Island Piers Page 1 - Ryde and Seaview

Old postcards are sometimes poorly produced and grainy, I've done my best to scan them. Please click thumbnails for full size picture. Dates are from the card or my estimate (where possible). The manufacturer of the card is shown in brackets (where available)

Over the years the Island has had a number of piers, many of these have now gone, mainly as the result of neglect. Those remaining are Ryde  (used for berthing of the ferry from Portsmouth), Sandown, Totland (currently closed but hopefully it will eventually be restored) and Yarmouth .

Ryde Pier

Ryde pier is the arrival point of the catamaran service from Portsmouth. There were entertainment facilities at the pier head, including a theatre and bar. On the pier itself there were a number of small pavilions and boat launching ramps. All of these are now unfortunately gone.

Ryde pier was in fact 3 piers, the promenade pier for pedestrians and vehicles, built in 1840 but enlarged a number of times, a tramway pier built in 1864 which for many years carried a tramway for passengers catching the ferry and a railway pier, built in 1880 which still carried trains (now electric) down the pier. The tramway pier, the middle one, is no longer in use and has been partially dismantled. The pier is  the longest in England after Southend pier at 2,250 feet, almost half a mile. At one time there was an entertainment complex at the pier head, but this fell into disuse and has been demolished.

I don't know the origin of this card, but the picture is certainly before 1880, prior to the railway being built, note the horse drawn tramway.	Ferry arriving at Ryde Pier Head (undated) (Welch)
Early scene at Ryde Pierhead. (VL)	Ryde Pier showing Pier Head tramway station, probably from around 1910.
A  scene from 1905, showing the promenade pier. (National)	A Card from around 1907 showing the a busy scene off the Pier,  and the buildings which once stood on its side.
A view of the Pier Head showing all three  piers which comprised Ryde Pier. .	A view of the pier around the turn of the century taken  from the Esplanade. Note the Victoria pier on the right, built around 1863 and demolished in the 1920's. (Frith)
A later (although undated) view of the Esplanade  with a tow boat unloading (Lilywhite)	Another similar view to those above, probably late 1960's  (after the electrification of the railway)

The story of Ryde Pier (from the County Press)

Seaview Pier 

This pier was opened in 1881 and was a 1,000 feet long suspension pier. In a Ward Lock guide of the 1920's it was described:

"The Suspension Pier (toll 3d), dating from 1880, has some claim to be considered unique in that it is undeniably handsome. the pier-head is about a thousand feet from the shore and is sufficiently roomy for three vessels to lie along side at the same time. Four standards support the pier by means of wire ropes, instead of the ordinary chains, and several ingenious devices lessen the oscillation usually attendant on such structures"

It saw regular calls by pleasure steamers and occasional ferries until the second world war. During the war It was allowed to become dilapidated, and despite becoming the first British pier to become listed as a building of historic interest,  it was destroyed by a storm at at the end of 1950.

More cards of Seaview

Piers page 2  (Sandown to Ventnor)

Piers page 3  (Alum Bay to Cowes)

Freshwater  | Totland  |  Alum Bay and the Needles  |  Yarmouth  |   Shalfleet  |  Newtown  |  Calbourne  |  Carisbrooke Castle  |  Newport and Carisbrooke  |  Cowes and Gurnard  | Osborne House  | Wootton, Fishbourne and Quarr  | Ryde  |  Seaview  |  Bembridge  |  Brading  |  Sandown  |  Shanklin  |  Godshill  | Arreton Valley   | Ventnor  |  St Lawrence and the Undercliff  |  St Catherine's Lighthouse's  | Niton   |  Blackgang Chine  |  Blackgang and Chale   |  Brighstone and Shorwell   |  Mottistone to Compton

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6 May 2007