The
Rotunda Amusement Park, Folkestone, is one of a number of seaside
amusement parks - see also
Dreamland in Margate; Frontierland in Morecambe;
Pleasureland in Southport and
Spanish City in Whitley Bay -
that have sadly closed in recent years.
When the local history writing
partnership of Martin Easdown and Linda Sage began in 1996, the
Rotunda was one of Folkestone's seaside attractions that they were
particularly interested in and they took a number of photographs in
1998 and 2002. The latter was the final year of a full park
operation, and as plans were announced for the redevelopment of the
site and the rides began to disappear, they began to regularly
photograph the changes.
The increasing dereliction of the
site from 2003 proved to be a poor advertisement for Folkestone as
debates raged on how it should be redeveloped. Nevertheless, in its
own way, this neglect began to acquire some fascination of its own.
This was exemplified by the lonely vigil of the wooden roller
coaster, which remained stranded as other rides disappeared.
The site of the Rotunda has now
been levelled in preparation for residential and leisure
development. The authors hope that this book will serve as a record
of its final years.
This is a limited edition of just
69 books.
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