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

The Royal Suspension Chain Pier was the first major

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 ...

built in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, 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 comstruction starting on 18 September 1822 and completing in September 1823, opening on 25 November 1823. Brown had completed the

Trinity Chain Pier Trinity Chain Pier, originally called Trinity Pier of Suspension, was built in Trinity, Edinburgh, Scotland in 1821. The pier was designed by Samuel Brown, a pioneer of chains and suspension bridges. It was intended to serve ferry traffic on ...

in Edinburgh in 1821. The pier was primarily intended as a landing stage for

packet boats Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed for domestic mail, passenger, and freight transportation in European countries and in North American rivers and canals, some of them steam driven. They were used extensively during the 18th and 19th ...

Dieppe, France Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newha ...

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

camera obscura A camera obscura (; ) is a darkened room with a aperture, small hole or lens at one side through which an image is 3D projection, projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole. ''Camera obscura'' can also refer to analogous constructions su ...

. 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 turni ...

and

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

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 h ...

landed on it, and it was even the subject of a song. The Chain Pier co-existed with the later

West Pier The West Pier is a ruined pier in Brighton, England. It was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1866. It was the first pier to be Grade I listed in England and Wales but has become increasingly derelict since its closure to the publi ...

, but a condition to build the

Palace Pier The Brighton Palace Pier, commonly known as Brighton Pier or the Palace Pier, is a Grade II* listed pleasure pier in Brighton, England, located in the city centre opposite the Old Steine. Established in 1899, it was the third pier to be constr ...

was that the builders would dismantle the Chain Pier. They were saved this task by a storm which 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 for producing colorized images from a single black-and-white photographic negative via the direct photographic transfer of the negative onto lithographic printing plates. The proc ...

Brighton Aquarium SEA LIFE Brighton is an aquarium attraction in the English city of Brighton. Opened as Brighton Aquarium in 1872, it is the oldest operating aquarium in the world. The attraction was bought by Sea Life in 1991. History Designed by Eugenius Bir ...

with the pier in the background, originally photographed around 1890 John Constable 024.jpg, Brighton beach with the ''Chain Pier'' in the background. 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.1824 JMW Turner, The Chain Pier at Brighton, Royal Pavilion.jpg, The Chain Pier at Brighton, by

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulen ...

Brighton Chain Pier Signal Cannon Sep09.JPG, Signal cannon from the Chain Pier, on

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 the "Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton and Hove". It is free for local residents ...

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