Postcard Showing Southend Pier in the 1960’s

Southend-on-sea’s famous landmark came into existence on the 18 July 1825 when construction of the pier was started. The reasons why the pier had been required to be built was as follows, a group of local business family’s required a more effective way  of landing goods from boats on shore & were subject to the restrictions imposed by the tidal system in the estuary also one of the families was involved in the hotelier business based on the seafront with a pier passengers could arrive at Southend by boat and not have to wait  until high tide to come ashore. In 1830 the completed pier was opened to the public for the first time. At this stage it extended some 183 metres from the shore into the estuary its construction was mainly of Oak timbers. By 1833 further work had been carried out on the pier & it now extended some 457 metres in length, with this distance reached the charter drawn up by the owners of the pier & endorsed by the government of the day came into force. This meant that toll charges could be taken from ships unloading their cargos on the pier & also tolls were charged for the use of the roads either side of the pier. 1835 due to the increase in the size of the steamships of the day it was decided to extend the pier further into deep water, one other point to note is that by doing this it forced the Admiralty to mark the pier on its Thames Estuary charts. 1846 the pier now extended just over 2 kilometer's into the Thames & could now take 3 large steamships moored to the end of it. In 1873 the pier was sold to its current owners Southend-on-sea council for the sum of £12,000. 1885 the construction of a new pier proposed using cast iron supports with wooden decking construction of this pier is started in 1888. In 1889 the public is allowed onto the incomplete new pier which included its own railway stretching 1.2 kilometre's in distance. By 1890 the railway track reached just over 2 kilometre's in length. At the cost of £20,000 a further extension was added to the pier between 1897 to 1898 due to silting up of the Thames. With the out break of the First World war the pier signal station on the end of the pier was taken over by the Admiralty.

The now unused Signal Station on the pier head.

A second rail track was laid on the pier in 1929 & the New Prince George extension on the pier head is opened at the cost of £50,000. Then in 1932 due to further extension work to the pier it becomes the longest pier in the world stretching 2.4 kilometre's into the Thames. Southend pier has the now gone lifeboat station added to its pier head in 1935. With the commenced of the Second World war the pier is once again handed or to the Admiralty from 1939 to 1945 so they may control the shipping in the estuary. By 1949 the pier had reached its heyday with 3 million visitors to the pier in this year helped by daily steamboat trips from the pier. 1964 sees a ten pin bowling alley built on the site of the pavilion that had burned down at the pier’s entrance in the early 1990’s this to is destroyed by fire. The last regular steamboat service from the pier is ceased in 1969. 1976 a serious fire breaks out on the pier head destroying most of the decking & the lifeboat station. 3 years later in 1979 the pier train service is withdrawn from the pier. But it returns in the 1980’s after moneys are raised to replace the tracks & rolling stock.

A view of the pier head taken May 1999 if you compare with the picture at the top of the page you can see the amount of damage caused by the 1976 fire.