Blackgang Chine
Encyclopedia
Chine
A chine is a steep-sided river valley where the river flows through coastal cliffs to the sea. Typically these are soft eroding cliffs such as sandstone or clays. The word chine originates from the Saxon "Cinan" meaning a gap or yawn....
(a coastal ravine
Ravine
A ravine is a landform narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streamcutting erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. A ravine is generally a fluvial slope landform of relatively steep sides, on the order of twenty to...
) in the soft Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
cliffs about 6 miles from Ventnor
Ventnor
Ventnor is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies underneath St Boniface Down , and is built on steep slopes and cliffs leading down to the sea...
at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
just below St Catherine's Down
St Catherine's Down
St. Catherine's Down is a chalk down on the Isle of Wight. It is located close to St Catherine's Point, the southernmost point on the island, and rises to 240 metres at its highest point, between the towns of Niton and Chale....
. Since 1843 it has been home to the Blackgang Chine amusement park
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
, run by the Dabell family who also run the site's sister park Robin Hill. The park features two main rides, a rollercoaster and waterslide as well as two heritage attractions. Owing to the unstable land on which the park is situated, landslides occur frequently, meaning that attractions have continually to be moved further inland to safer ground.
History
During Blackgang Chine's early years, the area was a steep gaunt ravine, overlooking Chale BayChale Bay
Chale Bay is a bay on the south west coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies to the west of the village of Chale from which it takes its name. It faces south west towards the English Channel, its shoreline is 5km in length and is gently curving. It stretches from Artherfield Point in the north...
, stretching around 3/4 of a mile down to the shore. It was a quiet place, visited by few people other than local fishermen with rumours of a thriving smuggling trade, which has now become a key theme of the park. On October 11 1836, the cargo ship Clarendon was wrecked at the foot of Blackgang Chine, with the loss of all aboard.
During Victorian England, people were seeking out new healthy holiday resorts, ideally near the coast. As the railway network was getting closer and closer to the South Coast, the Isle of Wight was becoming an increasingly attractive holiday destination. Alexander Dabell, the founder of the park, soon realised the business potential of this, trying various ventures. In 1839 Alexander became friends with a publican who had recently built a hotel at Blackgang, which now forms the Pirates' Pantry restaurant and administration offices.
After studying the gault and chine gorge, he knew instantly that gardens could be set up that would appeal to the Victorians as a romantic holiday destination. This along with the increasing popularity of the adjacent Sandrock Spring (a Chalybeate
Chalybeate
Chalybeate waters, also known as ferruginous waters, are mineral spring waters containing salts of iron.-Name:The word "chalybeate" is derived from the Latin word for steel, "chalybs", which follows from the Greek word "khalups"...
spring) led to Alexander concluding a lease for the site in 1842 and the establishment of Blackgang Chine amusement park in 1843. The area was then opened up to the public with pathways built down to the ravine and gardens landscaped on the cliffs. Steps were built to give access to the beach from the lower road. Since the park was opened, it has remained a family business, with the descendants of Alexander Dabell owning it ever since. The park's establishment in 1843 allegedly makes it the oldest theme park in the UK. Its initial theme of a general-purpose scenic and curiosity park led to one of its most famous attractions, a large whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
skeleton
Skeleton
The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...
, which had been washed up near the coast of The Needles
The Needles
The Needles is a row of three distinctive stacks of chalk that rise out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight, England, close to Alum Bay. The Needles lighthouse stands at the end of the formation...
in 1842, and is still a showpiece today.
The chine today
Owing to continual landslides, the chine itself has been destroyed. However, coastal erosion still has a significant impact on the area today. The park's focus now is themed entertainment for families with young children, lifesize plastic dinosaurs being a noted feature. The same owners run a sister site, the Robin Hill countryside adventure park. Clifftop walks in and around the area give panoramic views of the English ChannelEnglish Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
and the south-western Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
coast.
According to a May 2000 talk to the Isle of Wight Postcard Club by the present Director, Mr Simon Dabell, the etymology is simply "black pathway" (the original appearance of the chine), but the theme park understandably fosters the interpretation of a smuggling origin. Thus visitors to the park are greeted by a gigantic fibreglass smuggler between whose legs they could pass to enter.
The Blackgang Chine park is featured in the book Bollocks to Alton Towers
Bollocks to Alton Towers
Bollocks to Alton Towers: Uncommonly British Days Out is a humorous travel book written by Robin Halstead, Jason Hazeley, Alex Morris and Joel Morris , which showcases unusual attractions, left-field museums and one-off days out in the United Kingdom.The introduction describes the book as "a...
