Old-time fairground gallopers
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Old-time fairground gallopers by Evelyn Simak as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Old-time fairground gallopers
Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 21 Dec 2008
This old-time fairground ride is parked at the North Walsham Garden Centre car park, and open to the public, until Christmas. The ride was built by King's Lynn engineer Frederick Savage in 1893 and left the county for Lancashire after its completion. The then fairly plain carved gallopers were in time embellished with mirrors, brightly coloured rounded boards and twisted gold rails by a succession of owners. The ride has not been modified and still has its complement of wooden gallopers but the original steam engine has been replaced by an electric generator. Showman Bobby Rawlins purchased the carousel in 1960 after which time it appeared in many films, the probably most widely known being 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang', 'Oh What a Lovely War', 'Derby Day'. The original 89-key Gaudin organ was built in France in 1920 and plays tunes written especially for 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' as well as fairground classics. Four years ago the Queen asked for the ride to be brought to Buckingham Palace where it entertained crowds at a charity event.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.813915
Longitude
1.38452