The initial performances were done in the open air at Ha'penny (= Halfpenny) Hatch, a field in Lambeth, London, near the present site of Waterloo railway station.

[1] At the age of nine, he apprenticed with his father, but Astley's dream was to work with horses, so he joined Colonel Eliott's Fifteenth Light Dragoons when he was 17, later becoming a sergeant major.

After two seasons in London he had to bring some novelty to his performances, so he hired other equestrians, musicians, a clown, jugglers, tumblers, tightrope walkers, and dancing dogs – the modern circus was created.

[9] Guilds and lineages of acrobats and clowns had performed throughout Europe for centuries before this, but as members of independent professions, not as part of an integrated entertainment experience for which an all-inclusive ticket was sold.

Second, the circular ring (though Astley called it 'the Ride') helps riders through the generation of centrifugal force, which assists them in keeping their balance while standing on the backs of their galloping horses.

Even after his death Astley's "Royal Amphitheatre" remained famous throughout the nineteenth century, being mentioned by Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

He later established eighteen other circuses in European cities, was patronised by a great number of royals, and was famous, envied, and occasionally rich.

This tent-like structure, partly built from the remains of a French warship, did not prove a success, and in 1813 he sold it to Robert William Elliston, who renamed it the Little Drury Lane.

[11][12][19] In Jane Austen's Emma, in chapter 54: "He delivered these papers to John, at his chambers, and was asked by him to join their party the same evening to Astley's.

Following this in February 2018 the United Kingdom's first permanent monument to Philip Astley and his legacy of the circus was positioned on the border between Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme.

This was then unveiled on World Circus Day 2018 by Federation Mondiale du Cirque director Zsuzsanna Mata, the Newcastle-under-Lyme Mayor Simon White and Van Buren.

A commemorative plaque was inaugurated at the Ha'penny Hatch site off Cornwall Road, Lambeth, on Easter Monday 2018, two days before the exact 250th anniversary of the first performances there by the Astleys..

In 1989, Barltrop had been the first to identify the site of Astley's Ha'penny (= Halfpenny) Hatch .

Chris Barltrop researched and wrote a one-man play, Audacious Mr Astley, which he first performed at the Waterloo East Theatre, London, on Easter Monday 2018, and later at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

[23] Newcastle-under-Lyme's New Vic Theatre during the summer of 2018 ran the hugely successful Astley’s Astounding Adventure play, complementing their Roll Up events, which included a street exhibition of Circus art and photography curated by the Victoria and Albert Museum.

A group of fully costumed performers from Zippos, including a trick-rider and his horse, accompanied Burton to help inaugurate the flagstone.