex House, a stately home renowned for its expansive gardens.
Charles Sloman was an English comic entertainer, singer and songwriter, as well as a composer of ballads and sacred music. He was billed as "the only English Improvisatore".