Scarborough Fair Collection

Vintage Fair

Almost everyone has special childhood memories of a visit to the fair and we hope to bring these flooding back during your visit.

The traditional 'Galloping Horses' roundabout must be the most iconic of all English fairground rides and its origins are to be found in much smaller and plain roundabouts which were originally hand powered or in some cases pulled round by ponies.

With the introduction of steam power to the fairground the rides became far grander and soon a variety of adult machines were available, some of which required six or more trailers to transport and needed many strong men to assemble.

During the steam age firms such as Savage, Walker, Tidman and Orton and Spooner all competed to produce the finest machines and it is due to the high quality of their workmanship that many excellent examples have survived.

As the steam age drew to a close, manufacturers turned to the production of electric powered machines, such as the ark, waltzer, dodgems, moon rockets and caterpillar and we are very pleased to have a fully working example of one of these rare rides.