In June 1846, White's Roman Amphitheatre toured south Wales visiting Cardiff, Bridgend, Cowbridge and also Newport. The show took place at the New Cattle Market on June 18th, 1846 with one in the afternoon and one in the evening.
The show consisted of forty horses and ponies, lions, tigers and leopards along with a brass band in a music carriage.
The show was from Astley's Amphitheatre in London which is considered to have had the first modern circus ring. Astley's was located in Lambeth next to the River Thames and dates back to 1773 and was demolished in 1893.
The amphitheatre was visited by Queen Victoria in 1846 and was mentioned by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens.
Here is a review of the show from the Monmouthshire Merlin
This very distinguished troop, after making a successful tour through several parts of the Principality, yesterday made their triumphal entry into Newport attracting by their band, the knights and ladies on gallant steeds, their showy carriages, and their menagerie, crowds of spectators, who gave them a warm reception. They pitched their capacious tent in the New Market place, where they proposed to have two performances—day and evening. The scorching weather, however, prevented their making an audience at two o'clock, but in the evening they had a bumper. The horsemanship was respectable, presenting no new features, but the polandric exercises, the feats of juggling on horseback, Monsieur Hinne's management of six "rampant steeds," and the very attractive performances of the Lupino family, whose gymnastics equalled, if not excelled, the feats of Mons. Risley and his children, who so lately delighted London audiences by his extraordinary and classical posturisings, afforded an entertainment far beyond the ordinary range of arena exhibitions. The whole concluded with the daring encounter between Mr. Needhams and his half reasoning animals, lions, tigers, and leopards, and the audience went to their homes, well satisfied with the evening's amusement.
— Monmouthshire Merlin, 20th June, 1846
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