The Colourful History of the Carousel

As Carter’s Steam Fair has returned once more to Bath’s Victoria Park we’ve been thinking about where the iconic fairground ride, the carousel, first came from... 

They’re a long way from the hair-raising rollercoasters that are now the main attractions of amusement parks, but despite the fact that they can’t compete in terms of technology or in the adrenaline-boosting stakes, the traditional fairground carousel remains a firm favourite with all ages. 

The word “carousel” was first given to a game played by Arabian and Turkish horsemen in the 12^th century. When Italian invaders saw the game, which involved tossing a perfume-filled clay ball between riders, they thought it was played with such solemnity that they called it a “little war” or “carosello”.  

The game eventually moved across Europe and made its way to France (where the Italian “carosello” became the French “carousel”). In order to get practice in before the game was played the French invented a practise device which featured wooden horses on the end of arms on a central rotating pole. The horsemen mounted the wooden horses and as a human, horse or mule turned the device the horsemen would try to spear hanging rings onto the end of their jousting lances.  

These carousels were seen by passers-by who thought that they looked like fun to ride and soon carousels were being built purely for entertainment use. By the late 1700s the man/horse-driven carousels could be found at fairs across Europe, but it wasn’t until 1861 that Thomas Bradshaw revealed the first steam-powered roundabout in Bolton. This power boosted roundabout meant carousels could be much bigger and the “golden age” of carousels was begun, lasting from the late 1800s until the 1930s and the Great Depression.

Although begun in Europe, the biggest and most elaborate carousels had started to be made in America, but when the Great Depression came this, coupled with the loss of interest in preference for the exciting new rollercoasters, meant that when the economy recovered the demand for expensive hand-carved carousels was gone and instead fiberglass and aluminium carousels took over.  

Now time for a small confession. When we came to look up the origins of the carousel that Carters Steam Fair has we discovered that it’s not actually a carousel but is a ride called the Gallopers! This is a British ride born “of a time when normal working people couldn’t afford their own horse and it provided a much-needed flight of fancy and often would be highly decorated with exotic scenes, portraits of actors and actresses, of great man and royalty. In the days before cinema or television, it was transporting people into a gaily-coloured world.”

However, the ride is similar to the original carousel and the horses are hand-carved wooden horses (mostly carved, incidentally, around 1910 by Andersons of Bristol – so they’re practically coming home for a visit).  

Carousel or Roundabout or Gallopers, going down to Bath’s Victoria Park and taking a turn on the steam-powered flight of fancy is something we can highly recommend.

(Carters Steam Fair will be at Bath’s Victoria Park from August 5^th until August 20^th and open from 12pm-8pm each day.)

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Bath On A Bookshelf

Bath has been the setting of many a great novel throughout the years, as well as plenty of TV programmes and films.

As such an iconic city, which has survived almost as if caught in a time capsule in many ways, it’s special in that you can read the novels which have been set in Bath and, although many may have been written over a hundred years ago, you can still recognize the streets and buildings the books reference. So why not visit Bath on the page and then in person? 

 Here are just a few of the books you could read which are set in Bath:

Northanger Abbey/Persuasion – Jane Austen

(Published in 1818. Set in 1800(approx.) and 1814 respectively.)

Northanger Abbey sees the young and naïve heroine discovering the delights of Bath social life and the dangers of believing too strongly in Gothic thriller novels; while Persuasion is about love, loss and hope, as Anne Elliot is thrown together once more with the man she loved but was made to leave in her youth.  

Both novels draw heavily on the popular locations of Regency Bath such as the Royal Crescent, the Pump Rooms, the Assembly Rooms and the shopping hub of Milsom Street. When it comes to novels which are set in Bath, these are probably the most well-known, but it has to be said, with good reason. Both are funny, witty, and a wonderful window through to what life was like in Bath in Austen’s time, and through to our own human nature.    

The Pickwick Papers – Charles Dickens

(Published in serial format 1836-1837. Set around 1827.)

