Hastings Pier, Picture of the Week for 22 February 2011

Hastings pier, Feb 2012

Hastings Pier  was gutted by a fire in October 2010 after being closed since 2006.  Arson was suspected and two people arrested.  Campaigners are still trying to raise support to refurbish the pier despite the devastation.  The Hastings Pier and White Rock Trust want to secure community ownership of the pier.

Designed by Eugenius Birch, Hastings Pier opened in 1872 and was originally 277 metres (910ft) long.  Birch was a renouned engineer who worked on the railways of India and with naval engines before turning his hand to pier design. He eventually created fourteen, the most famous being Brighton West pier which, also as a result of fire damage, has for many years been in an even more ruinous state than Hastings Pier.