[00:00] The plan for today is we're going to talk about the history of the playground. I'm going to make a fool of myself on some play equipment designed for kids, and then it's off to ride a century-old water sheet. Despite England's reputation for rain, the weather had been mostly kind to me
[00:14] as I took my long road trip around every county, but as I arrived in Kettering in Northamptonshire, a lot of wind, a little bit of rain, thrusting in very heavy rain showers. We'll see how we do.
[00:26] I've got waterproof drafters with me just in case. Wixtead Park describes itself as an urban park with rides, not an amusement park or theme park, just a park that happens to also have some attractions, one of which is a century old.
[00:41] Like many things in England, the park was founded by a wealthy industrialist. This particular industrialist was called Charles Wixtead. He got his start with engineering and power tools, but ended up producing playground equipment.
[00:54] I met Connor, the park's community and heritage coordinator, and we went for a walk. First stop, the modern playground. I could have picked a better day for this. I recognised it as a road trip, I didn't have much choice,
[01:06] but I could have picked a better day for this. So some of this is heritage, some of this is not? Yes, so there isn't much of the playground that is still original. Obviously a lot of things have been updated.
[01:19] A lot of things about kids. On them for 18, 19 years now. The park itself is over 100 years old. So the oldest thing that we have in the playground is that static swing over there.
[01:31] That is the oldest swing that we found. That was found in somebody's back garden. Oh! So the swing itself is actually a prototype. When Charles Rick Speed started his engineering business, it wasn't originally in playground equipment.
[01:45] He started off sort of like his career in steam plowing, but he had a real knack for engineering and was making things from, like, gear boxes to equipment to stretch metal pipes
[01:58] and bicycles and things like that. Wicksteed got rich. He decided to open a public park and he started designing playground equipment. The swing was one of the prototypes found in someone's backyard about a century after it was built.
[02:12] He kind of invented the swing, surely. No. Okay. Like a lot of inventions, the history of the playground swing is complicated. From my research, I think it's fair to say that Wicksteed helped codify it, like the idea of two A-frames
[02:25] joined with two descending chains and a seat, that was probably him. There were clearly other prototypes, though, because there are 1920s photos of this same playground. And you can see that some of the swings used to be a lot larger.
[02:41] Also, perhaps you'd like to try a jazz swing, where the seat was suspended from two pairs of A-frames with rigid poles instead of chains? Or how about a seesaw swing? There is so much in that picture.
[02:54] The kid swinging with all his might. Is it a kid? Not sure. Two people at the top, clinging on. The guy casually smoking in front of it, ignoring the scenes. For obvious reasons. In this century, we consider that the penalty for a kid slipping on playground equipment
[03:08] probably shouldn't be potential death. I have to at least try and fit in the world's oldest surviving swing. I feel like that's a... It's not a swing, but I can now say, like, tick, I've done that.
[03:20] Conner said the poles on that first prototype swing have probably been replaced over the years, but the seating chains are original. He originally saw kids coming after Sunday school and building their own rudimentary slides and swings,
[03:34] much like the wooden ones that you can see in the back here. Wait, are those slides? Yes, those are slides. Okay, let's go through the slides. Now, are these originals or are these replicas? These are replicas. Okay. but we did try to
[03:46] stay as true as we could to what the original ones looked like because it is made out of wood and I think everyone's having the same thought of sprinters yeah they would bring blocks of wax and
[03:58] candlesticks rub it on the wood to make it look really smooth and then the theory was the more wax you rub on it the faster you go down the slide the slide was not waxed but um well I had to try it Is this going to go well I feel like this isn going to go well
[04:15] Well, I've never tried it myself, so... The historian here, you're the... Yeah. Okay, I'm going to try it. If it works, you should absolutely follow me. Okay, I'll do my best. I am in a dress, that's my...
[04:29] Oh, that's a good... that's a really good excuse. I mean, my excuse would be I like these jeans, they're waxed, because it's been raining all day. But I'm going to see... Oh, that's actually quite slippery! No. Do you want to try it?
[04:41] You can try it. I don't... somehow... I don't think it's going to work. You can give it a try. Do you want a little... a little... Yeah. I think I can see why they made it out of metal.
[04:55] Yes. Yeah. But again, like you said, they would have waxed it. Right, the witch's hat. I was going to ask you about the witch's hat. So this is definitely a recreation because the original Witches' Hat doesn't meet modern safety standards.
