Westward From Hastings Pier

The area around the pier has changed dramatically over the last hundred years, as has the pier itself. We can see from this contemporary postcard by the famous postcard photographer Louis Levy that the Grand Hotel on the left, the municipal Hospital on the right, and behind it. Lady Jocelyn’s house, have all gone.                    Continue reading Westward From Hastings Pier

Hastings Pier- The Early Days

 

 Illustrated with pictures from Ion Castro’s collection

Hastings Pier was opened by the Earl of Granville, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports on the fifth of April 1872, which coincidentally was the country’s first ever Bank Holiday. Work had started on the pier on the 18th of December 1869 by the famous engineer Eugenius Birch and was modelled on Brighton’s West Pier with its timber deck supported on columns of cast iron screw piles in rows of three, the outer columns angled for greater stability. Continue reading Hastings Pier- The Early Days