Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 150
The History of Pleasure Piers
Hello Everyone
Did you spend Boxing Day deciding where you will go on your summer holidays this year?
As you already know, the beach next to Rocky Bay, Sandy Cove, is very popular with holiday makers.
There is a long promenade along the back of the beach. A promenade means a walkway. Behind the promenade are cafes and ice cream kiosks and a funfair.
What Sandy Cove doesn’t have, however, is a pleasure pier. There is a small jetty for fishermen, but it is not very big and it doesn’t have any buildings on it.
Many seaside towns do have pleasure piers though. They are very large, mostly quite old and have restaurants, funfairs and even theatres on them.
Nowadays, they also have amusement arcades on them, fortune teller’s caravans, roller coasters, doughnut shops, chip shops and on the pier at Herne Bay, for example, there is a large sports and leisure centre.
These sorts of piers were first built in the Victorian Era.
When steam trains were invented, ordinary people started going on holidays and day trips to the seaside for the very first time. This was because the steam trains allowed people to travel much faster than a horse-drawn carriage. People could get to the coast and back within a day.
The piers were first constructed as walkways to reach the many paddle steamers that took holiday makers on sea excursions, but were soon used for promenading, which was a very popular Victorian pastime. This involved groups of friends or family members walking on the streets for hours at a time.
ln some resorts the tide went out a long way. The piers were built into the sea so that people would always be able to walk above the water and, therefore, ‘visit the sea’ at any time of day. The water can be seen far below your feet through the gaps in the boards.
ln Southend-on-Sea the tide goes out such a long way the pier reaches into the Thames Estuary for about one and a third miles. The pier is so long that a little train runs along it so that people don’t have to walk to the end. lt is over one hundred years old and is the longest pleasure pier in the world.
Some of the earliest pleasure piers were Ryde Pier on the lsle of Wight, built in 1813/4, Leith Trinity Chain Pier, built in 1821, and Brighton Chain Pier, built in 1823. Only the oldest of these piers still remains. They were wooden walkways built on an iron framework that stood in the sea.
The oldest was Weymouth Pier built in 1812.
Once these docks were built, people had the idea of turning them into places of entertainment.
There are fifty-five remaining seaside piers in England and Wales. You might have one near you. The most famous piers are probably Brighton Pier and Blackpool Pier.
There are a few similar pleasure piers in other countries as well like Holland and Belgium and the USA.
The Santa Cruz Wharf on the west coast of the United States is over half a mile long. There are restaurants situated along it. Seals and sea lions like to play around it, which amuses the people walking along the pier looking down into the water.
The longest pier in the world is four miles long and can be found in Progreso, Yucatan in Mexico.
l think that is longer than the whole of Rocky Bay!
Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!
lf you like my blog, please support it by telling all your friends and followers about it.
Thank you!
And see you again next Fun Friday!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bob: Why did the idiot drive into the river?
Bill: l don’t know. Why did the idiot drive into the river?
Bob: Because he wanted to dip his headlights!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
Clevedon pier was voted Pier of the Year in 2013
It has Grade I listing which means it is an outstanding example of architecture
Clevedon Pier
Brighton Pier
Blackpool Pier
The Tourist Information Centre on Margate Pier
The longest pier in the world is in Mexico
Victorians on the pier at Swanage
An old steamship
Both jetties and piers have posts that are colonized by sea creatures such as barnacles and mussels
when they are in water some or all of the time
A sea lion
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
The nice thing about living in Rocky Bay is that children can always go down to the beach to play.
Bill, Henry and Bob on the beach
Whenever Bill and Bob go on a long car journey, they like to have quizzes or games to do on the journey so that they don’t get bored.
Last time they went on a long journey they were trying to think up funny names for people who did certain jobs.
Here are some of them to give you a smile.
Tealeaf reader and fortune teller Rosie Lee
Store security guard Stan Ding
Prison warder I.M. Savage
Stuntman I.M. Reckless
Hangman Hank Down
Cleaner Iva Broome
Driving instructor F.U.A. Carr
Speech therapist Simon Simple
Vicar Ivor Church
Doctor Dermot Titus
Dentist I.C.D. Kay
Baker Mr. Crummy
Cake shop owner Rock Aches
Plumber Lee King
Chef Stu Supp
Modern art seller Rea Lee Strange
Architect Dee Zine
Gardener Doug A. Lott
Lollipop man I.C. Nokars
Shark hunter Finn A. Head
Wasp nest removal contractor Buzz Doff
Personal trainers Stan Dupp and Ben Dover
(In case you don’t know Rosie Lee is Cockney Rhyming Slang for tea – see Blog Post 129 – and Simon Simple is from Simple Simon says)
*********************
TO ADVERTISE ON THIS BLOG
PLEASE CONTACT:
christina.sinclair.ads@aol.co.uk
*********************
Quick Quiz
What do these phrases mean?
- to sell someone down the river
- full steam ahead
- to let off steam
- to run out of steam
- to steer clear of something
- all at sea
- to get one’s sea legs
BLOW MY FOGHORN!!!
PLUS
Salty Sam fans can join in with their comments and share them with children all over the world. You will need to ask permission if you are not an adult.
Enter your e-mail address to subscribe to my blog and receive new Salty Sam Blog Posts for free by e-mail every week. Your address will be kept private and will not be shared with any third party.
Sign me up at the side bar
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A BEACH OUTFlT
FOR YOUR TWELVE lNCH DOLL
VEST (KNIT TWO)
Using 3¼mm knitting needles and white 4ply yarn cast on 16 stitches
Purl 1 row
Purl 1 row
Knit 14 rows of stocking stitch
Cast off 2 stitches knit to end
Cast off 2 stitches purl to end (12 sts)
Cast off purl-wise and leave an end of yarn into which crochet 12 chains – leave an end for sewing the end of shoulder strap to garment.
Sew up the side seams right sides together and put onto the doll inside out to position the shoulder straps and sew into place.
YELLOW SHORTS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and yellow dk yarn cast on 20 stitches
Purl 1 row
Purl 1 row
Knit 10 rows of stocking stitch
Decrease 3 stitches at the beginning of the next 2 rows (14 sts)
Knit 6 rows of stocking stitch
Change to 3½mm knitting needles
Knit 2 rows of 1 x 1 rib
Cast off
*Over-sew all seams to reduce bulk.
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
Quick Quiz Answers
- to sell someone down the river –
- full steam ahead –
- to let off steam –
- to run out of steam –
- to steer clear of something –
- all at sea –
- to get one’s sea legs –
- to betray
- at the greatest speed possible
- to release excess energy or emotion
- become exhausted
- to avoid
- to be puzzled or bewildered
- to get used to the motion of a ship
Bewildered
