History - Seaside Piers

If one looks at a map of England showing all the 84 piers built, it looks almost like a porcupine with the piers as quills. There are about 53 still surviving today and most of them were constructed in the golden age of pier construction, between 1870 and 1900, during Queen Victoria's reign.

As far back as 1750 Sir John Floyer a well known medical man, made much of the virtues of sea water as a wonderful cure-all for an enormous range of conditions real or imagined. After all, spa towns all over Europe had been popular since the time of the Romans, Bath being a prime example. In his opinion sea bathing and even drinking the salty water could bring about beneficial effects. Towns such as Brighton, Scarborough, Weymouth and Margate were becoming popular as health resorts but were not always easy to get to. Margate for example could take between 9 hours and 3 days of travel from London by stagecoach or sailing ship, depending on the weather. The development of the steam passenger boat in 1815 made the prospect of speedy coastal transport a reality, but if you arrived by boat, how did you get ashore?

Most of the resort towns did not have harbours so the method of getting ashore required rowing boats, rafts for luggage and sometimes a long walk along the wet beach. At Ryde on the Isle of Wight, porters would carry passengers up the beach on their shoulders. In answer to this problem a landing pier 1,250 feet long was built at Ryde in 1813. This was a great success and was later doubled in length to further improve its efficiency.

The idea of the seaside pier was born, firstly from the need for better transport, communication and fashionable hypochondria of the upper classes.

Other towns followed suit and in the next few years Brighton, Herne Bay, Walton-on-the-Naze, Southend and Margate all built landing piers to benefit from the steamer trade. The Margate pier, for some reason, was built so that it was covered by the sea at high water and as the seaward end was a little higher than the rest of its deck, the local boatmen did a good trade taking cut-off strollers from the submerging pier much to the amusement of onlookers. Despite this slight design flaw, Margate pier recorded 44,000 passengers using its 1,100 foot jetty in 1824.

Piers for pleasure

For the first 50 years Piers were functional, they did a good job without many of the features that were to appear later. About 1840 share prospectuses for investment in new ventures started including terms extolling the virtues of promenading on these new attractions for its own sake. This could be used to generate income in addition to tolls charged on passengers and goods handled by the companies.

The fascination with piers is difficult to define, perhaps the interest and excitement of seeing Britain's numerous merchant fleet and its large navy coupled with observing the beauty and elegance of the other promanaders were perhaps some of the attractions. In the 1850's the prosperity of the middle classes was improving with more leisure time and seasonal holidays, made it important to be seen doing the fashionable thing.

When the railways reached the holiday resorts, fast and cheap travel was available to many more people. Soon companies like Thomas Cook were hiring whole trains to church societies and suchlike. The railway companies organised excursions at such prices that a stay of a few days or even a week was now feasible. The first of the true pleasure piers now begun to appear, these were designed to add to the appeal of the resort and extend the facilities offered to the public, bringing prosperity to the town.

Southport pier was built in 1860, Blackpool's first pier in 1863, Worthing in 1866 followed by Weston's Old pier in 1867, Morcambe in 1872, Shanklin in 1891, Penarth in 1894 and Mumbles in 1897. Brighton built the West pier alongside its 70-year-old chain pier, which was, by this time, in a bad condition and was later removed after storm damage. This new generation of pier was provided with ornamental tollhouses, gates and shelters. They were looked on as investments to bring trade and visitors to the town and essential elements in future local development. In the more exclusive resorts the tollgates were used to "keep off improper persons and ensure the select nature of the town".

The first plans for Clevedon pier was to make the town into a major commercial port on the London-South Wales route! But after the railway arrived in 1847 the plans were changed and Clevedon would remain a holiday resort and build a leisure pier with a landing stage for steamers. The great boom in pier construction was facilitated by the passing, in parliament, of the General Pier and Harbour Act of 1861, after this time most reasonable plans for pier development were accepted without unreasonable delay. This act included the right to impose tolls and charges for the use of the piers, some typical charges are as follows:-Skegness Pier 1882

At this time Piers were opening at the rate of about one a year. There was a rivalry between resorts to build bigger better and more sophisticated (and it was hoped, more profitable) piers.

