A Monthly Publication

By Jim Welham

In the 18^th century only the rich visited the seaside, often on their doctor’s advice, but by the middle of the 19^th century, the railways allowed mass working-class tourism. This caused a large-scale expansion of existing seaside villages and created new resorts such as Hunstanton. Another Victorian invention was the pier, which often formed the centrepiece of the resort. The raised walkway allowed easy access over the sea or up to it if the tide was out. Piers had little surface area to be affected by storms and the drift of sand and shingle along the coast was not impeded. The pier would not only be for recreational purposes, but would allow the landing and embarkation of passengers and cargo, and also could be used as a base for fishing.

On 23^rd February 1867, during a half-yearly meeting of shareholders of the Lynn and Hunstanton Railway Company, the Chairman, Lightly Simpson, reported that the railway continued to prosper. Only 3 or 4 houses had been built when the railway arrived, now there were nearly 90. 4 more shops had recently opened and his hope was that a pier and possibly a promenade would also follow.

On 18^th November 1867 an application was made to Parliament by Partridge and Edwards, Solicitors, 15 Chapel Street, Kings Lynn for a provisional order to erect a pier in Hunstanton, which was submitted by the parliamentary agent Henry Morgan, 7 Delahay Street Westminster. Copies of the application could be purchased for one shilling and notices were displayed in the Lynn Advertiser on 23^rd and 30^th November 1867. At 8 o’clock on the evening of the 30^th November the original documents were deposited with the Clerk of the Peace at the Shirehouse of Norwich Castle.

The government department with responsibility for the foreshore, including the building of piers was the Harbour Department of the Board of Trade. On 17^th December 1867 a document was received by the Board stating that Hamon Styleman L’Estrange of Hunstanton Hall was entitled to a considerable estate in the parish of Hunstanton and had laid out a portion of Hunstanton St Edmunds for building and recreation purposes near the seashore and adjoining, for the use of a pier. The Board of Trade replied, doubting that the rights to wrecks and flotsam and jetsam gave anyone ownership of the ‘soil of the sea,’ and the rights of the Crown impeded any further negotiations. Any attempt to drive piles into the shore would be treated as an act of trespass. However on 5^th February 1868 the Board wrote again accepting that L’Estrange had the title of the sea shore.

On 25^th June 1868 Parliament passed an act confirming the provisional orders made by the Board of Trade under the General Pier and Harbour Act 1861 which allowed the construction, maintenance and regulation of piers to be built at Carlingford, Lough, Elgin, Lossiemouth, Greenock, Hunstanton, Tenby and Torquay. The Hunstanton section of the act said that ‘Henry Brown and William Arnold Bainbrigge shall be directors of a company for the purpose of being incorporated, in the name of the Hunstanton Pier Company, the capital of which will be £6,000 in 600 £10 shares.’ The act authorised the building of ‘the pier jetty or landing place with tramway, toll houses, refreshments, reading and other rooms and all works and approaches and other conveniences connected therewith, for the embarking and landing or passenger’s goods and merchandise, and recreation and other purposes.’ The pier was to commence about 7 chains (154 yards) northwest of Hunstanton railway station and be built in a westerly direction terminating 300 yards or thereabouts from the high water mark

Fishermen forced to make use of the pier by bad weather were exempt from payment, and officers of the Customs Service and everyone working on a lifeboat could also have its free use, but anyone else without a proper ticket was liable to a penalty not exceeding 20 shillings.

The company was not allowed to purchase for extraordinary purposes other land which exceeded one whole acre.

The Board of Trade decided on the charges made for the use of the pier and could increase them if they felt necessary. They could also the decrease them if the average profits over 3 years exceeded 10% of the value of the shares.

The Schedule of Charges for the use of Hunstanton Pier from 1st April 1868 as defined by the Act

I Rates on Vessels Using the Pier

For every vessel under the burden of 15 tons per ton 0 shillings 4 pence

For every vessel of the burden of 15 tons & under 50 tons per ton 0 6

For each 50 tons thereafter 0 2

All lighters for each trip per ton 0 2

All boats entirely open, landing or taking on board goods each 0 6

II Rate of goods shipped or unshipped at the Pier

(much abbreviated as there are 100 types of cargo listed)

Ale beer & porter per hogshead (about 50 gallons) 0 6

Bark per ton (2240 pounds) 2 0

Beef or pork per cwt (hundredweight - 112 pounds) 3 0

Blubber per ton of 252 gallons 3 0

Bones & bone dust per ton 1 6

Cattle 3 0

Chimney pots each 0 3

Carriages:

Chaises & other 4 wheeled carriages each 7 6

Gigs, carts & other 2 wheeled carriages each 5 0

Hand carts & perambulators each 1 0

Corpses each 20 0

Fish dried & salted per cwt 0 3

Gunpowder per barrel or keg 0 6

Hides ox cow or horse (wet) each 0 2

Meat fresh per cwt 0 6

Musical instruments per cubic foot 0 1

Oysters per bushel (container holding 8 gallons) 0 3

Salt per cwt 0 1

Shrimp baskets each 0 2

Skins calf, goat, sheep, lamb or dog per dozen 0 6

Tea per chest 1 0

Tobacco per cwt 0 6

Turtle each 2 6

III Rates for the use of cranes, weighing machines & sheds

All goods & packages not exceeding 1 ton 0 4

For each additional ton 0 2

Shed dues

For each ton of goods of 40 cubic feet or for each ton of goods of 20 cwt which shall remain in the shed or other works of the pier for a longer time than 48 hrs the sum of 3d, and the sum of 1½d per ton for each day during which such goods shall remain after first 48 hrs.

