Explore Your Archive: An 1850 Stourbridge Circus

25th November 2016

Philip Astley was credited with being the ‘father’ of the modern circus when he opened the first circus in 1768 in England . Early circuses were almost exclusively demonstrations of equestrian skills with a few other types of acts to link the horsemanship performances. Circus performances today are still held in a ring usually 13 m (42 ft) in diameter. This dimension was adopted by Philip Astley in the late 18th century as the minimum diameter in which acrobatic horse riders could stand upright on a cantering horse and perform their tricks.

Details of a circus in Stourbridge 1850 (b899:31/BA3762/vol2 p304)

This advertisement from a Worcestershire paper from 1850 shows drawings of a visiting circus performing these very skills.

Comments

Comments are closed.

Related news

16th May 2026

Hartlebury Castle Surrenders 1646

Today, 16th of May, marks 380 years exactly since the supposedly humiliating surrender of Hartlebury Castle during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (also known as the English Civil War). This event in 1646 was recorded by a single contemporary commentator, Henry Townshend of Elmely Lovett. He recorded that it was a place “which put...

14th May 2026

W.P. Harper, famous football referee of Stourbridge

On 23rd April 1932, during the F.A. Cup final between Newcastle United and Arsenal, a refereeing decision would create controversy and change the result of the game. The referee, one W. P. Harper of Stourbridge, allowed an equalising goal for Newcastle that appeared to go out of play before ending in the net. Newcastle would...

4th May 2026

Victoria Woodhull Martin and Worcestershire

One collection that we’ve come across as part of our retroconversion project is this box of documents relating to Victoria Woodhull Martin, the first woman to run for US President in 1872, and Lady of the Manor of Bredon’s Norton, 1901-1927. Who was Woodhull Martin? Described as “vastly avant garde”, Victoria Woodhull Martin was...