Camelot Theme Park can be found at the end of Park Hall Road at the last left before Mill Lane, Charnock Richard, Chorley, Lancashire, England.

Now abandoned, Camelot was opened in 1983 and operated seasonally until 2012. It is owned by The Story Group and was operated by Knights Leisure Limited. Camelot resided on 140+ acres and had 26 attractions, 2 which were water rides and 5 that were roller coasters. The theme of the park was of the legendary Camelot castle and court of King Arthur.

In 1986 The Granada Group took over Camelot Theme Park and in 1995 received over 500,000 visitors. Later in 1998 it was subjected to a buyout and was ran by Prime Resorts Limited. Camelot began seeing a downturn in attendance during its latter years and by 2005 had only received a little less than 340,000 visitors. In a 2006 survey it ranked at the bottom for healthy foods available at a leading tourist attraction.

By 2009 Prime Resorts said that the park would not open for the season. The Camelot Hotel was then bought by Lavender Hotels in March of 2009, and by April 2009 a buyer had been found for the Theme Park. The Story Group were the Camelot Theme Park buyers, who leased it to Knight’s Leisure to run the park. Though this did not last long as the park shut down only 3 years later, and blamed poor summer conditions, the Queen’s Jubilee, and the 2012 London Olympics for the poor number of visitors.

Upon closing the 5 roller coasters of Camelot were : Caterpillar Capers, Knightmare, Whirlwind, Junior Dragon Coaster, and the rare diesel powered Dragon Flyer. Other rides upon closing included the : Excalibur 2, Dungeons of Doom, Jousting Knights Dodgem, The Galleon, Camelot Cascade, Pendragon’s Plunge, Clown Around, Human Cannonball, Falcon’s Flight, Formula-K Go-Karts, Sky Diver’s, Towers of Fun, Kingdom in the Clouds, Sir Lancelot’s Chargers, Bertie Bassett’s Driving School, Playland Express, Junior Jousting Horses, Cup ‘n’ Sorcerer, Junior Galleon, and Kiddies’ Indoor Playland. The 4 shows of Camelot upon closing were : Jousting Tournament, Merlin’s School of Wizardry, Birds of Prey Show, and Merlin’s Magic Show.

Unfortunately, bad things happened at the park including an employee getting struck and killed by The Gauntlet roller coaster in 2001. The park was fined after this because it had no written safety procedures for its staff. Then in 2004, a boy was hit by a bus in the Camelot parking lot, and killed. Finally in 2011, a 12 year old boy fell from the Excalibur 2 ride, thankfully he survived.

Presenter Matthew Corbett took Sooty, Sweep and Soo there in an episode of Sooty & Co.

As of 2013, The Camelot Theme Park and Resort still remain standing, but many of the rides have been moved to other them parks through out this year. There is allegedly a new owner who is planning to redevelop the site, possibly into a some sort of housing development.

The 1989 Camelot Theme Park Brochure.

Where is Camelot Theme Park located? You can find this modern legend with these coordinates. 53.636064,-2.700689.

Images used under Creative Commons License Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike, images were under this license November 22nd, 2013. Images by True British Metal [Flickr/TrueBritishMetal].