The Pickwick Papers is a sequence of loosely related adventures. The novel's main character, Samuel Pickwick, is a kind and wealthy old gentleman, and the founder and president of the Pickwick Club. To extend his researches into the quaint and curious phenomena of life, he suggests that he and three other "Pickwickians" should make journeys to places remote from London and report on their findings to the other members of the club.

Although not entirely set in Bath, the novel heavily satirizes the social scene in Bath at the time Dickens was writing and mentions several iconic locations (the Assembly Rooms for example). Dickens spent a lot of time in Bath while he was working as a journalist before he became a novelist, and he got the name for The Pickwick Papers from the sides of coaches belonging to Eleazer Pickwick (1749-1837), the owner of a well-known Bath coaching business.

In his early days, Dickens used to stay in The Saracen’s Head pub, which still exists to this day as the oldest pub in Bath.  

Go Swift and Far – Douglas Westcott

(Published in 2013. Set in 1942 and the three decades after)

“Born in the wartime German raids on Bath in the Spring of 1942, an orphan boy, alone and destitute, is determined to survive... Go Swift and Far is a sweeping coming of age saga that exposes the deceit and hypocrisy lurking behind the genteel facades of the famous City of Bath.”   

Written by a local businessman who has lived in Bath for over thirty years and seen its development first hand. This book is the first in a projected trilogy tracing Bath from World War II to the present day, with real events from the City’s history drawn from The Bath Chronicle archives. 

What’s That Got To Do With Bath…?

Lions

Two bronze lions guard the gates to Victoria Park; the mascot of Bath Rugby is Maximus the lion;

there are random lion statues (one blue mosaicked one near the Abbey) dotted around Bath. Bath has over 500 images of lions in and around the city, but what have lions got to do with Bath?

Lions have been the symbol of royal England for nine hundred years, and they became forever linked with Bath after the first King of all England, King Edgar, was crowned in Bath in 973AD. A lion also features on Bath’s coat of arms, reflecting the royal heritage of the city, alongside… 

A boar

Pigs are another animal that’s long been associated with Bath. The legend goes that around 863BC, prince Bladud contracted leprosy while studying in Athens and on his return home he left court - unable to take the throne, and became a swineherd. His pigs unfortunately also contracted his disease.

However, when they came to the area that is now Bath, the pigs rolled in the hot mud around Bath’s springs while looking for acorns and Bladud saw that their leprosy was soon cured. Bladud followed suit, bathed in the mud, was also cured, returned to take the throne and then, to show his gratitude, founded the city of Bath; dedicating its curative powers to the Celtic goddess Sul.   

The Gorgon’s Head

Archaeologists have been able to work out that this stone carving would have been in the centre of the ornamental pediment, which stood at the entrance of the great temple beside the Baths. It’s survived incredibly well given how it’s nearly two thousand years old! So hardly surprising that it’s become a key symbol of Bath. The reason the Roman’s chose a Gorgon’s head in the first place though was because it was a key symbol of the goddess Sulis Minerva. Which brings us neatly to…

The head of Sulis Minerva

Aquae Sulis was the Roman name for Bath and literally means “waters of Sul”. The Romans dedicated their temple to the nourishing, life-giving mother goddess Sulis Minerva (some think she is a combination of the Celtic goddess Sul and the Roman goddess Minerva) and erected a huge statue to her within their temple. The gilt bronze head of this statue survives to this day. It was found in 1727, and is so remarkable, not only because of its artistic merit, but also because only two other gilt bronze statues from Roman times have ever been found on Britain.  

The symbol in the floor 

At the junction of Bath Street and Stall Street (just beside the exit from the Roman Baths) there’s a large bronze symbol set into the cobbles. It pops up on keyrings, websites, and lots of other Bath-related items and media. The reason is because it’s the World Heritage Symbol, which commemorates the City of Bath’s addition onto the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987. At this point the city was identified as “a masterpiece of human creative genius whose protection must be the concern of all.” Not bad going, considering that the only other two cities in the world to hold this accolade are The Vatican and Venice!