2-699-477 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Interior of Astley's Amphitheatre in 1843', (c1878). Audience watching an equestrian show with a Roman chariot. Philip Astley, the 'father of modern circus', opened his Amphitheatre at Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth, south London, in 1777. The amphitheatre mixed circus with theatre, having a circus ring attached to a stage and featuring daredevil horseback riding. From Old and New London: A Narrative of Its History, Its People, And Its Places. The Southern Suburbs, Volume VI, by Edward Walford. [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., London, Paris & New York, c1878]