Bekonscot#Railways

{{Infobox museum

| name = Bekonscot

| image = General view, Bekonscot.JPG

| caption = View over site in 2008

| alt = A photograph of the layout of Beconscot

| map_type = Buckinghamshire

| established = 1920s

| location = Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, UK

| coordinates = {{Coord|51|36|49|N|0|38|41|W|display=title}}

| type = Miniature park

| founder = {{ubl|Roland Callingham|W. A. Berry}}

| website = {{URL|bekonscot.co.uk}}

}}

Bekonscot Model Village and Railway is a model village built in the 1920s in Beaconsfield, 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. The model railway has almost 10 scale miles (400 m) of tracks and in 2001, a 7 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 as Enid Blyton, Mary Norton and Will Self have been inspired by the village.

Creation

Bekonscot Model Village and Railway was created as a private miniature park in the 1920s by Roland Callingham and his gardener W. A. Berry.{{rp|661}}{{cite news |title=A dream village come true |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/bucks-examiner-a-dream-village-come-true/125072241/ |access-date=21 May 2023 |work=Bucks Examiner |date=14 April 1933 |pages=6}} Callingham's wife had told him to take his model railway hobby outside their house, so he purchased four acres of land in Beaconsfield, 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. The railway was {{convert|1200|ft|m|0}} 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.{{cite news |last1=Brown |first1=Andrew H. |last2=Stewart |first2=B. Anthony |title=Bekonscot, England's toy-sized town |work=National Geographic |date=May 1937}}{{rp|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.{{cite news |title=Beaconsfield |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/buckinghamshire-advertiser-bekonscot-193/125068493/ |access-date=21 May 2023 |work=Buckinghamshire Advertiser |date=24 March 1933 |pages=7}}{{cite news |last1=Swanborough |first1=Nicola |title=Family outing to Bekonscot model village |work=The Times |date=7 September 2002 |id="{{Gale|IF0501536388}} }}

History

In 1934, Bekonscot was visited by the young Elizabeth II on her eighth birthday.{{rp|661}} An article published in the National Geographic in 1937 praised the "flawless miniatures of wood and stone, metal, stucco, bright paint, and glass".{{rp|649}} Bekonscot, alongside Pendon Museum in Oxfordshire and Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, inspired a trend for model villages in British seaside resort towns such as Babbacombe, Southport and Southsea.{{cite journal |last1=Matless |first1=David |last2=Short |first2=Brian |last3=Gilbert |first3=David |title=Afterword: Emblematic Landscapes of the British Modern |journal=Geographies of British Modernity |date=1 January 2003 |pages=250–257 |doi=10.1002/9780470752258.after|isbn=9780470752258 }} By the 1960s it was owned and run by the Bekonscot Model Railway and Charitable Association.{{cite news |last1=McFadden |first1=Dorothy Loa |title=It's a small world |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kTUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA55 |access-date=21 May 2023 |work=The Rotarian |publisher=Rotary International |date=March 1969 |page=55 |language=en}} It is commonly referred to as the oldest surviving model village in the UK, 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.{{cite journal |last1=Aling |first1=Mike |title=Backgarden Worldbuilding: The Architecture of the Model Village |journal=Architectural Design |date=2021 |volume=91 |issue=3 |pages=112–119 |doi=10.1002/ad.2700 |s2cid=233545764 |url=http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/33293/1/Aling_AD%20Article_Backgarden%20Worldbuilding.pdf |access-date=22 May 2023 |archive-date=30 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221130064924/https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/33293/1/Aling_AD%20Article_Backgarden%20Worldbuilding.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Model village brought back to life in Cotswolds |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-43765886 |access-date=22 May 2023 |work=BBC News |date=15 April 2018 |archive-date=15 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190315054924/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-43765886 |url-status=live }}

File:Bekonscot (50718958396).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 the nearby town of 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.{{rp|652}}{{cite news |title=Just for Fun – Bekonscot Model Village |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/have_fun/360/bekonscot_model_village.shtml |access-date=21 May 2023 |work=BBC |archive-date=18 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918132008/http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/have_fun/360/bekonscot_model_village.shtml |url-status=live }} 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.{{cite book|last=Dunn|first=Tim |title=Bekonscot – Historic Model Village & Railway|date= 2009 |publisher = Jarrold Publishing |location=Norwich, UK|isbn=978-0-85101-435-7}}{{rp|3}}

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 a 1 gauge track and are powered by electricity.{{rp|9}}{{cite news |last1=Roy |first1=Anita |title=Little Englander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT31 |access-date=21 May 2023 |work=Outlook Traveller |publisher=Outlook Publishing |date=September 2008 |pages=65–66 |language=en}} Visitors walk through the model village and can also look down on it from different viewing spots.{{rp|53}} In 2001, the Bekonscot Light Railway (BLR) was opened as a 7 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.{{rp|23,25}}

