The Original Wall of Death was one of the
early walls built by Orton and Spooner at Burton on Trent
- they were, of course, famous manufacturers of fairground
rides of all types but only made Walls of Death for a short
period, although, according to records held at The National
Fairground Archive, they actually made fourteen in total.
The Wall of Death had been adopted in it’s
early years by two great showmen, Billy Butlin and Pat Collins.
Butlin was rumoured to have had as many as ten built up along
the sea front at Skegness for training riders before they
went into his holiday camps and other enterprises.
This particular wall was attributed to Eddie
Monte, although it could well have been one made for Pat Collins
prior to his ownership. The Monte/Williams families had long
associations with travelling shows, having been one of the
first to adopt the bioscope cinema shows. Randall “Eddie”
Monte was born in 1910, the son of Carrie and Dick Monte.
He married Flora, Grand-daughter of Pat Collins, in 1931 -
she was the daughter of “Young Pat” Collins and
Eliza (Molly) Fossett of the circus family
Eddie Monte's wall on the road
In fact he travelled his wall
of death until 1958, after which he purchased a meteorite
ride on which, incidentally, his son, Michael, was killed
while working on the loudspeaker system.
He sold his Wall to Tommy
Messham Snr. The Messham family, also, had a long history
with the Wall of Death. The business was founded by Jake Messham,
who, although having been a rider well before the war, was
not reported has having his own wall until the post war period
- see next
page for further history.
