Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2007 | Page 58
life
FEATURE
In 2007, Sandown Pier remains popular with visitors and includes
refreshments, a restaurant, shops, kiosks, amusements, a
children’s play area, and a designated area for anglers.
Queens and Candy Floss
By James Kerr
In a new feature we look at the
Island’s unique heritage. In this
issue we turn our focus on piers.
The history and stories attached to the
Island’s piers are as finely woven as the
candy floss served up at pier’s end. They
have paid host to Empresses, Queens
and common folk; they’ve been battered
by fire, storms and the odd wayward
vessel; decommissioned and fortified
during two world wars; and the subject
of recent wars between developers and
conservationists. Throughout this time,
they’ve been a point of disembarkation
for thousands of Island visitors and a
place on which to promenade, or simply
pass the time, on a sunny Island day.
The golden age of British piers
coincided with the growth of the seaside
resorts during the Victorian era, at the
height of which almost one hundred
piers existed in Britain, of which the
Island boasted no less than ten.
The beauty of the Island piers, particularly
the wrought-iron framework and other
58
embellishments, is a testament to Victorian
design and engineering skills. But most of
the Island’s piers have now gone, mainly as
the result of neglect. The four that remain
are the railway pier at Ryde, Sandown,
Yarmouth and Totland (currently closed).
Ryde Pier
Ryde Pier, which opened in 1814, was
the first of the great British cast-iron
pleasure piers. At 2,250 feet, or almost
half a mile, it is the second longest
pier in the UK. It’s a classic example
of a timber-planked promenade.
At the beginning of the 19th century,
well-heeled travellers started to use the
steamer boats that had begun to sail to
the Island. But how to get foot passengers
off the vessels and on to dry land? At
Ryde, arriving passengers were carried
towards shore on the back of a porter and
would then have to wade across wet sand
before reaching town. Wealthy Victorians
were certainly not used to slumming
it and it was decided that if the Island
resort was going to develop, the issue of
disembarkation needed to be addressed.
Holidaymakers were eventually served by
three piers. A promenade pier was built for
pedestrians and vehicles, while a second
tramway allowed horse-drawn trams to
move passengers from the pier head to the
esplanade. In July 1880 a third pier was
opened, alongside the first two, providing
a steam railway link to the pier head.
Ryde Pier was not simply a means of
moving people from sea to land. As it
developed, the idea of the ‘pleasure pier’
was born. Entertainment facilities were
built at the pier head, including a concert
pavilion, theatre and bar. On the pier itself
were small pavilions and boat launching
ramps. By 1870, the pier was grand
enough to allow no less than the Empress
Eugénie to disembark the yacht Gazelle.
The pier head was remodelled in the
1930s and during World War II it was
modified for military purposes. Following
several decades in which the condition of
many of Britain’s’ best piers deteriorated,
Ryde Pier was made a Grade II listed
Island Life - www.islandlife.tv