, a humorous book concerned with "uncommonly British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
days out". It was chosen for its apparent eccentricity
Eccentricity (behavior)
In popular usage, eccentricity refers to unusual or odd behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive...
. Blackgang Chine is also featured in a documentary based on Bollocks to Alton Towers called Far From the Sodding Crowd. In a recent interview, star of the Harry Potter films, Rupert Grint
Rupert Grint
Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is an English actor, who rose to prominence playing Ron Weasley, one of the three main characters in the Harry Potter film series. Grint was cast as Ron at the age of 11, having previously acted only in school plays and at his local theatre group...
praised the park, stating that his family's favourite holiday was visiting the Isle of Wight, their favourite attraction being Blackgang Chine.
The park is frequently associated with ghosts, particularly related to smugglers, with several tales of sightings around the park. In 2008 a video was recorded, showing what appeared to show the apparition of a girl in a blue dress.
Southern Vectis
Southern Vectis
The Southern Vectis Omnibus Company Limited is the dominant bus operator on the Isle of Wight. It was purchased by the Go-Ahead Group in 2005 and is a part of the company's Go South Coast division. The firm employs 299 staff, with 105 single deck, double deck and open-top buses and coaches...
bus route 6
Southern Vectis route 6
Southern Vectis route 6 is a bus service operated on the Isle of Wight by Southern Vectis between Newport, Blackgang and Ventnor. It also runs via Carisbrooke, Chillerton, Chale Green, Chale, Niton, St Lawrence and Whitwell. Five journeys are made in each direction Monday to Saturday, with four on...
serves the amusement park on its way between Newport
Newport, Isle of Wight
Newport is a civil parish and a county town of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England. Newport has a population of 23,957 according to the 2001 census...
& Ventnor
Ventnor
Ventnor is a seaside resort and civil parish established in the Victorian era on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, England. It lies underneath St Boniface Down , and is built on steep slopes and cliffs leading down to the sea...
. In the summer, the Island Coaster also stops here.
Geology
Blackgang
Blackgang is a village on the south coast of the Isle of Wight. It is best known as the location of the Blackgang Chine amusement park which sits to the south of St Catherine's Down....
at the western end of the Undercliff
The Undercliff
The Undercliff is the name of several areas of landslip on the south coast of England. They include ones on the Isle of Wight; on the Dorset-Devon border near Lyme Regis; on cliffs near Branscombe in East Devon; and at White Nothe, Dorset...
, Blackgang Chine was, historically, a spectacular ravine (in 1800 a "steep gaunt ravine" descending 500 feet over about three-quarters of a mile).
The location is based on unstable terrain owing to the underlying Gault Clay
Gault Clay
Gault is a clay formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period...
strata, resulting in a succession of huge landslips giving the area a very rugged appearance akin to the better known Jurassic Coast
Jurassic Coast
The Jurassic Coast is a World Heritage Site on the English Channel coast of southern England. The site stretches from Orcombe Point near Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks near Swanage in East Dorset, a distance of ....
. Currently the cliffs are eroding at a rate of about 3.5 metres per year, although this process is not gradual. Large areas of land tend to collapse in stages after periods of heavy rain. The areas most recent and destructive cliff falls occurred in 1928, 1961 and 1994. Continuing landslides and coastal erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...
swept away the paths in the early 1900s, and have since obliterated the chine itself and repeatedly forced the park owners to move the clifftop facilities inland.
