Blackgang Chine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blackgang Chine circa 1910

Blackgang Chine is the location of a natural chine (a coastal ravine) in the soft Cretaceous cliffs near Ventnor at the southern tip of the Isle of Wight, England.

Unstable terrain due to the underlying Gault Clay strata has resulted in a succession of huge landslips, notably in the 1920s, giving the area a very rugged and spectacular appearance quite atypical of southeast England.

The site is home to the Blackgang Chine amusement park, established in 1843 by Victorian entrepreneur Alexander Dabell, whose descendants have owned it ever since. It is allegedly the oldest theme park in the UK, and famous for its lifesize plastic dinosaurs. Originally a general-purpose scenic and curiosity park, it featured a whale skeleton and landscaped paths down the chine to a waterfall and the beach below. The paths were swept away in the early 1900s, and the continuing coastal erosion has since obliterated the chine itself and forced the owners to repeatedly move the clifftop facilities inland. The park's focus now is themed entertainments for families with young children. The same owners run a sister site, the Robin Hill countryside adventure park. The owners wereconsidering moving all of the attractions at Blackgang Chine to Robin Hill, as the continuing erson is not leaving much room, and the parts closest to the cliff cannot be moved further away. However it has been decided to phase out the children's attractions, and aim for a more adult-orientated heritage centre.

Blackgang is also the name of the nearby village. According to a May 2000 talk to the Isle of Wight Postcard Club by the present owner, 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 must pass to enter.

Clifftop walks in and around the area give panoramic views of the English Channel and the south-western Isle of Wight coast. Blackgang is also notable for dinosaur fossils and the nudist Blackgang Beach.

Blackgang was the birthplace of the actress and comedienne Sheila Hancock.

The Blackgang Chine park is featured in the book Bollocks to Alton Towers, a humorous book concerned with "uncommonly British days out". It was chosen for its apparent eccentricity.

[edit] Park Guide

The park combines whimsical and unusual outdoor and walkthrough attractions with award-winning heritage exhibitions and a couple of significant rides.

Rumpus Mansion: A walk-through attraction inside an old manor house, home to animated goblins, mischievous spirits and other fantasy creatures.
FantasyLand: Features the animated Liquorice Factory, a dragon and the walk-through Weather Wizard show.
NurseryLand: Various 'life-sized' nursery rhyme characters. Many are animated.
Water Gardens & Maze
Snakes and Ladders: A giant version of the board game, with large slides.
Dinosaurland: Numerous fibreglass dinosaurs, most dating back to 1972.
Jungle Walk: Fibreglass African wildlife.
Buffalo Canyon: Full-scale frontier town including a saloon, jail, covered wagons and more. Very popular.
The Triassic Club: Comic animated walk-through attraction. Features Darwin the Allosaurus, dressed in a tuxedo, who invites guests 'to dinner'.
The Musical Pet Shop: Animatronic animals sing a rewritten version of 'Up the Swanny River'.
Crooked House: A small walk-through attraction of disorientating crooked corridors and humorous scenes.
Fort Tortuga: Pirate-themed adventure play area.
Smugglerland: Features the 'Jolly Smuggler' play ship, a play pub, and the Smugglers' Cave, which tells the story of a shipwreck.
St Catherine's Quay: An award-winning maritime heritage attraction. Home to the famous whale bones and a 37 ft long RNLI lifeboat.
Blackgang Sawmill: An exhibition 'telling the story of timber'. Features numerous working steam engines.
Water Force: A 100 ft-long water slide with three chutes.
Cliffhanger: A small roller coaster close to the cliff's edge. Also since 2006 (when the other one in Ryde closed) the only roller coaster on the Isle of Wight.