Boards trodden by the Bard have been discovered under layers of flooring at England’s oldest medieval guildhall as it undergoes a big refurbishment.
The 600-year-old oak floorboards are believed to be the only surviving stage from William Shakespeare’s time.
The discovery was made at St George’s Guildhall in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, which was a religious meeting house in the early 15th century. It later became a theatrical venue and it is claimed Shakespeare performed there.
In 1593, when London’s theatres were closed because of an outbreak of plague, Shakespeare and his company of actors were on tour in King’s Lynn. A note in the theatre’s account book shows Shakespeare’s company were paid by the borough to perform there.
The Grade I-listed building became derelict and was in danger of demolition before it was bought in 1945 by a local landowner and turned into an arts centre. It was given to the National Trust in 1951 and is now leased to and managed by King’s Lynn and West Norfolk borough council.
But the site, which also has an art gallery and lecture space, has been underused in recent years and its future again looked uncertain in 2016. The guildhall received government funding for restoration, and archaeological work has been under way for the past two months.
The original floor was found beneath one laid in the 1950s and another from either the 18th or 19th century. Some of the original wood floor has been dated to between 1417 and 1430, when the building was created.
The large oak boards are almost 30cm (12in) wide and 15cm thick and held together with wooden pegs rather than nails. It is believed the floor would have been laid by shipwrights and would have taken about a year to create.
Tim FitzHigham, an actor and comedian who is now the site’s creative director, said he was “blown away” by the discovery.
“Experts are now confidently saying these are the floorboards Shakespeare would have trodden,” he said. “It makes this building important nationally and internationally.”
Dr Jonathan Clark, the archaeologist leading the project and an expert in medieval buildings, said: “It is very unusual to have so much of the original floor surviving. Usually you might have beams and joists but the actual flooring has usually been replaced.
“We can date the flooring by the construction type – these boards are pegged to secure them, which is a medieval technique.
“We also had some sampling done, which provided us with a tree ring date from the growth rings in the timber and it is an early 15th-century floor.”
