Bekonscot
| Bekonscot | |
|
Buckinghamshire | |
|---|---|
 View over site in 2008 | |
| Type: | Model village |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU939914 |
| Location: | 51°36’49"N, -0°38’41"W |
| Village: | Beaconsfield |
| History | |
| Built 1920s | |
| For: | Roland Callingham by W. A. Berry |
| Model village | |
| Information | |
| Website: | bekonscot.co.uk |
Bekonscot Model Village is a model village built in the 1920s in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. At a scale of one inch to one foot, it portrays aspects of Britain mostly dating from the 1930s: it contains several fictitious villages featuring replicas of notable local buildings. The model railway has almost 10 scale miles (440 yards) of tracks.
In 2001, a 7¼-inch gauge ridable miniature railway was opened to transport visitors.
Bekonscot has become both a popular tourist location and a part of our culture. It is commonly referred to as the oldest surviving model village in the United Kingdom, and by 2020, had received over 14 million visitors. Authors such as Enid Blyton, Mary Norton and Will Self have been inspired by the village.
Creation
Bekonscot Model Village and Railway was created in the 1920s by Roland Callingham and his gardener W. A. Berry.[1]:661[2][3] Callingham's wife had told him to take his model railway hobby outside their house, so he purchased four acres of land in Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, and built his idea of an ideal village, with a church, railway and high street, illuminated by electric lights. Everything was constructed at a scale of one inch to one foot.[3] The railway was 1,200 feet long and had stations including a London terminus called Maryloo (referencing real stations Marylebone and Waterloo). It was designed by Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke, who had also provided a train set made out of silver to the Maharaja of Gwalior.[1]:652 It was opened to the general public in 1929 and three years later it had become a popular tourist attraction. By 1933, it was opened to the public every Sunday between April and September with the railway running and every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon without the trains working. The entrance fee was donated to the Railway Benevolent Institution and the Queen's Institute of District Nursing.[4][3]
History
In 1934, Bekonscot was visited by the young Princess Elizabeth on her eighth birthday.[5][1]:661 An article published in the National Geographic in 1937 praised the "flawless miniatures of wood and stone, metal, stucco, bright paint, and glass".[1]:649 Bekonscot, alongside Pendon Museum in Berkshire and Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, inspired a trend for model villages in British seaside resort towns such as Babbacombe, Southport and Southsea.[6] By the 1960s it was owned and run by the Bekonscot Model Railway and Charitable Association.[2] It is commonly referred to as the oldest surviving model village in the United Kingdom, although the eccentric Charles Paget Wade constructed a village called Fladbury at his home Snowshill Manor in 1907, which has been restored by National Trust volunteers.[7][8]
.jpg)
Bekonscot was updated with recent developments such as Concorde and office buildings until the 1990s, when it was returned to the 1930s. By 2020, it had incorporated a new town and added a replica of High and Over, a house designed by Amyas Connell in nearby Amersham. The project is now composed of the fictitious villages of Bekonscot, Evenlode new town and colliery, Epwood, Greenhaily, Hanton, Southpool and Splashyng, which are linked together by the model railway. It features replicas of some notable local buildings and contains features such as an airport, a cable car, a cathedral, a castle, a cricket match, pubs, windmills and a zoo.[1]:652[5][9][10] The zoo is named Chessnade after Chessington World of Adventures and Whipsnade Zoo; shops are titled with punning names, such as the butcher Sam and Ella, the dressmaker Miss A. Stitch, the florist Dan D. Lyon and the greengrocer Chris P. Lettis.[10]:3
The model railway now has almost 10 scale miles (440 yards) of tracks, with twelve stations and over 3,000 shrubs and trees. Trains run on a 1 gauge track and are powered by electricity.[10]:9[5] Visitors walk through the model village and can also look down on it from different viewing spots. In 2001, the Bekonscot Light Railway (BLR) was opened as a 7¼-inch gauge railway which moves visitors around the village. The entire project closes over winter; smaller models are taken indoors, whilst larger buildings and the railway are refurbished on site.[10]:23,25
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bekonscot) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Brown, Andrew H.; Stewart, B. Anthony (May 1937). "Bekonscot, England's toy-sized town". National Geographic.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 McFadden, Dorothy Loa (March 1969). "It's a small world" (in en). The Rotarian (Rotary International): p. 55. https://books.google.com/books?id=kTUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA55.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "A dream village come true". Bucks Examiner: pp. 6. 14 April 1933. https://www.newspapers.com/article/bucks-examiner-a-dream-village-come-true/125072241/.
- ↑ "Beaconsfield". Buckinghamshire Advertiser: pp. 7. 24 March 1933. https://www.newspapers.com/article/buckinghamshire-advertiser-bekonscot-193/125068493/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Roy, Anita (September 2008). "Little Englander" (in en). Outlook Traveller (Outlook Publishing): pp. 65–66. https://books.google.com/books?id=izEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT31.
- ↑ Matless, David; Short, Brian; Gilbert, David (1 January 2003). "Afterword: Emblematic Landscapes of the British Modern". Geographies of British Modernity. pp. 250–257. doi:10.1002/9780470752258.after. ISBN 9780470752258.
- ↑ Aling, Mike (2021). "Backgarden Worldbuilding: The Architecture of the Model Village". Architectural Design 91 (3): 112–119. doi:10.1002/ad.2700. http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/33293/1/Aling_AD%20Article_Backgarden%20Worldbuilding.pdf. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
- ↑ "Model village brought back to life in Cotswolds". BBC News. 15 April 2018. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-43765886.
- ↑ "Just for Fun – Bekonscot Model Village". BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/have_fun/360/bekonscot_model_village.shtml.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Dunn, Tim (2009). Bekonscot – Historic Model Village & Railway. Norwich, UK: Jarrold Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85101-435-7.
- Bailey, Liam (2006). Forever England: Photographs from Bekonscot model village. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis. ISBN 9781904587309.
- Bekonscot Model Railway and Charitable Association (1972) (in en). Bekonscot model village. Norwich, UK: Jarrold. OCLC 497820473. https://worldcat.org/title/497820473.
- Parfitt, Ida (1962). Bekonscot Model Village, Beaconsfield, Bucks. Beaconsfield, UK: Bekonscot Model Railway & General Charitable Association. OCLC 48678414. https://worldcat.org/title/30221613.