Park Guide
The park combines whimsical and unusual outdoor and walkthrough attractions with award-winning heritage exhibitions and a couple of significant rides.| Attraction | Date opened | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cliffhanger | 2005 | A small roller coaster Roller coaster The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885... perched 400 feet above the sea located next to the cliff's edge. The coaster reaches heights of 11 metres before dropping in curves and twists at about 35 kilometres per hour. |
|
| Water Force | 1998 | A 100 ft-long water slide with three chutes. Two of the chutes are open and known as 'overflow 1 and 2', while the third is enclosed and known as the 'plughole'. The ride is done in small boats. | |
| Rumpus Mansion | 1993 | A walk-through attraction inside an old manor house, home to animated goblins, mischievous boggart Boggart In Englishfolklore, a boggart is a household fairy which causes things to disappear, milk to sour, and dogs to go lame. Always malevolent, the boggart will follow its family wherever they flee... s and other fantasy creatures. |
|
| Fantasyland | 1991 | Features the walk-through Liquorice Factory, the angry dragon and the animated Weather Wizard show. | |
| Nurseryland | 1974 | Various 'life-sized' nursery rhyme Nursery rhyme The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:... characters. Many are animated. |
|
| Water Gardens | 1962 | An attractive garden area, featuring ponds, fountains and a large gnome display. Until 2006, these gardens were floodlit during the summer evenings. | |
| Hedge Maze | 1963 | A large hedge maze with path to the centre. | |
| Snakes and Ladders | 1990 | A giant version of the board game Snakes and ladders Snakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian board game regarded today as a worldwide classic. It is played between two or more players on a game board having numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares... , with large slides. |
|
| Dinosaurland | 1972 | Numerous fibreglass dinosaurs, most dating back to 1972. | |
| Buffalo Canyon | 1976 | Full-scale Old West frontier town including a saloon, jail, covered wagons and teepees. | |
| The Triassic Club | 1994 | Comic animated walk-through attraction. Features Darwin the Allosaurus Allosaurus Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros... , dressed in a tuxedo, who invites guests 'to dinner' and sings a unique version of the 'Eton Boating Song Eton Boating Song The Eton Boating Song is the best known of the school songs associated with Eton College that are sung at the end of year concert and on other important occasions. It is also played during the procession of boats. The words of the song were written by William Johnson Cory, an influential Master at... '. |
|
| The Musical Pet Shop | 1992 | Animatronic animals sing a rewritten version of 'Up the Swannee River'. | |
| Crooked House | 1968 | A small walk-through attraction of disorientating crooked corridors and humorous scenes. | |
| Butterfly Walk | 2008 | Larger-than-life butterflies, with signs denoting their respective names. | |
| Giant Bug Walk | 2009 | Oversized arthropod Arthropod An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others... models |
|
| Smugglerland | 1978 | Features the 'Jolly Smuggler' play ship, a play pub, and the Smugglers' Cave, which tells the story of a shipwreck. | |
| Pirate's Barrel Ride | 2006 | A themed version of the traditional fairground teacups Teacups Teacups is an amusement ride characterized by cup-style spinning vehicles atop a turntable-like floor.-Operation:Typically, each set of four teacup vehicles has a circular floor or a motor capable of turning 360 degrees. The circular floor or motor sits within a larger, turntable-like floor... . |
|
| The Wight Experience | 2008 | Exciting film show featuring aerial views of the island by helicopter, made by 'Flying Pictures', who worked on many of the James Bond James Bond James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,... and Harry Potter Harry Potter Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry... films. |
|
| Chocolate Heaven | 2008 | A chocolate shop selling island-made sweets, chocolate and dairy ice cream. | |
| World of Timber | 1981 | Originally known as Blackgang Sawmill, an award-winning heritage exhibition 'telling the story of timber' in the setting of an old water mill. Some of the features include Blacksmith's Display, Wheelwright's Workshop, Mill Owner's Cottage, numerous working steam and oil engines, Timber at Sea, Timber in the Home and Mill Pond Gardens. | |
| BBC Coast | 2010 | Exhibition based on the popular BBC Two television series Coast (TV series) Coast is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two television in 2005. A second series started on 26 October 2006, a third in early 2007 and a fourth in mid-2009... , looking at the Isle of Wight coastline, and telling the story of Blackgang, the disappearing village. |
|
| Fairyland | 2011 | New attraction featuring Magical Fairy Village and 'Sailor's Return' rolling barrels challenge. |
- Jungleland (similar to Dinosaurland, but with jungle animals instead. Replaced with Butterfly and Giant Bug Walks.)
- Model Village (closed and removed owing to landslips.)
- Buffalo Creek (some closed due to landslip; remainder relocated uphill to form Buffalo Canyon.)
Latest developments
In 2010, a new section to the park opened, designed for adult visitors and known as "Blackgang's Disappearing Village". The new section includes a new attraction "BBC Coast" which tells the story of the island's coast and illustrates the cliff falls and erosion that Blackgang has suffered from over the years. In addition to this new attraction, the new section includes older attractions such as the 87' skeleton of the whale, Wight Flight, Timber World, and the shop named Chocolate Heaven. A new cafe restaurant has also been opened adjacent to the village and known as the Ship-Ashore Tea Rooms.In 2011, a long awaited fairy land section has been constructed near the base of the old fairy castle. Other changes include a newly rebuilt pirate ship and a "rolling barrel challenge" named The Sailors Return.