IV Rates for supplying water on the pier

Water per 1000 gallons 10 0

V Rates on Passengers and Promenaders using the pier

For every passenger or other person who shall land on the pier from, or embark from it, on board of any ship, vessel, packet or passage boat, for each & every time, any sum not exceeding 0 6

For every person who shall use the pier for the purpose of walking for exercise, pleasure, or any other purpose, except for embarking or disembarking, for each & every time any sum not exceeding 0 4

For every bath or sedan chair taken on the pier for each & every time any sum not exceeding 0 6

For every perambulator 0 2

For every master of any vessel, boat or wherry, being an inhabitant of the parish of Hunstanton and using the said pier for the purpose of going to or returning from his own vessel, boat or wherry, an annual sum not exceeding 20 0

VI Rates on Passengers Luggage

For every trunk, portmanteau, box, parcel or other package within the description of luggage not exceeding 28lbs 0 2

And for every 20 lbs weight in addition 0 1

On 15^th August 1868 John Thew, one of the directors of the Hunstanton Pier Company, explained to the directors and shareholders of the Lynn and Hunstanton Railway Company the details of the pier, which was to be ‘of iron, 800 feet long and 16 feet wide. Cast iron screw piles would be used to penetrate the sand forming a stable base on which to build a pier as all other means would fail. It would extend to about low water mark of neap tides. On the pier head were to be rooms principally of iron and glass removable in winter. The extent of the works executed must depend on the amount subscribed.’ A ‘bare pier’ of the most basic kind was all that could be expected if the minimum amount of shares were sold, but billiard and reading rooms were proposed to be erected if the subscription would allow. Shares worth £1,500 had already been sold and when £3,000 had been reached work could begin. He added that the railway shareholders ought not to look exclusively at the amount of dividend the pier itself would pay, but that it would bring traffic on the line and so increase their railway dividends. The preliminary expenses in the case of the pier were very trifling as there was no lawyers’ work and no land to be purchased, as they already had an agreement with the lord of the manor for all the land they wanted.

On 19^th August 1868 a public meeting chaired by Hamon L’Estrange to promote the pier was held at the Royal Hotel, (now the Golden Lion.) The engineer Mr.Wilson described the proposed work in considerable detail and satisfactorily answered all questions. A resolution expressing entire approval for the project was passed unanimously. Hamon purchased £200 of shares.

On 28^th January 1870, a meeting of the shareholders chaired by George Holditch at the Globe Hotel Kings Lynn, congratulated everyone involved on the completion of the pier, the lightness of its construction and the beauty of its design, which it was felt would add much to the attractiveness of Hunstanton, and increase the numbers of visitors by several thousands. The only problem was that the contractor believed that the encroachment of the sea should be stopped or a considerable part of the Green could be washed away, isolating the pier. The mood of the meeting was spoiled by the Hunstanton entrepreneur John William Beeton. He said that the meeting should have been held in Hunstanton where public opinion was that it was a rubbishing affair and that the materials of which it had been constructed were not as stipulated by the contract. There were many things which had not been completed. He had found ‘200, possibly 300, sappy planks of nasty Norwegian stuff.’ He said he could have built the pier for £3000 and believed that the whole thing was a genteel swindle. The chairman George Holditch replied that in many similar meetings he had never heard such sweeping charges. He was about to adjourn the meeting as the temperature was freezing and hoped the next one would be more amenable, but Beeton asked that there should be a ceremony to celebrate the opening of the pier. The chairman said that no funds were available for such a purpose.

On 17^th April 1870, a 999-year lease was signed and sealed by Hamon Le Strange and the new provisional directors of the Hunstanton Pier Company who would be responsible for the maintenance and regulation of the Pier which had opened in May. They were John Henry Scott Durbin, George Holditch, Saddleton Masters, John Dyker Thew and John Thorley. They agreed to pay Hamon Styleman L’Estrange and his heirs a £1 annual rent backdated from 25 March 1868 and expiring on 24 March 2867. The proprietor of Hunstanton Hall was to be entitled to two perpetual free and transferable tickets to the entire pier. A plan attached to the lease showed the final dimensions of the pier to be a total of 800 feet in length and 16 feet in width, apart from the final section at the seaward end which was 33 feet wide and 66 feet long. The building at the pier entrance was 36 feet wide by 18 feet deep. The lease also gave the company possession of the land within 10 yards in all directions of the pier. The directors were required at all times to maintain the pier in good repair and condition although the pier company was at liberty to make any reasonable alterations or modifications

(To be continued)