REDISCOVER OUR PEERLESS PIERS
There’s a new Pier Passport from the National Piers Society to help you bag all 61 of them…
On sunny days when soft breezes bubble around the coast, the seaside hums with happiness as people and pets relax on the beach and potter along promenades eating ice cream. In recent years, the fringe of historic piers around the British Isles has become a big draw too, with ardent fans from all over the country on a mission to ‘bag’ piers, from Blackpool in Lancashire, to Falmouth in Cornwall, to Southwold in Suffolk. More than 100 piers were built in Victorian and Edwardian times, but only 61 survive today, owned by local authorities, private companies, and community trusts.
Most piers have undergone extensive renovation, while others have been totally reinvented, such as Hastings Pier, c1872, which became a beacon of hope for piers everywhere after winning the 2017 RIBA Stirling Prize for architecture. Whether it’s the longest pier in Britain (Southend-on-Sea in Essex, which stretches into the sea for 1.33 miles and has a train), or the shortest (Burnham-onSea in Somerset, a stubby 37m long, mostly an amusement arcade and bingo hall), a pier shouts fun and fine views blended with the salty tang of vitality.
‘As most seaside piers are around 150 years old you would expect the rate of loss and decline to increase, but in fact the reverse is true,’ says Dr Anya Chapman of the National Piers Society. ‘As piers are increasingly recognised as important heritage structures, more have been saved than have been lost in the last decade. Recently, when piers have been under threat, local communities such as those at Hastings, Swanage and Clevedon have come together to rescue, repair, and refurbish their piers.’
The story of piers begins with the creation of Ryde Pier on the Isle of Wight in 1814 as a ferry disembarkation point, but cannily combined with a leisure walkway half a mile long. The
‘Piers offered visitors the chance to walk out into the sea without getting wet and to breathe in the ozone-rich air in bracing comfort’
idea caught on and by 1850, 12 piers had been built at British seaside resorts, offering visitors the chance to walk out into the sea without getting wet and to breathe in the ozone-rich air in bracing comfort. From then onwards, pleasure became the main focus of piers as improvements in construction techniques could support pavilions, arcades, bowling alleys, theatres and ballrooms.
There followed a tidal wave of pier construction, including the famous five piers with theatres – Blackpool North (1863), Cromer (1901), Great Yarmouth Britannia (1858), Weymouth (1859) and Worthing (1862). In 1870 Eastbourne Pier opened; sporting a magnificent domed pavilion and cast-iron lion head finials, it was one of 14 iron ‘promenade’ piers designed by the celebrated architect and engineer, Eugenius Birch, a topic in his own right in the world of piers. The epic story of our piers ends in 1957 with the erection of the third and last Deal pier, opened by the late Duke of Edinburgh, which is now the home of rave reviewwinning Deal Pier Kitchen café. Yes, the pier is still all about pleasure, with no other reason needed to get bagging! Find out more about our piers at the website of the National Piers Society, piers.org.uk.