Robert Cadman

Robert Cadman or Robert Kidman(1711–1739) was an 18th-century steeplejack and ropeslider who between 1732 and 1739 performed feats of daring by sliding or flying down a rope from St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury to the Gay Meadow across the River Severn.

Cadman walked some 250 metres up the rope that connected the 68-metre-high spire of St Mary’s Church with an anchor in the ground in Gay Meadow. Climbing up the rope across the River Severn, he performed tricks on the way. When at the top, near the pinnacle of the spire, he donned a wooden breastplate with a central groove and hurtled to earth along the rope.

On 2 February 1739 he fell to his death when the rope broke. He was buried in St Mary's Church, where a commemorative plaque in his memory may still be found. It reads:

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