Marvels: The Carnival Is Over. An Exhibition 16th May to 30th May
The Shakespeare, Scarborough, YO11 1EU
Saturday 16th May 2026 - Saturday 30th May 2026
Until 2002, when the lights dimmed and the machines finally fell silent, the air around Mr. Marvel’s Amusement Park was filled with laughter and the delighted screams of children. Now fondly remembered by those children—long since grown up—the site lies abandoned. With a quiet inevitability, nature is slowly reclaiming what was once a vibrant place of fun and excitement.
Marvels: The Carnival Is Over revisits this much-loved attraction. Today the site is largely inaccessible; the only way in is from the cliff top. Access from the Scarborough Open Air Theatre area has been sealed off with a metal fence, originally installed to prevent freeloaders entering during concerts.
During a few visits in the years leading up to the park’s closure in 2002, I photographed several scenes for the Scarborough Tourist Guide. Those images captured giant fibreglass dinosaurs with children climbing over them—long before health and safety became so restrictive—along with the chairlift and the colourful Noah’s Ark.
In 2007 I began returning regularly, searching for and photographing the remnants left behind after the site was cleared: a dinosaur’s leg, a stall game, a child’s sunglasses, and the occasional structure still standing.
In 2015 construction began on the new water park, Alpamare. Soil excavated for the swimming pools was relocated onto the Marvel’s site, covering a large area where the outlines of sideshows, kiosks and walkways had once been, along with the objects associated with them. Fortunately, I had documented much of this before it disappeared.
Since then, I have continued to record the site—both nature’s steady reclamation and the damage caused by vandalism from adolescents who seem able to act without consequence.
This May, as part of the Big Ideas by the Sea Festival, I will be exhibiting Marvels: The Carnival Is Over at the Shakespeare Gallery (opposite the Market Hall)
A Scarborough 400 Event.
Marvels: The Carnival Is Over revisits this much-loved attraction. Today the site is largely inaccessible; the only way in is from the cliff top. Access from the Scarborough Open Air Theatre area has been sealed off with a metal fence, originally installed to prevent freeloaders entering during concerts.
During a few visits in the years leading up to the park’s closure in 2002, I photographed several scenes for the Scarborough Tourist Guide. Those images captured giant fibreglass dinosaurs with children climbing over them—long before health and safety became so restrictive—along with the chairlift and the colourful Noah’s Ark.
In 2007 I began returning regularly, searching for and photographing the remnants left behind after the site was cleared: a dinosaur’s leg, a stall game, a child’s sunglasses, and the occasional structure still standing.
In 2015 construction began on the new water park, Alpamare. Soil excavated for the swimming pools was relocated onto the Marvel’s site, covering a large area where the outlines of sideshows, kiosks and walkways had once been, along with the objects associated with them. Fortunately, I had documented much of this before it disappeared.
Since then, I have continued to record the site—both nature’s steady reclamation and the damage caused by vandalism from adolescents who seem able to act without consequence.
This May, as part of the Big Ideas by the Sea Festival, I will be exhibiting Marvels: The Carnival Is Over at the Shakespeare Gallery (opposite the Market Hall)
A Scarborough 400 Event.
