page_title: Camelot Theme Park
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Camelot Theme Park / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The entrance to the castle, main square, Camelot.
context_page_description: Camelot Theme Park is an abandoned resort and theme park located in the English county of Lancashire. The park's theme was the well-known legend of Camelot, and the park decor incorporated pseudo-medieval elements. It was located on a 140-acre site near the village of Charnock Richard, 3 miles west of Chorley.
  One of the roller coasters can be seen from the M6 near the Charnock Richard Services. However as of February 2020 said rollercoaster "The Knightmare" is currently being demolished after SBNO for eight years. The site was owned by The Story Group and was operated by Knights Leisure. The park featured many rides, taking a target audience of families and younger children; however, the park also boasted numerous thrill rides and roller coasters, including Whirlwind, Knightmare and Excalibur.
  The park was featured in a 1994 episode of Sooty & Co., in which presenter Matthew Corbett takes Sooty, Sweep and Soo there. On 4 November 2012, Camelot suddenly announced that they would not be reopening for the season of 2013. The abandoned park was profiled in a Series 2 episode 1 of Hidden Britain by Drone.
context_section_description: The park opened in 1983 and was operating seasonally until the end of 2012. The park was based on the story of 'Camelot, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table'. The local area was once covered by the largest lake in England Martin Mere, which was first drained in 1692 by Thomas Fleetwood of Bank Hall in Bretherton.
  The story was that Sir Lancelot's parents King Ban of Benwick and his queen Elaine escaped to Lancashire from their enemies in France.  Elaine went to help King Ban who had fallen and put Lancelot down on the shore of the lake, where he was abducted by nymph Vivian who vanished into the waters of the lake with him. Vivian brought up Lancelot, and when he went to King Arthur's court, he was knighted as 'Sir Lancelot of the Lake'.
  Martin Mere has been locally known as the 'Lost Lake of Sir Lancelot' following the myth.
  In 1986, the park was taken over by the Granada Group and operated by them alongside its now defunct sister parks American Adventure and Granada Studios Tour. In June 1998, the park was subject to a management buyout, in which the park went to Prime Resorts Ltd. Camelot had seen a downturn in attendance in later years, in 1995, Camelot's attendance was 500,000 visitors throughout the season.
  In 2005, Camelot's attendance was only 336,204 visitors. In August 2006, in a survey of healthy food available at leading tourist attractions in the United Kingdom, Camelot came joint bottom, scoring only one point.
  In February 2009, Prime Resorts announced that the park was in receivership, and would not reopen for the season of 2009. The hotel was bought by Lavender Hotels in March 2009, and in April 2009, it was announced that a buyer had been found for the park and that it would reopen in May 2009.
  The theme park was purchased by Story Group, a construction company based in Carlisle and leased to Knight's Leisure who ran the park. The site's future remains uncertain, as the new owner is planning to redevelop the site. Current indications are that this will be a housing development.
caption: Castle Entrance, Camelot
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