Bear pit
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A bear pit is an enclosure historically used to display bears, typically for entertainment and especially bear-baiting. The pit area was normally surrounded by a high fence, above which the spectators
Bears in the Bärengraben in Bern (Switzerland)
Historical bear pit at Sheffield Botanical Gardens in England, now containing a statue
Rosherville Gardens
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Rosherville Gardens was a 19th-century pleasure garden in a disused chalk pit in Northfleet, Kent, England. It was laid out in 1837 and finally closed to the public in 1913, just before World War I.
Bear pit
…public to see, and often, feed. In contrast to the ones used in baiting, these pits were permanent structures built with sturdy materials; the pit in Rosherville Gardens, for example, was made of brick. Bear pits peaked in popularity during the Victorian era, when the public developed a general fascination with exotic…
Colour engraving of Rosherville Gardens, 1841
A formally posed group of men and girls at the main entrance, in 1909