Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark is a walk-through amusement of 1922 designed by noted rollercoaster designer William H Strickler, with later modifications. It comprises a large wooden boat mounted in a pool of water atop a roughly rectangular single-storey building representing the top of Mount Ararat, built from timber and render with a mechanical rocking mechanism.

The structure is situated between the Casino and Sir Hiram Maxim's Captive Flying Machine, and now forms the final entrance portal for all visitors to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Its principal elevation faces north. At ground level is a plain wall largely taken up with modern doorways. Above this is an overhanging, white-painted rocky roof, on which are mounted various late 20th-century sculptures of animals and people. Above this, standing in a pool of water on the roof, is the Ark itself. This vessel is built of ship-lapped timbers and rises at both prow (to the right) and stern. A central gangplank reaches up to the deck, on which stands a large rectangular superstructure. This has a central door and windows to either side, with a small dormer window above. Various figures stand or sit on the gunwhales and in these openings. The roof is of timber shingles, projecting over the east and west gables, and dipping in the centre, giving it a similar profile to the hull. A chimney stack rises behind the dormer.

Below the rocky roof, the plain east wall also houses a doorway. The sloping stern of the Ark's hull is flat and there is a small window in the gable. The rear wall is blind, with angles at both the east and west ends to allow clockwise circulation of patrons around the deck. The ground-floor wall is of the same white, rocky appearance as the roof, and blind save for maintenance access. Below the roof, the west wall is also plain. The prow of the Ark is the same as its stern, but the superstructure has a very shallow lean-to glazed wheelhouse, in which stands an animated sailor.

The interior is heavily partitioned to create long winding passageways, leading downwards via different levels, with the walking pattern varying according to the installation. Various gags are encountered along the way, such as moving floors, blowing air, soft floors and narrow entranceways, enhanced during operation by sound-and-lighting fixtures as the interior is dark. The internal structure of the Ark is exposed and at various points the iron tie-rods that link the Ark to its rocking mechanism are also visible. At the lower levels beneath the boat, the corridors are of breeze-block construction. The central rocking mechanism is displayed behind large windows within the entrance lobby to the park. The mechanism comprises several jointed timber beams mounted on structural steelwork and linked by iron tie-rods to the Ark. It is powered by an electric motor which turns a belt drive, geared via a chain drive to a crank which imparts the rocking motion.