The Fall of Yarmouth Suspension Bridge

The collapse of the Great Yarmouth Suspension bridge in 1845 was a disaster for the town, with 78 lives, many of them women and children, being lost. Clown Arthur Nelson had performed his stunt to promote the visit of Cooke’s circus hundreds of times before – but this time the outcome was calamitous. Author Gareth Davies sets the events of the day in the context of social, economic and political context of the day.