ABSTRACT
In 1951, Battersea Park in London was transformed into the ‘Festival Gardens’ as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations. This transformation included the addition of amusement park attractions forming what became known as Battersea Amusement Park. Together, these new attractions created a vibrant point in the city of London. Although the Festival only had a year-long schedule, the amusement park continued through until the onset of the 1970s as a fine example of a city-based amusement park, equivalent to other British locations such as Belle Vue in Manchester and Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham. Following a fatal rollercoaster accident in 1972, the park went into a rapid decline, with total closure completed by the end of the decade. Its eradication, both physically and as a cultural memory, was so swift and complete that the next generation of amusement spaces emerging at the start of the subsequent decade – pioneered by a significantly upgraded Alton Towers – were built and marketed with little or no reference to earlier ventures like Battersea.
