From the West End to the West, Brighton's enduring pier

Between the scrap of beach and the great chalk cliffs sits Brighton's West End Pier, later renamed as West Pier. Engineer Eugenius Birch built the West End Pier in 1866, and for 110 years it was a glittering jewel right out of Victorian dreams. But then it gutted to the deckboards. And sank. And then it caught fire and burned down again. Today, you can see it from the deck of the Brighton i360 observation tower: scaffolding and structural weaknesses, steel glinting where seawater meets iron, most of the shining glory gone.

But it still stands, where the sea meets the coast, defiant. What followed the bright days of 1866 and the pillar by pillar extension in 1893, lasted 110 years, before it fell victim to arson, or faulty wiring, or age. It's yet unknown for sure. The West Pier Trust, which owns what's left of the West Pier, made their best efforts, building a new deck, a new roof - but the old place faded. Still, even if you've walked these beaches for all your days, even if you've lived on them your whole life, you've never seen seaside dreams like this.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons