Showtime: Great Yarmouth’s Circus Story
Posted: April 26th, 2010 | Author: bridget | Filed under: Transitions | Tags: Circus, Great Yarmouth Hippodrom, Katherine Hamilton, Time and Tide Museum | No Comments »Time and Tide, 27 March – 31 October 2010
You may be familiar with Great Yarmouth’s maritime history, but did you know that it also has a long history as a circus town, and is home to a world-renowned circus building?
The first circus came to town in 1845, though the event is best remembered for tragedy. Nelson the Clown was performing a publicity stunt, sailing down the river Bure in a bathtub pulled by four geese, when the surge of the crowds gathered on the bridge caused it to collapse; 79 people, mainly children, were drowned.
Several circuses passed through the town throughout the 1800s, performing in wooden buildings constructed for the purpose, until in 1903 a permanent building was opened. The Hippodrome on St Georges Street was built for George Gilbert, who had turned to circus management after an injury meant he could no longer perform. The Hippodrome is still a working circus today, the only circus building in the UK to still be used for its intended purpose, and one of only four across the globe to feature a ring which can sink to be flooded for spectacular, water-based finales.
Showtime: Great Yarmouth ’s Circus Story at Time and Tide celebrates the town’s rich circus heritage. It features paintings, posters, props and costumes from two local collectors, as well as from the museum’s own collections. Peter Jay , who has run the Hippodrome since 1978 is lending props from his own backstage museum. The town is also home to Don Stacey, who over a lifetime of involvement with the industry, has amassed the largest private collection of circus memorabilia in the UK .
Also on display are a new series of paintings by Katherine Hamilton, based on a recent residency at the Hippodrome.
Showtime Events
Friday Talks Last Friday of the Month, 11.30am
Museums at Night Saturday 15 May, 6 – 10pm
Rollo’s Circus Skills Workshops Mondays 26 July – 30 August
Circus Sunday 8 August, 10am – 5pm
Admission: Monday – Sunday 10am – 5pm
Adults £4.50
Conc. £3.80
Young Person (4-16) £3.30
Time and Tide, Museum of Great Yarmouth Life, Blackfriars Road, Great Yarmouth, NR30 3BX01493 743930 www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk