Southend

Sir John Betjeman said that Southend Pier is Southend; The pier is a Grade II listed building. Southend Pier is a major landmark in Southend-on-Sea. It extends 2,158 metres into the Thames Estuary and is the longest pleasure pier in the world.

In the 19th century, Southend was growing as a resort as people thought that spending time at the seaside was good for one's health. Since it was close to London, many Londoners would come to Southend for this reason. The coast at Southend consists of large mudflats, so the sea is never very deep even at full tide, and recedes for well over a mile at low tide. Therefore the Pier was a good idea.A campaign to build one was led by former Lord Mayor of London Sir William Heygate. So in 1829, Parliament passed an act giving authorisation for the construction of a pier at Southend. Soon after authorisation was granted in 1829, the Lord Mayor of London laid the first foundations for the pier. By June 1830 a 182 metres wooden pier was opened. Still it was too short to be usable at low tide, By 1833 it had been extended to three times its length and by 1848 was the longest pier in Europe at 2,133.6 metres. In 1877 the board decided to replace the pier with a new iron pier. It has been damaged by a number of fires. The most recent was on October 9 2005 a fire severely damaged much of the Old Pier Head including the railway station, pub, shell shop, snack bar and ice-cream shop.Much of the wooden planking was destroyed, but the main iron structure was largely undamaged. It is back in action as of 2006 and has recently been visited by the largest sailing ship in the world.