Trains poured in thousands of people per day and companies started to improve facilities, refreshment stalls, bandstands, saloons with observation towers and tramways were added. Ladies with voluminous dresses that proved difficult in the turnstiles were urged to buy season tickets and be admitted through the gates by uniformed pier staff.

Piers had become the focal point of most seaside towns so much so that in 1868 Blackpool had an estimated 800,000 visitors and it was decided to build a second Pier. The resort continued to grow and a third pier was added in 1892.

The British passion for things nautical was matched by British compromise. A person could enjoy the advantages of going to sea without the danger or the discomfort. One could stroll around the deck and see the swirling water below, breathe the salty air and scan the horizon for signs of smoke or sail, indications of Britain's naval or mercantile power. One could gaze back at the shore and see the beach and cliffs for miles around. You could do all this without ever feeling queasy, getting your feet wet or worrying about getting back in time for tea.

Popular Pastimes

The 1850 Factory act more or less established the two day weekend and the 1871 Bank holiday act together with the northern mill maintenance closures brought about the acceptance of annual holidays and eventually holidays with pay. The new phenomenon of the August bank holiday with thousands of working class visitors coming for pleasure and fun- not for health reasons, or a gentle stroll with tea and chit chat. They wanted to eat drink and be amused. With this new clientele in mind Hastings Pier was built in 1872 with a 2,000 seat theatre. Popular shows, music and entertainment were provided which was an instant success. Other piers followed Hastings lead and Brighton soon had the West pier completed with a 1,500 seat theatre, with dining rooms, smoking rooms and a sea bathing and steamer landing stage.

The West Pier was considered the pinnacle of pier design but unfortunately was not as popular as the Palace Pier, which was closer to the centre of the town. Though neglect it was closed and lay rotting for many years until lottery money was granted for its reconstruction. Sadly it still remains derelict as bureaucracy has held up start of work.

Weston's Grand Pier

Although one of the last Piers to be built, just after the death of Queen Victoria, the Grand Pier has been described as a large elaborate structure carrying a Theatre and pavilion plus kiosks and shops. The pier is over 1,000 feet long and is well placed in the centre of the town, close to the railway station and the main road system.

The Pier was started in November 1903 and opened in June the following year. Only eight months to erect 4,000 tons of steel and iron. 600 iron piles had to be driven into the clay at the rate of 8 to 10 per day. A quarter of a mile of wooden decking was laid and the theatre 150 feet by 90 feet was constructed with seating for 2,000 people. The theatre had a similar capacity to the Bristol Hippodrome and was by all accounts well used.

One of the intentions of the company was to build a low water jetty to rival the Birnbeck Pier and have a share in the steamer trade. A low water extension was finished three years later from the back of the theatre that made the structure 6,600 feet long. To carry boat passengers to the end of this jetty, an electric train was planned which ran from the tollgates, along the deck skirting the theatre and on to the boat jetty. Unfortunately Weston has such a large rise and fall of tide, the second greatest in the world, this jetty still did not reach the sea at low water and the landing stage was subject to strong currents in the unsheltered middle of the bay which made landing by the steamers a very tricky operation. Mr Campbell the owner of the White funnel fleet and a shareholder said that "it was difficult, unsatisfactory and dangerous to use" The low water extension which cost £20,000 was only used on two days in September 1907 and 6,538 passengers passed over it raising only £117 in fees.

In front of the theatre was a fine Bandstand where regular performances by German, Viennese and Military bands of the day were enjoyed.

Fire

The theatre along with a large amount of decking was destroyed by fire on the 13th January 1930. Just as darkness was falling, flames were seen under the pavilion and soon huge flames were leaping into the sky which were visible for miles around. The first fire engine soon arrived but had to send for more hosepipe. Crowds of people gathered to watch the spectacle from the seafront. In the Odeon cinema a hand written slide interrupted the performance giving the news that the pier was on fire and most of the cinema-goers rushed out to watch. On the beach vivid explosions came from the burning theatre as oxygen cylinders exploded sending showers of sparks over the beach. One explosion lifted the front turret at the northern side of the pier high into the air, landing on the wet beach where the tide had just gone out. Sparks and burning debris were carried by the gale force wind and were landing in the South Road area of the town making it uncomfortable for the onlookers on the promenade. After a while the wind veered and the flames and smoke were carried safely out to sea. This enabled the fire fighters to save a large part of the deck and the wind break screen that is still in use today. This was to date the largest fire in the area and special editions of the local papers were published with spectacular photographs of the fire and the twisted wreckage the next morning.

