officially open the Town Hall. During the 1860s, the park hosted the Leeds Flower Show on an annual basis, and held sensational paid events, such on 27 July 1861, when Charles Blondin, who was famous for having crossed the Niagara Gorge, walked a tightrope carrying a man on his back. By 1866, Clapham owned of land adjoining Woodhouse Moor and he constructed himself a house next to the park gate, and a new road, named Clapham Road, following the line of an old footpath. Only some on the site of the original cricket ground were part of the Royal Park; the other land was described as additional recreational areas. In 1868, a list of elements comprising the Royal Park contained three residences, an entrance hall, a restaurant, picture gallery, refreshment room, music pavilion, menagerie, fountain, cricket ground, volunteer parade ground and recreation ground. Throughout Clapham's time heading the management of the park, he was dogged by repeated revocations or refused applications for a music and events licence, followed by his repeated running of events regardless; he was regularly convicted by magistrates and given the penalty of a fine. Demise However, Clapham overreached himself financially – relying on a complicated system of mortgages on which he found difficulty in paying the interest; Clapham expanded his holdings to such an extent that he owed £15,000 () to various people on the understanding that the money could not be called in before 1872 – and was forced to make regular land sales after 1866, as the interest alone on his mortgages reached £1,000 per year (). He sold off plots for building until 1870, but not the Royal Park itself, although he did attempt to sell it to the city council as a parkland extension to Woodhouse Moor. Despite his suggestion that also taking land from the Earl of Cardigan may help achieve straight boundaries, the offer was rejected. From 1870, Clapham and his Royal Park began to be overwhelmed by debt, despite land sales and income from admissions. His attempt to set up a limited company to limit personal losses, intended to be called the Leeds Royal Park Estates Building and Investment Company Ltd, failed because of the weight of debts Clapham was attempting to shoulder. The park was rapidly losing money, and a meeting of his creditors in July 1871 resolved to order the liquidation of Clapham's estate. This foreclosure resulted