Deal Pier is the last remaining fully intact leisure pier in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. It is the third pier to exist in

Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...

and was opened in November 1957 by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

. Its structure was extensively refurbished and repaired in 1997, with work including the replacement of much of the concrete cladding on the pier's main piles. Work began in April 2008 to construct a new pier-head with a modern restaurant which opened the same year.

History

Early piers

The seafront at Deal has been adorned with three separate

pier image:Brighton Pier, Brighton, East Sussex, England-2Oct2011 (1).jpg, Seaside pleasure pier in Brighton, England. The first seaside piers were built in England in the early 19th century. A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of ...

s in the town's history. The first, built in 1838, was designed by Sir John Rennie, although its wooden structure was destroyed during a storm in 1857. Originally intended to be in length, financial problems meant just was completed, which when opened, was just the sixth pier in the country. In 1864, a second long pier designed by

Eugenius Birch Eugenius Birch (20 June 1818 – 8 January 1884) was a 19th-century English seaside architect, civil engineer and noted builder of promenade-piers. Biography Both Eugenius and his elder brother, John Brannis (born 1813), were born in Gloucester ...

opened, with extensions in 1870 adding a reading room and a pavilion in 1886. It sustained impact damage several times during the 1870s and was acquired by Deal Council in 1920. A popular pleasure pier, it survived until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when it was struck and severely damaged by a mined Dutch ship, the ''Nora'', in January 1940. Permission to demolish the pier was authorised by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

, which left just the shore-side toll house, itself later demolished in 1954. In December 1950, the Deal Corporation received a grant of £750 () to compensate for damage sustained during the war. Sunrise over Deal Pier by Dr Alex Kent

Third pier

The present pier, designed by Sir W. Halcrow & Partners, was opened on 19 November 1957 by the

. Constructed predominantly from

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

-clad

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

, it is in length and ends in a three-tiered pier-head, featuring a cafe, bar, lounge, and fishing decks. The lowest of the three tiers is almost permanently underwater except for the lowest tide and has become disused. A notice announces that it is the same length as the RMS ''Titanic'', but that ship was over shorter. The pier is a popular

sport fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...

venue. In 2018, the pier underwent restoration at a cost of £500,000, in addition to installing more than of gas mains supply, as the pier's own gas supply had developed problems. Refurbishment works included resurfacing, replacement and repainting of railings and an upgrade to the drainage system. The works coincided with the 60 year anniversary of the pier's official opening.

References

Citations Sources * * * {{Piers in the United Kingdom Piers in Kent Deal, Kent