EPW035465 ENGLAND (1931). The Marine Terrace Bathing Pavilion, Dreamland Amusement Park and the town, Margate, 1931

Margate East platform

Former SER railway line and yard which closed and was rerouted in 1926. The site became Dreamland's first coach and car park and eventually the car park for the Arlington complex in the 1960s. The old underpass below the LCDR railway embankment where the SER line ran through was backfilled and walled off as seen.

The original LCDR railway terminus built to compete with the adjacent SER Margate Sands station, however it never opened and Margate West station was constructed on a new loop line further west. The terminus hall was sold and converted to Hall by the Sea which failed to turn a profit for some years before Lord George Sanger developed the hall and the abandoned embankment with additional former brook land into his menagerie pleasure gardens in 1870.

Mini Golf

Margate's former football ground, home to Margate Football Club. Originally brook land unsuitable for development, the land was drained for suitable use by MFC who later moved to their current location at Hartsdown Park. The Dreamland amusement park then expanded into the land, for many years used for the famous Dreamland firework displays and over later years served as a coach park and then car park. A former World War One airship hanger was constructed in the south eastern corner of the land and remained for some years before being cleared. Operation of an expanded amusement park and a car park then followed over itself most recognisably in the 1980s operation by the Bembom Brothers. In the 1990s the land reverted to become exclusively a large car park and has largely stayed that way since.

The third outdoor cage of Lord George Sanger's menagerie built in 1874 / 1882. It formed part of the western perimeter wall. The castellated cage structure itself was removed at some point, it actually appears to be missing in this very photo. The heightened section of the perimeter wall that it fronted remains as evidence, this is also true of another section further south of the site where the forth outdoor cage would have been next to surviving 3 cages.

Dreamland Miniature Railway station (second build). This was the new station built within the former tunnelled section of the original 1920s loop line.

Scenic Railway ride. Mostly the original build pre-major fires and rebuilds.

Thanet Steam Laundry. Demolished along with other historic buildings fronting Eaton Road and the laundry site now developed with high rise flats.

River Caves ride

The Racing Coaster ride

Tumble Bug ride

The Skid ride

Caterpillar ride

Lord George Sanger's indoor menagerie building. Unknown if constructed as part of the original operation from 1874, it possibly later replaced an original building. Documented to have housed 23 cages with the 4 corner conical roofs housing the larger animals. After Sanger's time, the building was reused and restocked as the 'New Zoo'. The structure is assumed to have been hit by a bomb in World War Two with the remaining ruins finally cleared in the late 1960s - early 1970s when the Astroslide was built on the site.

Lord George Sanger's second 'Margate Abbey' folly built in 1874 / 1882. This structure formed part of the western perimeter wall with the rear faces also serving as a convenient advertising billboard fronting the LCDR and SER railway lines. Depicted in the hoarding that Sanger put up above the Hall by the Sea building on Marine Terrace road, few photos and noted in various OS maps through the years, it is assumed the structure was used as a bandstand although photos show evidence of cage bars. In 1990 the Bembom Brothers began much demolition and clearance of the original railway and perimeter embankments within the west area of the Dreamland site, taking down the second folly which was replaced by modern in-filling. This section of the perimeter has now been developed after years of neglect and no access into a VIP area of the current Dreamland amusement park obscuring some of the surviving menagerie perimeter wall from view.

Lord George Sanger's 'Margate Abbey' folly built in 1874 / 1882, later modified and assumed to have been extended to create a residence for the Dreamland amusement park gardener. This structure forms part of the western perimeter wall which originally intended to shield the menagerie pleasure gardens from the adjacent SER railway. The structure survives and has now been stabilised/part-restored with grade II listing, but the adjoining wall to the north terminates after a short section at an assumed original archway and truncated tower. To the south sections of the wall also survive, adjoined by 3 cages. In 1990 the Bembom Brothers began much demolition and clearance of the original railway and perimeter embankments within the west area of the Dreamland site taking down the second folly, replaced by modern in-filling and some of the perimeter wall. However as part of the new 'Kiddies Area', the pinned folly was turned into a haunted residence by installation of an animatronic ghost named Gus in the first floor window, which would be activated by a coin slot.

Sanger's cottage, built within his menagerie pleasure gardens in 1870 and serving as part of the west perimeter wall. This modest shed converted to a residential property with decorative character survived through to planning approved demolition by Jimmy Godden in 1998, which is also when the adjacent third extension was also removed from the south of the Dreamland Ballroom structure. The roofline where the second extension had adjoined the cottage is still visible today. The cottage is fondly remembered through the 1970s and Bembom Brothers' years of ownership for being a secret point of free access into the amusement park from the 1960s Arlington car park that was eventually constructed upon the old SER railway yard, abutting the menagerie perimeter wall and structures.

Dreamland Ballroom, later the Dreamland Squash Club then offices. Now a venue, perhaps inappropriately called Hall by the Sea. The result of several extensions and refits to south of the abandoned LCDR constructed railway terminus, through Lord George Sanger's operation of Hall by the Sea and his menagerie pleasure gardens. Sections of the original menagerie perimeter wall on the west side was twice reused during this time with infilling and cladding added to make up the difference both in ground levels and roofline. The building largely survives in this form now as a shell after a privately funded restoration of works with stabilisation, repointing, re-cladding and some rebuild. A less appeasing third extension had been added to the south and east of Sanger's cottage in the 1940s forming perhaps a backstage area for the ballroom. It was removed in 1998 by Jimmy Godden, unfortunately also taking Sanger's cottage with it.

SER Margate Sands station, finally closed and converted to the Casino restaurant/ballroom in 1926, it later burnt down to the ground. The SER line then only goods traffic was lifted through the underpass below the LCDR embankment and rerouted with a new embankment spur to the south adjoining the LCDR line that had been constructed to compete with the SER line but ultimately became the surviving route. This arrangement came to an end in the 1970s and the abandoned SER line is now increasingly being lost to development.

Lord George Sanger's 'Margate Abbey' ruins, as seen in many published postcards. This substantial structure built in 1874 as ruin by design would have served as the original entrance gate into the menagerie pleasure gardens. It survived through the new Dreamland Zoo of the 1970s, before sadly being cleared. Now listed grade II, only a small section of the original western perimeter wall, 3 cages and a modified folly of Sanger's menagerie remains today and has now been stabilised/part-restored.

The new Dreamland Arcade. Completely destroyed in one of the amusement park's biggest fires

LCDR/SER embankment, junctions and line spur. Built in 1926 for goods traffic to interconnect with the old SER line through to Ramsgate which had been closed under the LCDR embankment through to the former SER Margate Sands station on Marine Terrace road.

The Sun Deck