The first were built of wood in the 1720s

Brighton’s coastline is protected by walls, and groynes which project into the sea. The first groynes were built of wood in the 1720s, after the storms of 1703 and 1705 when Brighton’s Lower Town was destroyed. The first concrete groyne was built in 1867 at East Street. Many others have been built, and rebuilt, from then to now.

But groynes were not the only protrusions to be built into the sea. From 1823 until 1896 the Chain Pier provided a 1134 foot embarkation platform for steam packets to Dieppe.  Still-standing (just!) on its cast iron trees, is the West Pier which was opened in 1866, and the Palace Pier of 1899 which sits more stolidly on its clusters of cast iron trusses.

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