davidjohnberlin - about Clevedon Somerset

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photography gallery | Britain | Clevedon, Somerset

photos of Clevedon

About Clevedon, Somerset

Clevedon Pier, built 1869.

Clevedon has one of Britain's most exquisite pleasure piers, an elegant monument to the Victorian art of wrought iron engineering. In fact, much of the iron used to construct Clevedon Pier was recycled from rails left from the South Wales Railway which was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, one of the giants of this art.

Ironically, it was the coming of the railways in the mid 19th century that both made the building of the pier possible and then led to its decline in popularity.

Railways allowed working people to take holidays at the seaside, and the grand opening of the pier on Easter Monday 1869 drew hundreds of people from nearby Bristol and other towns. The journey must have been exciting enough in itself, but the pomp and ceremony of the day, with marches, bands and speeches must have been quite a thrilling occasion.

As with the other 78 or so Victorian pleasure piers around Britain, Clevedon pier provided a physical and social focus for this pleasant seaside town. But the pier also had a practical function as the landing point for ferries across the Bristol Channel to Wales.

Inevitably, when the Severn Railway Tunnel opened in 1886 it began taking most of the trade away from the ferries. The steamer companies eventually managed to bounce back by offering pleasure excursions.

During the 1960s people had a bit more money to spend on holidays and airlines began to take over from the railways in taking them there. The Costa del Sol and other Mediterranean resorts took the British away from their own seasides. As if this wasn't bad enough, many of the old piers were suffering from age and the elements.

In 1970 catastrophe struck when a loading test caused part of Clevedon Pier to collapse. For a long time that looked like the end of the pier - the bitter end. Despite much dedicated fundraising and campaigning, not to mention a public enquiry, the pier remained closed.

To cut a long story short, following extensive restoration work, it was partly reopened in 1989. Hoorah! But much remained to be done, and the full grand reopening had to wait until 1998. This time the event involved as much razzmatazz as the original 129 years earlier.

For some, the presevation of Britain's piers may just seem like a peculiarly British nostalgia thing. For others it is about recognizing an important and attractive aspect of our cultural and technological heritage.

Pier lovers may be interested in seeing my photos of Bangor Pier in North Wales.

If you want to find out more about Clevedon Pier, the Clevedon Pier and Heritage Trust has a great website:
www.clevedonpier.com.

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