Designing the Seaside
In this excerpt from ‘Designing the Seaside’ by Professor Fred Gray, the author explains why the West Pier is such an important part of English seaside architectural and social history
By the early nineteenth century, as ways of consuming the seaside matured and diversified, there was a growing appreciation of the joys and benefits to be gained by not just being beside the sea but going out over it. Over the previous half a century, visitors had learnt how to understand, admire and enjoy the seaside and a new architecture for coastal leisure eventually developed in response. Piers were one of its chief products and part of a process of ‘attuning space with desire’ characterizing the later stages of the Romantic consumption of the seaside. Although with none of the disadvantages and dangers associated with boats, whether seasickness or the possibility of capsizing or even drowning, piers enabled visitors to leave the landward side of the sea and venture out to the water itself.
Walking on to a pier was to be transported ever closer to raw, untamed nature, heightening both the sense of admiration of nature and the accomplishment of the individual making the visit. Moreover, sea air was surely more beneficial over the sea than when breathed on the land. And there was the camaraderie to be enjoyed by being with likeminded people. There were new panoramas of the coast to view, storms and sunsets to marvel at and horizons to contemplate. The pier, as a platform from which to view the horizon, allowed people to reflect on themselves, other places and other times. Although it was of course an illusion, the pier was remarkable in seeming to enable people to journey a little closer to the unobtainable.
