Camelot theme park, based on the story of Camelot, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table opened in 1983 and operated seasonally until late 2012. The park saw it’s prime in the mid 90’s but then took a slow decline following the death of an employee who was struck by the gauntlet ride in 2001, struggles in finance combined with low health and safety ratings came as a result of numerous ownership phases that each failed to get the park back on its feet. The final nail in the coffin came in 2011 when a 12 year old special needs boy fell to his death from the infamous Excalibur 2 ride. Internal enquiries followed by the inevitable drop in visitors meant that the park finally closed for good in 2012 - the site left almost entirely as it was the day that all 150 employees were sent home. A number of rides were sold off to German theme park auctioneers and a section of the land was inhabited by a community of caravaners who were later forced off the site by the Best Western Hotel staff which still overlooks the site it once cohabited. Whilst security tried to convince us that the land was “undergoing preparation for housing development”, the proposal was unanimously rejected in 2014 due to its invalidation of the Green Belt policy. It seems that any chance of revitalisation for Camelot has long since passed as it heads into even further decay. EDIT: A year after my initial visit I heard rumours of the site being slowly taken apart following extensive vandalism and proposed plans for the site regarding future developments. Some explorers taking to climb the unsafe structures of the rollercoasters had been in the news as of late and caused unwanted attention to the park. With the knowledge that Camelot is being slowly pulled down I went back to say one last farewell. Images are now updated.