Reconstruction

The loss of the pier as an attraction was a blow to the rest of the town's trade. Hotel and shop owners pleaded with the Council to speed its replacement as visitor figures for the 1930 season were down by 500,000.

The former operation as a theatre had not been profitable in recent years. Expenses and costs of the theatre were about £100 per year in deficit. The bandstand and related tolls were in a similar state due to the high cost of the large number of musicians. The only previously paying part of the undertaking was the light amusements, therefore it was decided, as there had never been any objection to this side of the business, that this should be the nature of the replacement pavilion. It was also proposed that if subsequent income would allow, a new 2,000 seat theatre could be built at the shore end. The Urban District Council, who in 1893 had opposed the original act of Parliament at a cost to the ratepayers of £5,000 were now enthusiastic for its replacement. The Pier was underinsured by a sum of £36,000 therefore immediate replacement was not possible. The pier stood unused for two seasons until a new company was formed who provided the extra capital and rebuilding work was started. The newly repaired and enlarged deck section but without any buildings, was opened for the season of 1932 with fun fair equipment and travelling acts such as One legged Peggy the high diver. This was presumably to raise some money and keep the local traders happy. During the next winter the present pavilion was erected.

Pier construction

The first piers were all built of wood, which at the time was well understood by the craftsmen of the day. The problem with this was attack by marine boring worms, and the answer was to cover the surface of the wood with hundreds of copper nails. Cast iron was then tried and was found to be ideal. If it was of sufficiently high quality, corrosion was hardly a problem. In fact most of the original 1904 piles are still in place on the Grand Pier.

The earliest cast iron piles were dug into the beach and back filled. This method was a little unstable because the sand or clay had been disturbed. An engineer called Mitchell invented the screw pile, which has two blades at the bottom almost like a boat propeller, about 4 feet across. These are screwed into the beach by hand, horse or steam power and are extremely stable and can carry a load of about 40 tons each. All the piles of the grand pier are of this pattern. Another way to insert piles is to pump water through them this washes away the sand or mud below the pile and it sinks until it is at the correct level and the water is cut off. Piles can be hammered into the beach with a steam or air hammer, but this needs care not to shatter the brittle cast iron and a rubber block is used between the "Monkey" as the hammer is called and the pile. The beach under the Grand Pier was surveyed before it was built to find the depth of the hard clay and pile lengths were selected as appropriate.

Lattice girders span the piles on most piers as they are light, stiff and can have quite long spans. Tie bars are the most important part of a pier structure. Without these the entire thing would collapse like a pack of cards. Railway lines are often used for the horizontal parts, and wrought iron rods with turnbuckles for the diagonal bracing to give the correct tension. The old broad gauge railway lines called Barlow rails have been used successfully in pier construction, their shape, like a squashed "N" allows them to be riveted together in several useful ways. Clevedon pier was built using this type of steelwork extensively.

Pier decks are usually made from wood, Joists below and planking above, sometimes running along the pier sometimes diagonally for stiffness.

If a pier has a boat landing stage it is usually separate from the pier its self so that shocks from carelessly moored ships are absorbed by the wooden jetties which can move and not be transmitted to the more brittle iron and steel pier. By 1870 it was possible to order all necessary parts to build a pier from an ironfounders catalogue. Storms and heavy winds pass unhindered through the piles of a pier. The designers of old knew that it is easier to live with the elements than to oppose them.

A pier is an audacious structure; a large building standing on a multitude of spindly legs in the middle of the sea which in itself possesses unlimited power to destroy the works of man if handled wrongly. Consider the weight of water moving in and out of a bay such as Weston twice a day the next time you pick up a bucket of water.

Under the pier is a maintenance platform about eight feet below the deck level. At high tide during a heavy storm the waves rush below in quite an exiting manner, you watch the oncoming seas in case a "big one" approaches and the wave top hits the platform.

Pagetop