Oak foundation piles of the Royal Suspension Chain Pier Brighton and Brighton Pier

The Royal Suspension Chain Pier was the first major

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

built in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, England. Opened on 25 November 1823, it was destroyed during a storm on 4 December 1896.

History

Generally known as the ''Chain Pier'', it was designed by Captain Samuel Brown , with construction starting on 18 September 1822 and completing in September 1823, opening on 25 November 1823. Brown had completed the Trinity Chain Pier in Edinburgh in 1821. The pier was primarily intended as a landing stage for packet boats to

Dieppe, France Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...

, but it also featured a small number of attractions including a

camera obscura A camera obscura (; ) is the natural phenomenon in which the rays of light passing through a aperture, small hole into a dark space form an image where they strike a surface, resulting in an inverted (upside down) and reversed (left to right) ...

. An esplanade with an entrance toll-booth controlled access to the pier which was roughly in line with the New Steine.

Turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters * Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for tur ...

and

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

both made paintings of the pier,

King William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded hi ...

landed on it, and it was even the subject of a song. The Chain Pier co-existed with the later West Pier, but a condition to build the Palace Pier was that the builders would dismantle the Chain Pier. They were saved this task by a storm that destroyed the already-closed and decrepit pier on 4 December 1896. Some of the debris from the pier damaged the then under-construction Palace Pier and the Daddy Longlegs railway. The remains of some of the pier's oak piles could be seen at low tides around 2010, however, as of 2021, they are no longer visible. Masonry blocks can still be seen. The signal cannon of the pier is still intact, as are the entrance kiosks which are now used as small shops on the Palace Pier.

Gallery

Brighton aquarium photochrom.jpg, A

photochrom Photochrom, Fotochrom, Photochrome or the Aäc process is a process of hand-colouring of photographs, hand-colouring photographs from a single black-and-white photographic negative, negative with subsequent photographic transfer onto Lithography, ...

of Brighton Aquarium with the pier in the background, originally photographed around 1890 File:Constable - Chain Pier, Brighton, 1826–7, N05957.jpg, '' '' by

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

c.1827. Brighton beach with the ''Chain Pier'' in the background. File:Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) - The Chain Pier, Brighton - N02064 - National Gallery.jpg, '' The Chain Pier, Brighton'' by J. M. W. Turner, 1828 JMW Turner, The Chain Pier at Brighton, Royal Pavilion.jpg, The Chain Pier at Brighton, by J. M. W. Turner Brighton Chain Pier Signal Cannon Sep09.JPG, Signal cannon from the Chain Pier, on Palace Pier Royal_Chain_Pier_model,_Brighton_Museum_and_Art_Gallery.jpg, Model of the Royal Suspension Chain Pier on display at

Brighton Museum & Art Gallery Brighton Museum & Art Gallery is a municipally-owned public museum and art gallery in the city of Brighton and Hove in the South East of England. It is part of Brighton & Hove Museums. It costs £9.50 for a yearly pass, discounted to £7 for ...

References

External links

*
Pictures and Drawings of the pier - from "Science and Society Picture Library"My Brighton and Hove resources related to the pierBrighton Chain Pier and Remains (flickr gallery)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Suspension Chain Pier, The Piers in Sussex Buildings and structures in Brighton and Hove Chain piers

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links