The first
rides arrived at Alton Towers a long time before the Corkscrew came
to the park. Early on in the park's development as a tourist
attraction a fairground was added in the area behind Towers where
today you might find Cloud Cuckoo Land.
Before the war
the area had been the site of the Tower's extensive kitchen gardens
and greenhouse complex, but during the war it was built over with
temporary structures for the war effort. These buildings soon also
became derelict and were pulled down after the park returned to
its owners.
The concreted
area left rendered the area the perfect place to set up a
Fairground, which is exactly what happened a few seasons after the
park first opened to the public. A good selection of rides featured
in the area over it's near twenty year operation, from the
traditional, such as dodgems and carousels, through to the more
daring, like the loop-o-plane that spent some seasons at the park.
The Fairground
was operated by showmen independently of the park itself and so by
the nature of travelling fairs, rides came and went relatively
regularly over the seasons, giving the fairground the ability to
constantly offer guests something new to experience.
The popularity
of the fairground meant that after a few seasons its first permanent
attraction was added in the form of the Funhouse, which had a giant
vertical slide as it's premier attraction. Later in it's history
other relatively permanent attractions were added in the form of an Astroglide and large Penny Arcade.
It seems that
ultimately the Fairground was a victim of its own success. The
popularity of the rides can't have escaped the notice of John
Broome, who decided he wanted to turn Alton Towers into a full blown
amusement park with a single entry price. This was contrary to the
desires of the showmen who ran the fairground who preferred the
traditional approach of charging customers per ride.
And so as the
Corkscrew began to arrive the Fairground departed, leaving the area
clear to become Talbot Street the following season. Despite having
left over 30 years ago there are still very visible remnants of the
Fairground of old. When building Talbot Street, the building that
had housed the Fun House was converted into a theatre and is today
known as the Cloud Cuckoo Land Theatre. Meanwhile the Penny Arcade
now houses the Driving School's on-ride photo point and education
centre.