[05:08] Oh, good. But this one does, so we're secured. I don't recognize this. This feels like a thing that I should have seen in the playground and haven't. So this is definitely like a Charles Wickstein special, I'd say.
[05:20] There's not a lot of other playground companies that have something like this. Yes, of course I had to try it. This feels... Okay, yeah, yeah, no. That's... right.
[05:35] So, I nearly threw myself off this thing, this centrifugal force. What was more dangerous about that in the past? Well, for instance, you can kind of feel that it's a bit squishy underneath us.
[05:50] Yeah. So, the landing is definitely a bit more forgiving than it used to be. Right. Because back in the day, it was all just concrete. Oh, okay. If you fell off of this, you weren't really going to have a good time.
[06:02] Not only that, but the old version didn't have a limiter on tilt angle or speed. So if you're holding on in the wrong place, your fingers could get slammed and dragged along between the seat and the pole. The Wixtee logo is still on the new witch's hat, though, because it turns out they're still a playground equipment company.
[06:19] Still based there in Kettering. Still making new stuff. So this one is called the Beanstalk. We put out a competition to local kids 11 and under to design their own playground equipment. And we said that the winner would have it actually be built.
[06:34] Oh! So this was designed by an 11-year-old from Northampton named Mia. And she taught herself 3D modeling software to send in her entry. And then we worked with her the entire way.
[06:47] We went with her to the Wix Feed, you know, engineering company. Is there any limit on this? Absolutely not, don't worry. It's also very rainy here. Yes. And I've now got a wet arse from the slide.
[07:00] So there's a very real chance I will fall over at some point up here. I mean, obviously I have to go down the slide. I'm a 40 year old man going down a playground slide. Yeah, alright, fine. It does go really fast when it's wet, doesn't it? It does go really fast when it's wet. I'll be down at the bottom, but I'll be back in a bit.
[07:13] Okay! God! And I can... Uh... I should have put the waterproof trousers on. Well, here we go. That's... Hooray! Yes! Yes it does and I have a very wet arse now. Alright, good.
[07:29] Shall we go through the water? Yes, let's go. Now that was a lot of water. I've made bad choices. I didn't expect there to be like a puddle at the bottom of it, is there?
[07:41] At the point where I realised there was a puddle at the bottom, I had already got my legs in this slide and I was committed. It took a few minutes to walk to the water chute, so while we're on the way, a brief diversion. If you're travelling outside your home country, consider downloading Sailing.
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[08:49] After about the length of an advert, we were approaching the water sheet. On the way, we passed by plenty of other rides in the park. A narrow-gauge railway, some flat rides, a couple of small roller coasters, a boating lake, but it was quiet, so the homes were all packed away when I was there.
[09:03] Like I said, I could have picked a better day, although at least my editors don't have to blur a lot of footage of the public. So this is the water chute. This is the water chute, yes. It looks so simple. The main tower for it is hidden behind that tree.
[09:17] We'll see that in a moment. We know that this is the oldest surviving water chute of its kind. It's by no means the first one that was ever installed or invented. This also isn't the original location either.
[09:29] It's been shifted just a little bit. The very first rendition of it, the track that the chute goes down, was actually made out of recycled bed rails. Oh, yes. That would have been rattly.
[09:41] There used to be one man that just winched the boat back up. Oh, it was just manual... Of course it was. Yeah, this is 1926. You don't want to hook this up to electricity or Bob's hood.
[09:53] Yeah. I was thinking like diesel generators or whatever the 1926 equivalent was. You don't want to put a steam engine in there to winch this back up. It's a tub-duggy attitude, basically. Pretty much. I mean, some people have likened it to a skiff as well.
[10:07] once you've seen the actual boat, it does look a bit like a skip. Okay. You know. I love that the person with the American accent has anglicized that and not used dumpster. Listen, I've picked up on some of the vocabulary.
[10:19] I've done my best. The team had opened up the water chute specially for me, and also for a pair of journalists from a newspaper who were doing a piece on the park. The journalist and I agreed to stay out of each other's way.
[10:31] Connor and I climbed up the stairs to the tower, which are apparently the same design of stairs that Wixby used for children's slides. Oh, wow. And Connor left me with Sam, who was in charge of operations that day. Is this the original boat?
[10:44] No, it's the original design, but it's a fully refurbished boat, so I would liken this to Trigger's Room. I would do the same. It's a very well-loved, well-cared-for Trigger's Room.
