This place is mostly a shell of its former self with a lot of rides being sold or scrapped or removed completely. Since my visit it has also suffered a fire despite security onsight and I believe has been used for Police training as so many abandoned sites do. I loved seeing the track retaken by nature and the dummies from the haunted house where an interesting find!
“The park opened in 1983 and was operating seasonally until late 2012. The park was based on the story of ‘Camelot, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table’. The local area was once covered by the largest lake in England Martin Mere, which was first drained in 1692 by Thomas Fleetwood of Bank Hall in Bretherton. (The story is that Sir Lancelot’s parents King Ban of Benwick and his queen Elaine escaped to Lancashire from their enemies in France. Elaine went to help King Ban who had fallen and put Lancelot down on the shore of the lake, by where he was abducted by nymph Vivian who vanished into the waters of the lake with him. Vivian brought up Lancelot and when he went to King Arthur’s court he was knighted as ‘Sir Lancelot of the Lake’.) Martin Mere has been locally known as the ‘Lost Lake of Sir Lancelot’ following the myth.
In 1986 it was taken over by The Granada Group and operated by them alongside its now defunct sister parks American Adventure and Granada Studios Tour. In June 1998 the park was subject to a management buyout in which the park went to Prime Resorts Ltd.Camelot had seen a downturn in attendance in later years, in 1995, Camelot’s attendance was 500,000 visitors throughout the season. In 2005 Camelot’s attendance was only 336,204 visitors.
In a 2006 survey of healthy food available at leading tourist attractions in the UK, Camelot came joint bottom scoring only one point.
In February 2009, Prime Resorts announced that the park was in receivership and would not reopen for the 2009 season.The hotel was bought by Lavender Hotels in March 2009, and in April 2009, it was announced that a buyer had been found for the park and that it would reopen in May 2009.
The theme park was purchased by Story Group, a construction company based in Carlisle and leased to Knight’s Leisure who run the park. The site’s future remains uncertain as the new owner is planning to redevelop the site. Current indications are that this will be a housing development.
The closure of the park was announced by its operator, Knights Leisure, in November 2012, the managing director blaming poor summer weather and events such as London 2012 and the Queen’s Jubilee for declining visitor numbers. Today, some rollercoasters were sold (for example Whirlwind bought by the German “Skyline Park”), others rust in the abandoned park.
An application to build 420 houses on the site by owners Story Group was unanimously rejected by Chorley Council in August 2014 as the development was not permissible within the Green Belt.
Ashworth. E, (2007) “Tales of Old Lancashire – The Lost Lake of Sir Lancelot”, Pages 39-41.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/7868241.stm
“Lancashire theme park to close”.http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/lancashire-theme-park-to-close-1-5091579
https://democracy.chorley.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=111&MId=3730&Ver=4
Comment I remember working here in the 90s wen the crowds were over 10 thousands and summer off 95 was hot summer I remember the great days here now flash forward 20 yrs on and we have sorry state of affairs how has come to this camelot left abandonned to rot vandalised wrecked set onn fire what have the security been doin very little it seems it’s sad really iss videos all over internet tube off abandoned park I can’t believe it has come to this I would and so would thousands off other people love see a buyer come along and restore it to its former glory but it’s going cost millions get it write and 12 months hard work I would work day night get this place back to its former glory days it’s coming up 3 yrs now in November that been left and more more vandals wil come and try wreck it surely this can’t go onn I hope some buyer out there can buy this place restore it and do things differently from previous owners who didn’t seem care
As well as filming with the two drones – one large professional rig and one smaller one that was able to fly in between the metal frame of the now rusting Knightmare rollercoaster – the team spoke to theme park enthusiasts and local residents about their Camelot memories.