Terrific Tucktonia

Susan Brewer remembers the UK mainland's first theme park

- Susan Brewer

Nowadays, theme parks such as Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Legoland are visited by thousands each year. They differ slightly from amusement parks, which mainly concentrate on rides and other events. Theme parks are a variation which will have rides but also tend to be based around various subjects. Arguably the earliest theme park is situated near Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight, and is called Blackgang Chine. It first opened in 1843 and is still going strong.

Although not originally intended as such, Tucktonia, at Christchurch, Dorset, was the mainland's first theme park. Harry Stiller, a former British Formula Three motor racing champion, owned a site originally housing a golf school, which he converted into a pub and a golf and leisure park. He planned to include a rollercoaster, but permission wasn't granted and, after being inspired by the Madurodam, a miniature tourist attraction in the Netherlands, decided to build the "greatest little Britain in the world".

Model villages have long been popular in Britain, so there were already several, especially in seaside resorts. However, Tucktonia was something else. Here you could see not just houses, but also iconic British features such as Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Hadrian's Wall, Buckingham Palace and the Cenotaph, all built to a much larger scale, 1:24, than that frequently used. St Paul's Cathedral, for example, was 16ft high. Then there were motorways, a floating oil rig, a railway, an airport and a modern dockland complex. There were more traditional forms of dockland shipping too.