[10:59] Right. People outside the UK and people younger than 30 may know Trigger's Broom as the ship of Theseus. All the parts have been replaced over the years, but still the same boat. The river down there.
[11:12] It was, yeah. So originally you had a water seat that went down on bed rails straight down into the river ice. Wow. So we've upgraded. There are not quite so many bed rails now.
[11:25] Yeah, but there's modern safety railings down there. you've got all machinery at the back here so we now it runs on the compressor and a motor system. Right so it's not someone hoisting it up.
[11:38] So there's no extra sense training, manual handling. And this is padded now? Yeah so these are all padded and the seat backs are padded as well. Oh wow it really just was a ship, a doctor that just took it.
[11:54] Yeah. Because it's the 1920s and you... I think... No, I say that. Someone could still build that. I can still see someone in their backyard building a thing that's just a dumpster going around to the river.
[12:07] Yeah. If you're getting the public on board, you need some safety carry. So they still get that same feeling, that same excitement. That same... Yeah. It feels a little sketchy. It's not.
[12:19] Yeah. But it feels a little sketchy. Definitely. And it 100 years old now It will be celebrating its centenary 2026 100 100 years for it So it Grade 2 listed
[12:32] Oh, that must be tricky. Grade 2 listed means that a building is on the government's list of buildings that needs special approval for any changes. Basically, all the features mentioned on that list are frozen in time.
[12:45] They can be repaired and maintained using appropriate materials. In fact, they must be. But they can't be altered. It would be a crime to do that unless you got special government permission, which is not usually given. And the water street has changed over time.
[12:57] Conrad said it was moved a little early on. Sam told me there have been a few other alterations. In the 30s it had an amendment that used to have a flat roof and now it has a sloping roof. But that's...
[13:09] So this is the tower? Yes, it's the same tower, the same river, the same... Roughly the same gradient down and by. How much does it splash? Well, that is luck of the draw. It's very good roulette for them. That's part of the fun. You won't know. No two journeys are the same.
[13:27] All right. Well, there's one of me at the front, so I don't know. If there's one person, it's going to ride higher. Yes. If they're at the front, it's going to ride lower. All right. Can I see behind the scenes? Absolutely, yes. I think there's a button here somewhere.
[13:40] Yes, you can. The control cabin is not glamorous. It's designed for one person with a big mechanical winch just next to it, and the control panel is just a few buttons. Can I attach some cameras to it then? Can I push the button please?
[13:53] You may. Connor took my main camera down to the bottom of the chute. I took my 360 camera in my hand. And with Sam watching over just in case, I pushed the glowing green button.
[14:05] That sounds fun. Oh, yeah. A lot of things happened there. So while the boat's coming back up, let me replay that and talk you through the system,
[14:19] because it's both simple and really clever. When the green button is pressed, the big drum of rope is unlocked from the winch so it can freewheel. Then the wheels that control the safety brakes turn, moving that black bar which pushes away the big yellow bumpers at the side that are holding
[14:35] the boat in place. The boat's not going to move on its own though, so it gets a hydraulic shove from the the...shover in the back. And from there, gravity does the rest.
[14:51] A second button locks the rope drum back into the winch, and the boat comes back up. Can you tell I'm getting excited about engineering here? Yes, I can. But that chute is Grade 2 listed. I looked up the actual listing and it mentions several specific things.
[15:03] The electric wheel, the winch as the boat back up, the metal cage around the winch, that the passengers are, quote, splash liberally upon hitting the water. Those are part of the listing. Until 2016, this ride could be updated,
[15:15] had been updated to move with the times. And now, if someone invents a better winch or a magical evocation device that could bring the boat back up, or if someone wants it to not get the passengers wet, nope, the ride is 100 years old
[15:28] and it must never change again. Well, I've been putting this off, but, um, may I? Definitely, yes. So, do not get the 360 camera caught in the tree. That would be bad.
[15:40] That would be very bad. Okay. Here we go. Let me know when you're ready. All right. You ready down there? Yeah, ready.
[15:52] Thank you to everyone at Whitby Park. Ready when you are. Here we go. Here we go. Oh, fuck!
[16:09] That is surprisingly forceful at the end. Like, when it splashes down, I bounce a little there. Next time, or right now, on Medula, how thousands of people lived
[16:21] and worked somewhere that officially didn't exist. you