BEASTS OF BANKSIDE
DR LIAM LEWIS,
DR LIZZIE WRIGHT
& PROFESSOR HANNAH O'REGAN
What were the lives of the animals involved in bear-baiting on Bankside like?
And where do we find the origins of this cruel spectator blood-sport in England?
The Rose Playhouse stood close to animal-baiting arenas, and Philip Henslowe, its owner, and Edward Alleyn, its star actor, lobbied hard to become the Master of the Bears in the late 1590s, and formally received the title in 1608.
Bear-bating was a very popular entertainment in early modern England, with bearwards travelling the country with their animals. As a practice, however, it had much longer medieval roots, which can be seen archaeologically and in literature.
Join some of the team from the Box-Office Bears project – which has studied bear-baiting on Bankside and beyond – as they present the results of their investigations so far, gleaned from the archives and the bones of the animals themselves, including the bears and the dogs.
Dr Lizzie Wright is a zooarchaeologist and Research Fellow at the University of York.
Dr Liam Lewis is Lecturer in Medieval Literature at the University of Cardiff.
Prof. Hannah O'Regan is an archaeologist at the University of Nottingham.
DR LIZZIE WRIGHT
& PROFESSOR HANNAH O'REGAN
What were the lives of the animals involved in bear-baiting on Bankside like?
And where do we find the origins of this cruel spectator blood-sport in England?
The Rose Playhouse stood close to animal-baiting arenas, and Philip Henslowe, its owner, and Edward Alleyn, its star actor, lobbied hard to become the Master of the Bears in the late 1590s, and formally received the title in 1608.
Bear-bating was a very popular entertainment in early modern England, with bearwards travelling the country with their animals. As a practice, however, it had much longer medieval roots, which can be seen archaeologically and in literature.
Join some of the team from the Box-Office Bears project – which has studied bear-baiting on Bankside and beyond – as they present the results of their investigations so far, gleaned from the archives and the bones of the animals themselves, including the bears and the dogs.
Dr Lizzie Wright is a zooarchaeologist and Research Fellow at the University of York.
Dr Liam Lewis is Lecturer in Medieval Literature at the University of Cardiff.
Prof. Hannah O'Regan is an archaeologist at the University of Nottingham.
Monday 8 December 2025 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM (UTC+00)
Location
Online event access details will be provided by the event organiser
Contact Details
Contact Form
BEASTS OF BANKSIDE
Resend recently purchased tickets to our events to your email.
Enter email to start search
You can review the event organiser's terms and conditions here.