It stood proudly at the south west corner of the Winter Gardens, affording magnificent views of the Irish Sea and beyond and was a wonder of the Victorian Age.
Also known as the Giant Wheel and the Gigantic Wheel, its construction began in 1895 and eventually opened in 1896, two years after the Tower.
The 220ft high attraction was equipped with huge, 28ft long coaches, capable of carrying 30 passengers. To this day at least one carriage still remains, lovingly restored at a house in St Michael’s and another was once used as a shed in a Cleveleys garden.
Sadly the dismantling of the wheel began in 1928 because it was commercially unsustainable – it had grown too old and too slow for 1920s Blackpool.
Blackpool Pleasure Beach also had a Ferris Wheel – a twin one and the resort still retains the Big Wheel attraction on Central Pier. It remains one of the resort’s most iconic features.
1. Blackpool's Big Wheels
Building the Big Wheel or Great Wheel, as it was also known, began in 1865 and it was in place for three decades before being demolished in 1928. It was a superb feat of engineering and what a skyline in this view down Adelaide Street...
2. Blackpool's Big Wheels
This is another carriage from the Big Wheel which ended up in the back garden of a house in Cleveleys. Question is... is it still there or where is it now?
4. Blackpool's Big Wheels
St Mark's Mens Fellowship pull down the last coach of the big wheel
5. Blackpool's Big Wheels
When the Big Wheel was demolished the carriages were sold off for all sorts of uses including garden sheds: this picture shows the site in Coronation Street as the carriages were removed
