History - How a Pier was built

The building of Weston-Super-Mare's second pier was preceded by many years of planning and political background work. The first act of parliament, The Grand Pier Act, was obtained in 1893. Delays were such that the act had to be extended in 1897 and again in 1899. Eventually after the company had been formed and the necessary capital raised, work could begin. The portion of the foreshore extending 50 yards either side from the limit of the planned building had to be purchased from the Crown for the sum of £5.

The beach at Weston is sandy for about two thirds of the length of the main deck of the pier then gives way to estuary clay. This type of ground makes it ideal for screw piles to be used. These are made of good quality cast iron 10" in diameter and about 2" in wall thickness with what looks like a 4 foot, two bladed propeller cast at its bottom end. Each blade wraps half way around the pile. The hollow pile protrudes below the screw and has a serrated edge to keep the pile on a straight course as it screws it's way down to it's planned depth. Test bores were made along the length of the site to check the stability of the ground, and the length of pile needed to secure a good foundation. If the clay had been too dense the pile could have broken due to the friction or it could have come to a halt at the wrong level causing problems levelling the rest of the structure. In the contractors photographs different lengths of pile can be seen at different points down the beach. Each pile was rated to carry 20 tons without sinking.

The contractors Mayoh and Hayley of London were engaged and on the 7th November 1903 the commemorative pile was driven by the local M.P. Mr R.E.Dickinson. After suitable speeches to the large crowd assembled, the principle guests accompanied by Moggs Military band took to their horse drawn transport and retired to the town hall where a lavish luncheon was held with many toasts and flattering speeches to the success of the enterprise.

In the following months the relentless work of driving 600 piles and assembling 4,000 tons of iron, steel and wood forged ahead at a surprising rate.

The piles were stood on end by a hand winched crane assisted by a travelling steam crane running on a temporary track laid down the beach to the end of the site a quarter of a mile from the promenade. This track was laid on hardcore and was fixed to the sand by wooden posts driven into the clay. To the top of these posts were fixed electric lights so that work could proceed into the night.

The piles had an octagonal nut at the top on which was placed a wheel about 20 feet in diameter with a steel wire rope wound around about twenty times. The wire was pulled by a ships steam winch mounted on a raised platform nearby. This turned the wheel and screwed the pile into the ground. To resist the pull chains were attached to a loose wrought iron collar on the pile below the wheel. This was anchored further down the beach and adjusted to keep the pile vertical as it descended.

Knowing when to stop winching was crucial to keeping the pier level and it seems to have been supremely accurate as there is very little packing adjustment in the structure to this day. In fact if you eye the piles along the beach there is hardly any visible misalignment in line or height. Someone knew exactly what they were doing, added to the fact that the tide comes in covering the job twice a day. The steam engines had to be brought back to the promenade or placed on platforms above the sea and needed to be stoked and up to pressure as soon as the waves receded. I wonder if the stoker was left on the platform, with his bag of coal while the tide was in?

Presumably the iron and steel was delivered by rail and then from the goods yard by horse drawn transport. The travelling crane unloaded this and left it on the beach near to where it was needed.

In the earlier photographs the site of the Pavilion was started well before the decking had reached it. A platform of girders is visible with one steam crane assembled just clear of high tide. This is within reach of the travelling crane and materials could be passed from one to the other. From this platform piles were driven and the first section of the final deck level was started as an island in the bay. On the first part of this level a second lightweight crane was built on railway trucks mounted on standard railway lines bolted to the steel frame. This crane in turn lifted the crane from the temporary platform, a piece at a time and this was re assembled on tracks parallel to the first. In this way the whole site could be covered as it developed and the cranes could pick loads from the feed railway on the beach and pass them from one to the other .

Inside the nut on the top of the piles is a socket into which the next piece of pile is lowered making up the height to the bottom of the lattice girders forming the bridge sections. I have a piece of film showing these assembled in pairs being lifted into place cross braced by 2inch tie bars and the traditional railway line forming horizontal spacers. Most of the original piles are still in place showing little corrosion, but of course over 100 years the tie bars and lattice girders have been replaced more than once. A few piles have cracked due to rain water inside them freezing but they can usually be clamped safely with wrought iron bands.

The pier was started on the 7th November 1903 and opened on 12th June 1904 just over nine months later. This included the building of a 2,000 seat theatre, Café's and Shops. Not forgetting the Bandstand. I estimate that we used 35,000 screws the last time we re-decked but we now have electric screwdrivers!

I would love to know how many men were employed to build the pier but all I know is that they were supreme craftsmen, all long gone now, but they have left an amazing construction as their memorial to be enjoyed for generations to come.

Pagetop