40 photos show Paultons Park over the years

Here we look back at the history of the site. 

The land the park currently occupies was formerly part of what was known as the Paultons estate, a vast 3,000-acre ownership that dates back to the Domesday Book, when it was called the Manor of Ower.

The gardens of the estate were originally laid out in the 18th Century by Capability Brown, the famous English landscape architect, and much of his work can still be seen in the Park to this day.

There are many features from history, and clues from the past, that remain at Paultons Park to be seen and discovered by guests.

Alterations to the house were made during the 19th Century by Hans Sloane Stanley, who used the designs of John Kent, a Southampton architect. The house was used as a luxury hotel during the 1950’s (guests could stay for a week for 10 guineas!) but later fell into disrepair and finally burned down on November 5 1963. The story is a stray firework started the blaze, but this has never been confirmed.

In 1979, the estate was divided into lots and auctioned again, with parts zoned for recreational use. John and Anne Mancey, and their son Richard, bought Lot 2 which included the site of the house, its gardens and the parkland north of the lake designed by Brown, which they began to develop as a family attraction.

The family started a ‘pick-your-own’ operation in 1981 while an intensive two-year project was undertaken to build the park.

Paultons Country Park and Bird Gardens opened on May 17, 1983 and occupies the site of the mansion and gardens. The park covered 140 acres with four staff members and attractions featuring only an adventure playground, the Village Life Museum and Farm Museum located in converted barns and numerous birds and animals including a large collection of waterfowl. There was also a small snack bar for refreshments plus a gift shop and a farm shop.

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1986 saw the opening of various new rides and attractions including the Rio Grande Railway, Station Tea Rooms, Magic Forest, Kid’s Kingdom, Captain Blood’s Cavern, Honda Cars and Honda Bikes, Percy Owl ‘It’s a Hoot Hoot’. The following year, the ‘pick-your-own’ operation closed, allowing the family to focus on developing the family attraction.

From there, a new ride was opened at the park every year. John and Anne Mancey retired in 1995, and Richard and his wife Sara took over running and growing the Park. The annual addition of attractions and growth to the park continued.

In 2011, the world’s first and UK-exclusive Peppa Pig World opened at Paultons Park with seven themed rides including Peppa’s Big Balloon ride and George’s Dinosaur Adventure.

Annual expansion and investment into the Park continued with the firm-favourite 83-foot drop tower ride Magma opening in 2012.

2016 saw the opening of the dinosaur-themed attraction Lost Kingdom which was opened with a VIP event with attendance from Rio Ferdinand, Stacey Solomon, Sara Cox and Nick Knowles and other stars.

With the Mancey’s continual focus on guest experience and ongoing investment into the attraction, in 2016 Paultons Park was recognised as the UK’s number one family theme park and continued to claim the title for five years in a row.

In 2020, Tripadvisor named Paultons Park as the 10th best-rated amusement park in the world and the fourth best in Europe - beating all other UK attractions.

In 2021, the park’s largest attraction and investment to date opened. Tornado Springs is a creative imagining of a Midwest desert resort town set in the American heyday of the 1950s.

The concept has been developed exclusively by Paultons Park and is designed to appeal to a wide range of ages from three to 14.

On April 1, 2022, another new ride, junior coaster Farmyard Flyer, was opened to the public and is the latest addition to Paultons Park and complements the existing Tornado Springs offering.

READ MORE: Paultons Park ranked as third best for value in Europe

Guests can spot some historical features across the park today:

• The brick archways you can see in the main garden rockery are the only remaining features of Paultons House and are the original Paultons house storage cellars.
• Donoughmore Cross on the river walk marks the site of a pet cemetery where the pets of the estate would have been buried.
• John and Anne’s Garden was formerly a grass tennis court – the tennis pavilion is still there today and houses a display on the history of the park.
• The original gate pillars of Paultons House can still be seen on the east entrance to Lost Kingdom.
• The driveway into the current park was originally the service entrance to the rear of the former Paultons house.
• The original Victorian Watermill (which dates back to around 1860) that was used for cutting timber for the estate is still in working order and can be found across the causeway past Little Africa.
• The giant Wellingtonia tree near the east corner of Lost Kingdom can be seen clearly in many of the early photos of Paultons Manor House. This tree was once thought to be amongst the tallest in Hampshire. There is another of these giant trees located near the entrance to the car park.
• The staff entrance bridge which was built in 1868 is known as Cadland Bridge, and is reputed to have been built with the proceeds of a Derby win on a horse of this name. 

Click the top image to scroll through pictures from over the years.