The fascinating stories behind Britain's forgotten theme parks
Theme parks are a mainstay of British childhoods, up there with sand-filled socks from seaside trips and beanbag-heavy sportsdays.
But many of these smaller bastions of fun have closed down over the years, unable to keep up with behemoths like Alton Towers and Thorpe Park. Devoid of candyfloss and merriment, many were left to fall into ruin, while others have vanished without a trace.
From a tiny replica of London to a train station turned into a children's funfair, the hills of Britain are littered with the ghosts of amusement parks long gone. Here are the stories behind ten of them.
1. Camelot, Lancashire
Opened in 1983, Camelot theme park was once a hive of activity, with a 100ft roller coaster - the Knightmare - as one of the main attractions. Yet in 2012 the 140 acre site near the village of Charnock Richard closed down, claiming bad weather and the 2012 Olympics were behind dire visitor numbers. Now, it lies forgotten, many of its rides left to rust and moulder - a far cry from the park's illustrious origins. Themed around the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the park took inspiration from the local area, which used to be submerged by the largest lake in England: Martin Mere.
The water was drained in 1692 by Thomas Fleetwood of Bretherton, but before it lost its waters legend has it that Arthurian knight, Sir Lancelot's parents, King Ban of Benwick and his queen Elaine, sought sanctuary in this part of Lancashire. King Ban fell by the lake, and Elaine set the young Lancelot down by the shore as she went to help him. Poor Lancelot was promptly abducted by the nymph Vivian who vanished into the waters of the lake with him. The rest, as they say, is history and Martin Mere has been locally known as the 'Lost Lake of Sir Lancelot' ever since.
2. Tucktonia, Dorset
The late Seventies saw Tucktonia theme park come to the town of Christchurch in Dorset. The park was devised by former double British Formula 3 champion Harry Stiller, and opened by Arthur Askey, the bespectacled English comedian and actor best known for such zingers as "hello playmates" and "I thank you" - prounced "ay-thang-yuh". Inspired by Bekonscot Model Village in Buckinghamshire, the park's main feature was a sprawling model village, which included a tiny London and was in large part built by KLF Ltd, who went on to build The American Adventure, a similarly ill-fated theme park (see below).
The theme park shut down in 1986. Rumours still abound about the fate of the tiny buildings. Nearly everything was thought to be destroyed at the time of closing, but the story goes that the village pieces were placed into storage in a remote barn for decades, and then perished when the building burnt down - they're most likely now haunting the town, in true Seventies horror style. The model of Buckingham Palace is the only known surviving piece - it's currently on display in Merrivale Model Village, Great Yarmouth.
3. Frontierland, Lancashire
Opened in 1906, Morecambe's Frontierland theme park came close to a century of operations, but unfortunately officially closed in 2000. Originally West End Amusement Park, the park was bought in 1909 by the Thompson family (who also own Blackpool Pleasure Beach) and became Morecambe Pleasure Park. Visitor rates went up and down in rollercoaster-like surges, though the Thompsons tried many tactics to keep numbers up. One such was a 150 foot high big wheel, aptly named 'The Big Wheel', which again proved popular until complaints about peeping Toms being able to see into bedrooms from the ride saw it taken down.
In a final fling, the park became Frontierland in 1987: 'the UK's premier western theme park'. It worked for a time and people flocked to have a go on rides like the Texas Tornado and meet the park's gun-slinging mascot, Frontier Fred. Eventually the novelty wore off, and not even a visit from Margaret Thatcher, who named one of the horses on the rides after herself, could save it. The Thompsons began to dismantle, sell and ship the rides to other theme parks all over the world, before selling the site to Morrisons. In spite of this, to this day the site remains a wasteland, its buildings left empty: a Wild West ghost town.
4. Belle Vue Gardens, Manchester
Manchester's lost pleasure gardens have a 140-year history behind them. Opened in 1836 by John Jennison, a Stockport entrepreneur, it was the first privately financed zoo in England, though it originally started with just a small collection of birds (Jennison ran an aviary at home). By 1856, the range of animals had expanded hugely, including the addition of Maharajah the elephant, bought from Edinburgh Zoo. After tearing the roof off the compartment of his train transportation, poor Maharajah and his trainer had to walk to Manchester from the Scottish capital (a journey which took 10 days), supposedly having an argument at a toll gate about the correct charge for an elephant along the way.
The park remained open during the wars, with animals surviving both air raids and rationing - the latter involving animal meat being dyed a lurid green to clearly mark it. In 1925, the business was sold to Belle Vue Ltd, and grew to mammoth proportions, with an amusement park, circus, exhibition hall, boating lake, hotels and restaurants all available for visitors. Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin played at the gardens's concert hall, as part of its roaring heydey in the Fifties and Sixties. Despite its fame, the park took a downturn in the Seventies, closing in 1977 with losses of more than £100,000 a year. Today its cinema and snooker hall are the only traces left.
