My cousin/SiL mentioned on the jelly bone today that she was heading to a little park on the coast at Weston-super-Mud with her husband this avo, so I suggested to my lot that we go and surprise them.
View looking down on to the sadly dilapidated Birnbeck Pier,
Even though the park is up a depth, it must have been a pretty high tide last night! I am told the splendid buildings behind are the old Weston college, now converted to posh private dwellings.
The pier is so badly damaged that the RNLI now have to launch from the prom using a tractor and trailer to get across the mud to the water’s edge, which can be some distance at certain times. They would love to get to use the old boat house again where the tide is always in.
Neglect by successive owners. The locals are holding their collective breaths and hoping the council will follow through with their threat of a compulsory purchase order.
The island used to be a pleasure park with bumper boats and all sorts of attractions. The structure sticking out to the right is the old steamer pier where day-trippers would come across from Wales, especially on a Sunday when that nation’s pubs were closed.
I remember it as a kid, and again when I took my lovely cousin across when we were a-courting over forty years ago.
is this just part of natural decay that probably can be found throughout the world in similar fashions? - or some sort of malaise ; a loss of national pride - I have seen docos of {UK} hobbist groups repairing old dilapidated train carriages and engines and bringing them back again to their former glory. Surely there is a legal entity called " compulsory purchase order" that can be activated in Englands green and pleasant lands? - thanks for the memories Fruity despite the tinges of sadness but it is necessary to be reminded of what a great nation ‘we’ once were. A much smaller pier close to where I live has been renovated and brought back to some use as a remnant of the old pearling lugger days of the far north of Western ozzie - I remember seeing it and walking on part of it many moons ago surrounded by ever encroaching mangrove swamps. Sometimes we give up too easily perhaps??
When the tide was out we would walk back to Cardiff across the mud.Not really but it looked like you could.I didn’t know there were two piers in Weston,I’ve spent lots of time and money on the other one.
we should have more of these group family outings to remind us of what we once had ; still have but needs repairing and how we can bring glory back to this green and pleasant land?
as a teen living in da pool I used to ocassionally ride with a friend to Chester [ quite a hike but fun day out until the exhausted pedal back!] I once remember stopping at the silted up end of perhaps the river mersey were large boats would moor and disgorge goods etc - this little place is still a tourist attraction and called Parkgate. Even in those days it had passed it’s glory and everyone just watched its decline I suppose? At the end of the village which has an interesting history and church etc etc used to lie an open air swimming pool long removed I believe. It still remains a thriving small seaside ??? village and looks out onto those very rich mansions that dot the skyline of the Wirral were once the rich footballers lived?
The “new” pier at Weston burned down a few years ago. Insurance paid out, it was rebuilt, and operational again within a couple of years.
The old pier is not as accessible for jollyday makers and less attractive to visitors, so not as attractive to owners or investors, but it could be made so.
Clevedon pier just a few kilometres up-river is a beautiful little jobby, and as already mentioned, has been lovingly restored with the aid of volunteers and donations after it collapsed due to storm damage.
There is no amusement arcade, but it is a pleasant and gentle stroll along with a nice visitor centre and a chippy at the entrance end and a fantastic viewpoint from the other. It can be done.
Even if the rest of Birnbeck island was just made safe, initially the main pier to the island and the boathouse could be restored. That would get the RNLI back where they want to be, and would bring tourists and revenue to the north end of the town.
Knightstone island on the seafront has been revamped. The old bathhouse and theatre have been turned into smart, posh residential buildings and a cafe. The marine lake is currently being dredged so people can swim in it again.
In contrast, the Tropicana outdoor swimming pool has been closed for decades. Locals wanted it to be refurbished and a roof put on. The council wanted to bulldoze it into the sea, and many developers wanted to build a hotel and apartments.
One local businessman wanted to turn it back into a swimming pool plus apartments, but his bid was refused.
Imagine, a waterpark right on the seafront, just rotting away. I don’t know what is wrong with some people.
Lovely set of photos @Fruitcake, enjoyed looking through them.
Terribly sad about the old pier, though, especially for the RNLI. I have enormous respect for them still operating there under what must be horrendous conditions.
In Plymouth we have a beautiful old Victorian theatre which is in a dreadful state of disrepair, and would need thousands, if not millions, spent on it to bring it back to its former glory. And honestly it would be such a worthwhile project, it really is such a lovely building.
Trouble is, we had a brand spanking new Theatre Royal built, just up the road from it, 40 years ago, so the heart went out of the Palace Theatre and it closed its curtains for the last time a year after the new theatre opened. It was operated as a nightclub venue until 2006, but was eventually closed down when class A drugs were found on the premises. It’s been empty and falling apart ever since.
The old Royal Hospital in Weston was sensitively redeveloped into apartments and modern additions that complimented the old design were added.
The same was done when the main hospital in town was renovated and converted after the new, but far too small hospital was built in the eighties. I was an inmate there two weeks after it was built, and the roof leaked.
A huge Edwardian church was also sensitively converted into apartments as well. It can be done, but like you say, it costs money, and it needs the will of the council and planning departments to see the assets these old buildings can become.
Nobody is making any more land, and I am in great favour of using brownfield sites to revamp an area.
@Fruitcake , So sad to see Fruity ! But l think you have allready mentioned
the solution to the problem when you said one of the piers had burned
down ?? And was renovated with the insurance pay out l!!
I suppose you will now tell me it was not insured ?
Donkeyman!
Agree with this as long as existing buildings can be reused sensitively rather than just brutally bulldozing our cultural history. I’ve seen this happen too many times in my area, so upsetting. Sadly though, we have too many people on this small island of ours. France, with a similar population to the UK, has more than twice the landmass, and you can see the difference driving round that country - they can afford to leave their lovely old buildings intact, whole villages comprising buildings 100s of years old - while they build new alongside.
