Clevedon, Somerset - Clevedon Pier - local postcard c.1980s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Clevedon Pier, Somerset
• Publisher:  St. Peter's Hospice, Clifton, Bristol
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Clevedon Pier is a seaside pier in the town of Clevedon, Somerset, England on the east shore of the Severn Estuary. It has been described by Sir John Betjeman, as ""the most beautiful pier in England"" and was designated a Grade I listed building in 2001.^[1]

The pier was built during the 1860s to attract tourists and provide a ferry port for rail passengers to South Wales. The pier is 312 m (1,024 ft) long and consists of eight spans supported by steel rails covered by wooden decking, with a pavilion on the pier head.

The pier opened in 1869 and served as an embarkation point for paddle steamer excursions for almost exactly 100 years. Two of the spans collapsed during stress testing in 1970 and demolition was proposed, but local fund raising and heritage grants allowed the pier to be dismantled for restoration and reassembled. It reopened in 1989, and ten years later was awarded the Pier of the Year from the National Piers Society, and a Civic Trust Award. The pier now, once again, offers a landing stage for steamers and is a popular attraction for tourists and anglers.

The pier projects from the seafront at Clevedon into the Severn Estuary, which separates South West England from South Wales. The pier and toll house, where entry fees are collected, are adjacent to the Royal Pier Hotel, originally known as The Rock House and built in 1823 by Thomas Hollyman.^[2]

The shore at Clevedon is a mixture of pebbled beaches and low rocky cliffs, with the old harbour being at the western edge of the town at the mouth of the Land Yeo river. The rocky beach has been designated as the Clevedon Shore geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is the side of a mineralised fault, which runs east-west adjacent to the pier, and forms a small cliff feature in Dolomitic Conglomerate on the north side of Clevedon Beach, containing cream to pink baryte together with sulfides. The minerals identified at the site include: haematite, chalcopyrite, tennantite, galena, tetrahedrite, bornite, pyrite, marcasite, enargite and sphalerite. Secondary alteration of this assemblage has produced idaite, covellite and other copper sulfides.^[3] The nearest parking to the pier entrance is on an esplanade above the rocky beach.

During the Victorian era, Clevedon became a popular seaside town, having previously been an agricultural village.^[4] Due to improving transport links, via the Clevedon Branch Line, Clevedon was able to cater for the late 19th century craze for bathing in the sea with saltwater baths adjacent to the pier (since demolished, though the foundations can still be seen), and bathing machines on the main beach.^[5] Many English seaside resorts built piers in the 1850s to attract tourists. At Clevedon tourism grew following the opening of a branch line from Yatton railway station which connected it to the Bristol to Exeter Line, enabling travel from the rest of the country. It was also proposed that a pier could form part of a route from London to South Wales with the use of steamers to cross the Severn Estuary.^[6] An enabling act was submitted to parliament in 1864.^[7]

In November 1866, the Clevedon Pier Company was formed at a public meeting in the town. The directors included Sir Arthur Elton of Clevedon Court. Construction of the pier started at a cost of £10,000, with John William Grover and Richard Ward as the engineers and Hans Price as the architect.^[8] The erection of the iron pillars was undertaken by Hamilton Windsor Ironworks Co. of Garston, Liverpool. The legs were constructed from Barlow rail which had previously been used on Isambard Kingdom Brunel's South Wales Railway, with wood planks for the decking.^[9] By August 1868 600 ft (183 m) of the pier had been built and the final section was completed by February 1869.

type=printed

city/ region=clevedon

period=post-war (1945 - present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100mm)