The yard surface of Phase II was enclosed within the new, wider, inner wall circuit, increasing the area by about 39% to cover approximately 163m2 (1754.5ft2). Dumps of earth were used to level out the rake of the earlier floor in Phase I and to cover the earlier stage and inner walls that had been levelled, so the surface was higher than the original. Although not raked, it had a gentle slope, from a maximum of 1.23m OD in the south to 1.00m OD against the new stage front—a slope of 0.23m, or 20, from south to north. The yard had been re-floored with a layer of silt, ash and clinker with a high proportion of cracked hazelnut shells (a structural element rather than discarded consumables eaten by playgoers), which Orrell speculates was a by-product from a soap boiler’s yard.259
A depression line within the surface caused by rain again suggested the gallery eaves of the roof remained without guttering.
Experiments have suggested that the size of the Phase II yard might accommodate 550 people loosely packed (up from 400 in Phase I), and 740 tightly packed (up from 530).260
The yard, Phase II © De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. To view the image using Google Cardboard, click here.
[259] John Orrell, ‘Nutshells at the Rose,’ Theatre Research International, vol. 17, no. 1, Spring 1992, 8–14.
[260] Bowsher, The Rose Theatre, 59.