 View over site in 2008 | |
  Location within Buckinghamshire | |
| Established | 1920s |
|---|---|
| Location | Beaconsfield,Buckinghamshire, UK |
| Coordinates | 51°36′49″N0°38′41″W / 51.61361°N 0.64472°W /51.61361; -0.64472 |
| Type | Miniature park |
| Founder |
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| Website | bekonscot |
Bekonscot Model Village and Railway is amodel village built in the 1920s inBeaconsfield,Buckinghamshire, UK at a scale of one inch to one foot. It portrays aspects of England mostly dating from the 1930s and contains several fictitious villages featuring replicas of notable local buildings. Themodel railway has almost 10 scale miles (400 m) of tracks and in 2001, a7 1/4 in gauge railway was opened to transport visitors. Bekonscot has become both a popular tourist location and a part of English culture. It is commonly referred to as the oldest surviving model village in the UK and by 2020, had received over 14 million visitors. Authors such asEnid Blyton,Mary Norton andWill Self have been inspired by the village.
Bekonscot Model Village and Railway was created as a privateminiature park in the 1920s by Roland Callingham and his gardener W. A. Berry.[1]: 661 [2][3] Callingham's wife had told him to take hismodel railway hobby outside their house, so he purchased four acres of land inBeaconsfield,Buckinghamshire, and built an ideal English village with a church, railway and high street, illuminated by electric lights. Everything was constructed at a scale of one inch to one foot.[4][3] The railway was 1,200 feet (366 m) long and had stations including a London terminus called Maryloo (referencing real stationsMarylebone andWaterloo). It was designed byWenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke, who had also provided a train set made out of silver to theMaharaja of Gwalior.[5][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 theRailway Benevolent Institution and theQueen's Institute of District Nursing.[6][3][4]
In 1934, Bekonscot was visited by the youngElizabeth II on her eighth birthday.[7][1]: 661 An article published in theNational Geographic in 1937 praised the "flawless miniatures of wood and stone, metal, stucco, bright paint, and glass".[1]: 649 Bekonscot, alongsidePendon Museum in Oxfordshire andBourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, inspired a trend for model villages in British seaside resort towns such asBabbacombe,Southport andSouthsea.[8] 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 UK, although the eccentricCharles Paget Wade constructed a village called Fladbury at his homeSnowshill Manor in 1907, which has been restored byNational Trust volunteers.[9][10]
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Bekonscot was updated with recent developments such asConcorde and office buildings until the 1990s, when it was returned to the 1930s. By 2020, it had incorporated anew town and added a replica ofHigh and Over, a house designed byAmyas Connell in the nearby town ofAmersham.[5] 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 [7][11][12][13] The zoo is named Chessnade afterChessington World of Adventures andWhipsnade Zoo; shops are titled withpunning names, such as thebutcher Sam and Ella, thedressmaker Miss A. Stitch, theflorist Dan D. Lyon and thegreengrocer Chris P. Lettis.[13]: 3 [12]
The model railway now has almost 10 scale miles (400 m) of tracks, with twelve stations and over 3,000 shrubs and trees. Trains run on a1 gauge track and are powered by electricity.[13]: 9 [7] Visitors walk through the model village and can also look down on it from different viewing spots.[14]: 53 In 2001, the Bekonscot Light Railway (BLR) was opened as a7 1/4 in 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.[13]: 23, 25
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Bekonscot is the oldest participant in the International Association of Miniature Parks (IMAP).[14]: 36 By 2020, Bekonscot had received over 14 million visitors and had become part of English culture.[5][14]: 37 The village frequently appears on lists of recommended family days out.[4][15][16] It represents an idealised version of traditional English villages and its brochure states it is a "little piece of history that is forever England".[14]: 36 [17]Enid Blyton was a Beaconsfield resident and friend of Callingham; she set her short story "The Enchanted Village" in Bekonscot.[7][12] TheSunday Telegraph reported that Toyland, where her fictional characterNoddy lives, was inspired by Bekonscot.[18] In tribute to Blyton, a replica of her now demolished house Green Hedges was installed in 1997.[7][12]Mary Norton was inspired by Bekonscot when she wroteThe Borrowers Aloft andWill Self set his short story "Scale" in the model village.[5] Bekonscot also features in the non-fiction bookDreamstreets: A Journey Through Britain's Village Utopias.[19] HistorianTim Dunn grew up nearby and has written the official guidebook.[20]