In popular culture

File:Green Hedges replica at Bekonscot Model Village (geograph 6389287).jpg was a resident of Beaconsfield and a replica of her house was added to the model village in 1997|alt=A red-tiled family house miniature with a plaque beside it]]

File:Burning house, Bekonscot.JPG

File:Bekonscot Model Village (4375984545).jpg

Bekonscot is the oldest participant in the International Association of Miniature Parks (IMAP).{{cite book |last1=Padan |first1=Yael |title=Modelscapes of nationalism: Collective memories and future visions |date=2017 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789089649850}}{{rp|36}} By 2020, Bekonscot had received over 14 million visitors and had become part of English culture.{{rp|37}} The village frequently appears on lists of recommended family days out.{{cite web |title=Family-Friendly Things To Do Within An Hour Of London |url=https://londonist.com/london/beyond-london/family-friendly-things-to-do-within-an-hour-of-london |website=Londonist |access-date=22 May 2023 |language=en |date=3 May 2022 |archive-date=5 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005144843/https://londonist.com/london/beyond-london/family-friendly-things-to-do-within-an-hour-of-london |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Richings |first1=James |title=Beaconsfield's model village is named as one of the best attractions in the UK – Do you agree? |url=https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/19509573.bekonscot-model-village-named-one-uks-best-attractions/ |access-date=22 May 2023 |work=Bucks Free Press |date=14 August 2021 |language=en |archive-date=19 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210819203449/https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/19509573.bekonscot-model-village-named-one-uks-best-attractions/ |url-status=live }} It represents an idealised version of traditional English villages and its brochure states it is a "little piece of history that is forever England".{{rp|36}}{{cite journal |last1=Froud |first1=Daisy |title=Thinking Beyond the Homely: Countryside Properties and the Shape of Time |journal=Home Cultures |date=November 2004 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=211–233 |doi=10.2752/174063104778053473|s2cid=144797776 }} Enid Blyton was a Beaconsfield resident and friend of Callingham; she set her short story "The Enchanted Village" in Bekonscot.{{cite journal |last1=Walsh |first1=Richard |title=Complexity, Scale, Story: Narrative Models in Will Self and Enid Blyton |journal=Insights |date=2017 |volume=10 |issue=6 |url=https://www.iasdurham.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Walsh_Complexity-Scale-Story-Narrative-Models-in-Will-Self-and-Enid-Blyton.pdf |access-date=22 May 2023 |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020113324/https://www.iasdurham.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Walsh_Complexity-Scale-Story-Narrative-Models-in-Will-Self-and-Enid-Blyton.pdf |url-status=live }} The Sunday Telegraph reported that Toyland, where her fictional character Noddy lives, was inspired by Bekonscot.{{cite news |last1=Bray |first1=Paul |title=A walker's paradise |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-telegraph-a-walkers-paradise/125076716/ |access-date=21 May 2023 |work=Sunday Telegraph |date=22 February 2009 |pages=119}} In tribute to Blyton, a replica of her now demolished house Green Hedges was installed in 1997. Mary Norton was inspired by Bekonscot when she wrote The Borrowers Aloft and Will Self set his short story "Scale" in the model village.{{cite news |last1=Bratby |first1=Richard |title=Model villages aren't just for kids |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/model-villages-arent-just-for-kids/ |access-date=21 May 2023 |work=The Spectator |date=23 July 2020 |archive-date=31 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131232856/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/model-villages-arent-just-for-kids |url-status=live }} Bekonscot also features in the non-fiction book Dreamstreets: A Journey Through Britain's Village Utopias.{{cite web |last1=Yallop |first1=Jacqueline |title=Book Review: Dreamstreets: A Journey Through Britain's Village Utopias by Jacqueline Yallop |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2016/02/23/lse-lit-fest-2016-book-review-dreamstreets-a-journey-through-britains-village-utopias-by-jacqueline-yallop/ |website=LSE Review of Books |publisher=LSE |access-date=22 May 2023 |date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=7 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007150105/https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2016/02/23/lse-lit-fest-2016-book-review-dreamstreets-a-journey-through-britains-village-utopias-by-jacqueline-yallop/ |url-status=live }} Historian Tim Dunn grew up nearby and has written the official guidebook.{{cite news |last1=Kennedy |first1=Maev |title=Model village that is forever England |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/aug/04/sillyseason.arts |access-date=22 May 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=3 August 2004 |archive-date=21 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321185356/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/aug/04/sillyseason.arts |url-status=live }}

References

External links

[https://www.bekonscot.co.uk/ Official Bekonscot website]
[https://www.joylandbooks.com/themagiceye/articles/bekonscot1.htm Bekonscot: The Tim Dunn Interview]