Piers; More gone

In a decision made by the rather functional organisation known as the Withernsea Pier, Promenade, Gas and General Improvement Company in 1871 the town of the same name made its bid for coastal resort glory.

In response to the passing of the Bank Holiday Act of the same year the members of that Civic minded body obviously saw an opportunity to really put Withernsea on the map as a destination at which the working population could spend their new increased leisure time.

It was already an up and coming town, a main catalyst being the arrival of the railways in 1855 which brought the town and its beach within easy day trip distance for the residents of the City of Hull and farther afield into the industrial areas of South and West Yorkshire.

There was strong competition for the tourist pennies along the North Sea Coast of Yorkshire from the historic whaling and fishing port of Whitby to the picture postcard Robin Hoods Bay, the stylish Spa town of Scarborough (very much the jewel of the lot), genteel Filey, bracing Bridlington (euphemistically called Leeds on Sea) and homely Hornsea.

The Grand Design to enable Withernsea to claim its place in that list of resorts was a Pier.

The Victorians loved a stroll out across the waves, to take the sea air, have a  cup of tea and a cake at the end of a pier and indulge themselves in entertainments.

The accomplished engineer, Thomas Cargill, he of bridge, floating breakwater and structural stress specialisms was commissioned for a project which in today's money would be around £1.25 million.

The level of this investment was in itself an illustration of the foresight of the WP,P,G and GI Co.

Work commenced in 1875, the four previous years no doubt being a time of raising capital and compounding enthusiasm for the project.

It was a halcyon era for Piers around the UK coastline. Gradually, piers acquired a common vocabulary of style quite recognisably their own. Gothic filigree lightness of ironwork was everywhere. A strong penchant for the Moorish was recognisable in a thousand details; an exoticism still survives in the very word “kiosk”, which derives through Turkish from Persian. St Annes-on-Sea pier had pavilions recognisably descended from Chinese models.

Structurally, the very idea of a pier was remarkable. After all it was all about putting something intended for rigidity and stability into ever shifting and changing sands, pebbles or shale not to mention the powerful and unpredictable nature of the sea itself.

By trial and error wooden piling was soon found to be susceptible to rot and worm and was replaced by that favourite Victorian material, cast iron. Like many other Victorian buildings, piers were largely made from prefabricated sections, brought to the site by the same railways which would later bring the customers. Eugenius Birch, the most prolific of the great pier engineers  was the first to use screw piling, by which an ingenious profile of the lower ends of the piles allowed them to be twisted down into the sand as they were installed.

Cross section drawings of Withernsea Pier show that Cargill was an eminent match for Birch.

The structure, completed and opened ceremoniously in 1877 stretched out from the shore for some 1196 feet.

It was not an arbitrary length as this allowed ships to moor and unload cargo with the tides. The originally intended site was also moved so that the pier aligned broadly east to west to the town Railway Station so that transfer of seaborne freight to rail wagons would be as easy as possible.

The entrance to the pier was of twin castellated dressed stone towers with the design based on, it is said, Conway Castle in Wales.

A salon at the end of the long boardwalk provided the opportunity for Promenaders in their weekend best to see and be seen.

At a one penny entrance fee the Pier was an immediate success, mainly through the patronage of day trippers from Hull.

The coast at Withernsea is part of the broad curve that starts at the chalk promontory of Flamborough Head before curling around like toes at the landmark Spurn Point at the Humber mouth. The boulder clay cliffs are amongst the fastest eroding in Europe. The pier will have given, on a clear day, a wonderful perspective of that scene. The graceful structure will have been visible, itself, for miles and under illumination quite a sight to behold.

It was therefore freakish but nevertheless tragic for the town when in a storm in 1880, only three years after the opening ceremony two separate vessels struck the pier. One careered into the salon end but most damage was done by a bulky coal barge, The Saffron which dismantled a 200 foot section about mid way along.

Painting by local resident and artist, George Cammidge

Funds will have been severely depleted by the pier being out of commission and this may have enforced the use of timber stanchions rather than cast iron. These were washed away in a storm in 1882. The pier was becoming more of a burden to civic monies  and this latest damage remained unrepaired although the first part of the pier was still in use. It is reasonable to assume that visitor numbers were falling off in direct proportion to the severed length.

Worse was to come. A further ship impact occurred in 1890 and in 1893 by a Grimsby bound trawler which must have hit the end head on.

A ploughing action knocked out most of the cast iron piles, a bit like a toppling row of dominoes so as to leave only 50 feet or a mere 4% of the original grandeur sticking out from the sands.

It was a cruel blow to Withernsea and I am not alone in speculating that the town never really recovered form the loss of this impressive landmark in spite of best endeavours to attract tourists with pleasure gardens, outdoor lido, lodging and guest houses.

The pulling up of the railway tracks in 1965 surely deprived Withernsea of future expansion as a major regional resort and commuter town.

As a footnote but an important one, a decision was made in 2016 to plan for a new pier.