Butlin's Clacton was a

holiday camp A holiday camp is a type of holiday accommodation that encourages holidaymakers to stay within the site boundary, and provides entertainment and facilities for them throughout the day. Since the 1970s, the term has fallen out of favour with term ...

located on

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It opened in 1938 and closed in 1983.

History

Clacton-on-Sea is the largest town on the

Tendring Tendring is a village and civil parish in Essex. It gives its name to the Tendring District and before that the Tendring Hundred. Its name was given to the larger groupings because it was at the centre, not because it was larger than the other ...

Peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and was founded in 1871. It is a

seaside resort A seaside resort is a resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, suc ...

that attracted many tourists in the summer months between the 1950s and 1970s, but like many other British seaside resorts went into decline as a holiday destination since holidays abroad became more affordable. In 1936

Billy Butlin Sir William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin (29 September 189912 June 1980) was a South African-born British entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British holiday camp.''#refRiverside, American Heritage Dictionary 2004'', p. 135.#refSc ...

made moves to create a new holiday camp there, by buying and refurbishing the West Clacton Estate, an amusement park to the west of the town. After gaining the support of the local council, construction began and the camp opened on 11 June 1938. During the War years, all the Butlin's camps were requisitioned by the Government. Clacton was originally planned to be used as a POW camp, but it was spared this indignity and was used as a training site for the pioneer corps. However, during its occupation, the camp suffered significant damage and substantial repairs had to be carried out to put the camp back into operation. It reopened to the public in 1946. In 1972, the Butlin's organisation was bought by the Rank Group. The Clacton camp was open until 1983 when due to

package holiday A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the ho ...

s and changing tastes, the holiday camp was closed and sold to a group of former departmental managers at the camp who reopened it as a short-lived theme park called Atlas Park. Atlas Park only lasted a year and the land was then sold and redeveloped with housing.

References

{{Butlins Clacton 1938 establishments in England 1983 disestablishments in England Clacton-on-Sea