The Gravesend Town Pier is located in

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. It was designed by

William Tierney Clark William Tierney Clark FRS FRAS (23 August 1783 – 22 September 1852) was an English civil engineer particularly associated with the design and construction of bridges. He was among the earliest designers of suspension bridges. Born in B ...

and built in 1834 on the site of the earlier

Town Quay Town Quay is a quay and pier in Southampton, England. History A quay is first recorded on the site in 1411, known as Watergate Quay. By 1450 a crane was present at the quay. Work to lengthen the quay took place in 1613 and 1765. This quay fell ...

. Over 3 million passengers were served between 1835 and 1842, but around 1900, this pier fell into disuse due to the arrival of the railways. In 2000, this site was restored by the

Gravesham Gravesham ( ) is a local government district with borough status in north-west Kent, England. The council is based in its largest town of Gravesend. The borough is indirectly named after Gravesend, using the form of the town's name as it appear ...

Borough Council, partly funded by the organisations

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

English Partnerships English Partnerships (EP) was the national urban renewal, regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agency, regional development agencies on a regions of England, region ...

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Kent in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the Unitary authorities of England, unitary auth ...

, and

Manifold Trust The Manifold Trust was created by Sir John Smith in 1962 to generate funds for conservation in the UK, particularly of buildings, and to support other culturally important activities, including churches, arts, education, and the environment. Th ...

. In 2002, this renovation project was finished. They had also added a restaurant and a bar to the pier. When reopened, the Gravesend Town Pier was initially successful, but it later became a fiscal failure. Gravesend town pier is the oldest surviving cast iron pier in the world and is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

building.

Current services

Since 2012 the

Gravesend–Tilbury Ferry The Gravesend–Tilbury Ferry was a passenger ferry across the River Thames east of London. It was the last public crossing point before the River Thames, Thames reached the sea. History ''See also notes on Tilbury'' There were many ferrie ...

has run from the Town Pier. The Gravesend to Tilbury ferry, operated b
Jetstream Tours
is no longer in service. On 4 November 2022, Uber Boat by Thames Clippers announced that they had completed the purchase of the Pier, with an aim to operate a long-term River Bus service from Gravesend within 2-3 years. In recent years they have operated select sailings into Central London during high season. From 27 July 2024 to 29 September 2024,

Thames Clippers Uber Boat by Thames Clippers is a set of river bus services on the River Thames in London, England. The company operates both commuter services between eastern and Central London and tourist services under licence from London River Services. ...

will run services to London.

Mention of the pier in other media

It is the setting of the 2017 song "Gravesend Pier" by

Gone Molly Gone may refer to: Grammar * Gone, the past participle of go (verb) ** Have gone or have been, contrasting verb forms in some contexts Arts, entertainment, and media Film * ''Gone'', a 2002 a thriller written, directed by and starring Tim Chey ...

, which describes a scene of poverty and wealth in nineteenth century England.

References

External links

View of the Gravesend town pierJetstream Tours
Piers in Kent Gravesend, Kent {{Kent-struct-stub

Current services

Mention of the pier in other media

See also

References

Further reading

External links