5. Blobbyland, Somerset
Every child of the Nineties remembers the pink and yellow form of Mr Blobby, the slightly terrrifying sidekick of Noel Edmonds (of Noel Edmonds’ House Party fame). Such was the extent of 'Blobbymania', the spongy character ended up topping the UK singles chart with track 'Mr Blobby' and getting his own theme park in 1994 in Cricket St Thomas, Somerset. Themed as Mr Blobby's 'home', Crinkley Bottom, Mr Blobby's house Dunblobbin was a key attraction, and for a while the park was so popular one couple held their wedding at the park, with the pink peril himself at the reception. But much like Blobbymania, the park was shortlived, closing a mere five years later in 1999.
The buildings were left to decay for years, growing over with moss, until the site was demolished in 2014 in an attempt to stop break-ins. Pictures of the abandoned houses are still available, as is the Dunblobbin website, the 'Unofficial Crinkley Bottom Museum'.
6. The American Adventure, Derbyshire
Once one of the top attractions in the Midlands, The American Adventure was so popular that in 2017, ten years after its closure, thousands backed an online petition calling for its reopening. The park opened in 1987 with an Old West theme, perhaps in the shadow of lingering bad luck; a previous theme park had opened on the site in 1985, but only managed to stay open for ten weeks. The cowboy-laden park lasted longer, with rides that included the Nightmare Niagara, the tallest log-flume in the UK, and a replica life-size town from the Wild West.
In 1996, the park began to decline and was sold to Ventureworld, headed by John Broome, a former Alton Towers developer. The name was changed to American Adventure World but not much else was, and instead the rides slowly declined until the park closed in 2007. Much still lies derelict, with visitors forbidden from entering.
7. Ocean Beach, Rhyl
Rhyl's Ocean Beach funfair opened in the 1890s, and became a classic example of Victorian seaside attractions. Though other carousels and arcades have continued in faded glory at destinations like Brighton and Blackpool, this Welsh town unfortunately lost its own in 2007, when the painted horses and vintage toy set were all dismantled to make way for an £85million redevelopment project. The project never materialised and the site was left to ruin, though in recent years a new retail park has been built over its remains.
At its height the park was so popular it had to relocate from it's Marine Lake home to a bigger location on the town promenade in 1954, and had Britain’s first ever tubular steel rollercoaster and the world's last surviving circular water chute.
8. Granada Studios, Manchester
Those outside the British isles may not understand the allure of Granada Studios, but for British television fans this is the source of many of the country's most loved shows. The oldest working production studios in the UK, it's brought The Jeremy Kyle Show, Countdown, Take Me Out and Coronation Street - the longest running soap opera in the world - to screens. In 1988, the studio opened its backlot and soundstages to the public, creating a studio park in the vein of Universal Studios Hollywood, with rides and attractions alongside the famous sets.
By the late Nineties, visitor numbers had waned, and the Studio tour closed in 2001, along with its replica of Times Square and the House of Commons. Proving the enduring power of Coronation Street, the set of the TV show re-opened in 2014, and stayed open until 2015. As the production company has since moved to MediaCityUK, the site has since been sold and converted into flats and office space.
As for the new Coronation Street sets at MediaCityUK, they're now open to the public for a cool £32 a head.
9. Once Upon a Time, Devon
The Mortehoe and Woolacombe railway station was opened in 1874 to serve the nearby villages of the same name, and went on to be the location of photographer Ivo Peters' first steam train photograph in 1925 and the subject of British comedy duo, Flanders and Swann's 1964 song 'Slow Train'. What few people know is the stations brief stint as the amusement park, Once Upon a Time.
When the branch closed in 1970, it lay derelict until in the early Nineties it was transformed into a children's theme park. Four redundant British Railways coaches were wedged between platforms by crane, while the old railway cars were filled with fairytale animations. The surrounding station and area were then peppered with rides for small children. Alas, the lure of property proved too much, and in 2004 the park was sold to a developer, before closing in 2005.
10. Dreamland, Margate
Britains oldest amusement park opened in the seaside town of Margate in 1880, though did not become known as Dreamland until 1920. The same year the park's now iconic wooden rollercoaster was unveiled. Though Victorian in origin, the park was at its zenith in the Sixties, when the helter skelter was never empty and jellied eels were as popular as the candyfloss. The jellied eels lost their allure, as did the park, and in 2003 the park shut and was left to rot, with the giant wooden rollercoaster serving as a sad reminder of what once was. The grounds became so eery, they were captured in a series of Victorian tintype photographs by Rob Ball, and went on to be both exhibited and immortalised in the book, Dreamlands.
The faded park was almost turned into a retail and commercial development, but in a happier ending was renovated and reopened in 2015, after lobbying from local campaign group, Save Dreamland. Now a wonderland of Sixties nostalgia, the original scenic railway - now Grade II-listed - is once again available for rides.
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