St. Helen's Bishopsgate, London

Another rare survivor of the Great Fire of London of 1666, the St Helen’s Bishopsgate church in the City is distinguishable by its somewhat strange shape – the two naves, one for the church-goers and one for the Benedictine nuns who used to live here.

Apart from this architectural peculiarity, the church is also famous for having, at some point, among its parishioners none other than William Shakespeare. Attesting to this fact, among others, is the interesting record made on 15 November 1597 by the tax collectors for the Ward of Bishopsgate stating that of 73 rateable residents of the parish, William Shakespeare failed to pay 5 shillings on taxable goods worth £5.

Shakespeare's name is listed, mundanely, in a series of parish/ward assessments for a national tax – the Lay Subsidy – which was needed to fund Queen Elizabeth I’s ongoing war in Ireland.

Evidence suggests that Shakespeare lived at a place next to the St Helen’s Bishopsgate church. His home was most probably in a cluster of buildings that overlooked the churchyard of St Helen's. The Bart lived here between 1597 and 1598 while he was writing Romeo and Juliet.