Dickens World was a themed attraction located in the Chatham Dockside retail park in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

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 was themed around elements of the life and work of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

. After a soft opening in April, Dickens World officially opened to the public on 25 May 2007. It closed on 12 October 2016.

The concept

First conceived as far back as the 1970s, Dickens World was designed by Gerry O'Sullivan-Beare, who also created

Santa Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

World in Sweden and

Andersen Andersen () is a Danish-Norwegian patronymic surname meaning "son of Anders" (itself derived from the Greek name " Ανδρέας/Andreas", cf. English Andrew). It is the fifth most common surname in Denmark, shared by about 3.2% of the population. ...

World. It cost £62 million. Designers RMA Ltd worked closely with Dickens World and the

Dickens Fellowship The Dickens Fellowship was founded in 1902, and is an international association of people from all walks of life who share an interest in the life and works of Victorian era novelist Charles Dickens. The Dickens Fellowship's head office is based ...

to ensure that the production of authentic storylines, characters, atmospheric streets, courtyards, and alleyways were true to the period. Dickens World was based around the life of author

, briefly a resident of Chatham in Kent as a child and who, as an adult, lived at Gad's Hill Place in nearby Higham. Many of the locations and characters in his novels are based on buildings, places and people of the

Medway Towns Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to f ...

Holcombe Manor Holcombe Manor was built in 1887 as a house by the first mayor of Chatham, George Winch (September 20, 1842 – February 22, 1914), for him and his wife Mary Clarke Bluette to live in. Mary was brought up in the village of Holcombe Rogus, De ...

in Chatham was the inspiration for Dingley Dell, the house in ''

Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with '' Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to ...

'', and some of ''

Edwin Drood ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' is the final novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in 1870. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, it focuses more on Drood's uncle, John Jasper, a precentor, choirmaster and opiu ...

'' takes place in

Rochester Cathedral Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an English church of Norman architecture in Rochester, Medway, Rochester, Kent. The church is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rochester in the Church o ...

. Dickens World was an indoor attraction, centred on a courtyard with façades of buildings related to Dickens, like Warren's Blacking. Unlike many other theme parks, Dickens World was not designed to guide visitors through any particular path, but enabled them to structure their own experience.

Original attractions

When Dickens World first opened it included a '' Great Expectations''-themed water ride, a

Haunted House A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the prope ...

, a 4D movie at Peggotty's boathouse, an animatronic show in a mock-up Britannia Theatre, an interactive schoolhouse based on Dotheboys Schoolhouse, a "

Fagin Fagin is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. In the preface to the novel, he is described as a "receiver of stolen goods". He is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dod ...

's den" play area for children, and " The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters", a themed bar and restaurant. Visitors exited into a gift shop called '' The Olde Curiosity Shoppe''. The ''Great Expectations'' ride took visitors through scenes of Victorian London and ended with a simulated drop from a sewer into the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. Though featuring Magwitch, the ride did not follow the plot of ''Great Expectations''. Instead, it emphasised the criminal elements of Dickens' novel, featuring a jail filled with criminal characters from several of the writer's books. That ride closed in 2013. The 4D film in Peggotty's Boathouse told the story of Dickens, featuring an inflatable

Catherine Dickens Catherine Thomson "Kate" Dickens (''née'' Hogarth; 19 May 1815 – 22 November 1879) was the wife of English novelist Charles Dickens, the mother of his ten children, and a writer of domestic management. Early life Born in Edinburgh, Scotlan ...

, a winking Nelly Ternan, and a spray of water in the face during the Dickenses' trip to America. The whole is framed with a

magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a si ...

theme. That attraction closed in 2013. At Dotheboys Schoolhouse visitors experience a Victorian classroom. Touch-screens replaced slates, and visitors took a quiz on Dickens' life and works. The haunted house was first advertised as Ebenezer Scrooge's house, but before the grand opening was renamed the Haunted House of 1859, possibly alluding to Dickens' Christmas story, "A Haunted House," published that year. The house featured a ''

Pepper's ghost Pepper's ghost is an illusion technique used in the theatre, cinema, amusement parks, museums, television, and concerts. It is named after the English scientist John Henry Pepper (1821–1900) who began popularising the effect with a theatr ...

'' effect.

Administration and restructuring

The original company Dickens World Ltd placed itself in administration when unable to meet a £6 million tax bill, and investors lost £32 million. Former director, Ed De Lucy, explained that the attraction was losing between £500,000 and £1m each year, and only the revenue from the adjacent Odeon Theatre and Porter's restaurant had kept the attraction open. The new owners reduced the prices to £6.50 a head and the boat trip ride was removed. From 23 March 2013, the venue offered a guide-led walking tour where the visitors met costumed characters, and intended to host weddings and corporate events. Dickens World officially closed in October 2016 when the restructuring and refinancing company pulled out of negotiations. The staff were informed by

text message Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible comput ...

s and email that the company had ceased to operate.

Use by the media

The Hoosiers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

used Dickens World as the location for their fourth single's video " Cops and Robbers" in March 2008.

References

External links