King's Lynn theatre wants to preserve Shakespeare boards for 600 years

A theatre which unearthed 15th Century floorboards during a renovation hopes to reopen to the public in autumn 2026.

St George's Guildhall in King's Lynn, Norfolk, claims that documents show it has the only surviving stage on which William Shakespeare performed.

The theatre hopes to keep the boards intact for another 600 years.

Tim FitzHigham, creative director at the Guildhall, said it had seen an increase in visitors since the discovery last year.

"I guess that's probably due to the fact that people know where we are now," said Mr FitzHigham.

The theatre staff said they had worked with scientists to try dating the floorboards as accurately as possible.

"There is a slight delay because we've had to record what we found; we've had to put in place appropriate thoughts and strategies to try to cope with making it safe for another 600 years going forward," he explained.

"When you find something as utterly extraordinary as the floor that we found in King's Lynn in Norfolk you really have got to just pause, take time, just look at it and go, 'wow, this is amazing'."

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