Robert Cadman or Robert KidmanOxford Dictionary of National Biography entry for Robert Cadman
/ref> (1711–2 February 1739) was an 18th-century

steeplejack A steeplejack is a craftsman who scales buildings, chimneys, and church steeples to carry out repairs or maintenance. Steeplejacks erect ladders on church spires, industrial chimneys, cooling towers, bell towers, clock towers, or any other hi ...

and ropeslider who between 1732 and 1739 performed feats of daring, ultimately by sliding or flying down a rope from

St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in St Mary's Place, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Co ...

to the

Gay Meadow Gay Meadow was the home ground of Shrewsbury Town football club in Shropshire, England. Just outside the town centre, on the banks of the River Severn, it opened in 1910. The ground closed at the end of the 2006-07 Football League season and t ...

across the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

. He had previously performed the stunt in other locations, for example an 1828 history of Dover (Batcheller) records that he "amused the people of

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

, by flying across the harbour, from the highest point of the cliff, towards the lower extremity of Snargate-street .....Thousands were assembled from all parts to view this novel sight." ''A History of Lincoln'' (1815) notes that, in this period, he went from a

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

tower "to the castle hill near the Black Boy Inn"" and another descent from '

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

spire' in Nottinghamshire. 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, Shrewsbury. 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.Story of Cadman's last feat on ingenuity.org.uk
/ref> Cadman plaque, Shrewsbury

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

References

1711 births 1739 deaths Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in England British entertainers Steeplejacks {{UK-entertainer-stub