The original 19th century amusement park at Belle Vue dated back to the 1870s and consisted of a small range of attractions that would have been found at many such pleasure gardens at the time. These included a steam powered velocipedes set, shooting galleries, TheOcean Wave Sea On Landride in 1894,The Helter Skelter in 1904, and The Figure 8 Toboggan ride in 1908.

It was in the 1920s and the 1950s that the amusement park took shape and became a worthy competitor to Blackpool Pleasure Beach with its array of death defying attractions and latest technological marvels, coupled with the seaside atmosphere of the flea circus, fairground games and side shows.  From the thrilling ‘Bobs’ ride to the more relaxed Scenic Railway, there was something for everyone

Professor Vanessa Toulmin; National Fairground Archive, University of Sheffield