1894-8
On an Alan Godfrey reprint of the Ordnance Survey 1894 map of Newcastle and Gateshead, was a building which was written about, in the modern blurb. It said, “A new circus is shown in Sunderland Road, but this and other nearby theatres were always short-lived”. In the ‘Gateshead Register of Street and Building Plans’ there was the application to build it! It said that W. Tudor had applied to build ‘intended circus’ at Sunderland Road, part of back Sunderland St. The application was approved on the 7th of March 1894 and in 1897 it was converted in to a full theatre.
There were the request slips that Tudor had sent to get permission to build his circus! The plans for the circus building had stables and track rooms on the ground floor as well as the ring seating and gallery for the audience , the body of the building was timber with a corrugated iron roof. There was also a letter from the circus ‘proprietor’ (W. Tudor) asking permission to build the circus building and on the letter it says “Tudor’s new circus”. The circus building had been in South Shields for two years and then taken down and each piece was shipped 8 miles inland to Gateshead for the new season! The building stayed there and after 3 years of shows it was converted into a permanent theatre instead. (researched by Mike Armstrong). His website is called “Geordie Juggling Archives” and is worth a visit, for those interested in Acts.
