Brighton Chain Pier Models

The Chain Pier at Brighton with Characters c.1824

The history of Brighton is never better illustrated than by its iconic buildings, land and seascape.  Many of these have given creative inspiration to model makers over the last two hundred years. As a subject, after the Royal Pavilion, the Chain Pier must run a close second. 

The museum has recently received two excellent, yet very different examples of this feat of construction and how it would have looked in its heyday. Both models are much appreciated transfers from Brighton Museum.

So - before we look at the models - what was the Chain Pier? To understand the accuracy of our two new models we need a few facts. After the Napoleonic wars (1803-1815) between Britain and France, there was significant growth in cross channel traffic between Brighton and Dieppe. As Brighton was without a harbour, passengers and cargo needed to be safely ferried in small boats to and from larger vessels. The Royal Suspension Chain Pier was built to facilitate this, with an 80 foot landing stage of Purbeck stone at the pier head.

At the shore end access to the Pier was via steps from the New Steine or via a toll house to a new esplanade, at the foot of the cliffs of the Old Steine. Building started in 1822, reaching completion in September 1823, at a cost of £30,000. The pier deck was 1,154 feet long and 13 feet wide, with four cast iron towers along it’s length, to suspend the supporting chains. At the shore end the chains were secured 54 feet into the cliff -through a ‘bazaar’ building - into 3 ton steel plates set in cement. At the Pier end they were secured by large weights. Wooden steps led down under the pier to staging platforms for passengers and cargo.

The Pier also offered popular attractions and was an early ’pleasure pier’ for the promenading public, who paid for the privilege. Kiosks selling refreshments, souvenirs, artworks and books operated in the Pier towers, as well as a camera obscura.  At the shore end the bazaar included a salon lounge and reading room and sold toys and fancy goods.  Over the coming decades the Pier withstood storm and lightning damage and had to have extensive repairs. By 1866 competition came with the new West Pier and then in 1872 the Brighton Aquarium. The Chain Pier was due to be replaced in order to build the new Palace Pier but by 1896 it was declared unsafe. A great storm two months later finally destroyed the structure, before it could be demolished. A plaque by the existing Brighton Aquarium is sadly all that remains of this unique and innovative construction – although it lives on in the many images of the pier and of course in our two models.

Mallory Model

Every object has a story to tell and the first of our models is no exception. Made of unpainted beech wood, it arrived in ‘kit style’ pieces in it’s own large plain wooden box. With no image to work from, the task of putting the many pieces together was a challenge - even to our very experienced museum staff. The pieces had been numbered in pencil but it took 3 people most of a day to complete.  No wonder, as it proved to be an impressive 4 foot 9” in length! A closer look showed that each piece had been cut using a fretsaw, and that holes for rows of posts could possibly have been drilled using a homemade jig. Each shape is accurate enough to functionally work but not precision cut, simplistic but well thought out. In the expert opinion of a staff member it is “too crude to be made by a toymaker but could be by a competent home amateur using a plan from a hobbies style magazine”. The black and white paint details for windows and doors, are rarely straight and rather approximate, giving it a certain homemade charm.

If basic in production, the model makes up for this in it’s accuracy. It even includes a signal cannon (in actual size 61lb) and a flag pole with a red flag to announce boat arrivals. There is a bollard at the pier head for mooring. The chains are all complete, made of links of a simple wire bar with a  round eye link at each end, and are probably also amateur made.

The model has been well cared for, it is likely to be Victorian and therefore made while the Chain Pier still existed. We can only guess at some of it’s story….however a piece of paper in the box tells us that it has a very special provenance. It was donated in 1940 to Brighton Museum, by Mrs Annie B Leigh-Mallory of Cheshire. Her husband, a Cannon, was retiring and they were moving house. This is no ordinary family - Annie’s son was the mountaineer George Herbert Leigh-Mallory (1886-1924). George is famous for being on the first three British expeditions to conquer Everest in the 1920’s. He and his climbing partner Andrew ‘Sandy ‘Irvine were last seen ascending to the summit in 1924 but Mallory’s body was only finally discovered in 1999. Speculation continues as to whether they achieved their goal. In addition to George’s adventurous career, his younger brother Trafford (1892-1944) also had a distinguished life, though a tragic end. Wounded at Ypres in 1916 as an Infantryman, on recovery he joined the Royal Flying Corps (later the RAF) as a pilot, making this his career. He eventually became the youngest ever Air Vice Marshal. During WW2 he became Commander in Chief of South East Asia Command but sadly in 1944 he and his wife died in a plane crash, en route to Sri Lanka to take up the post.

So was this Chain Pier model played with by George or Trafford Mallory? We will never know, but thankfully it has endured for us to enjoy.

Card Model of the Chain Pier

Our second model could not be in greater contrast to the scale of the first. It arrived in a Perspex case, the original glass having been in a poor state, but with it’s original base - measuring approx 8” wide by 24 ½” long. Undated and unmarked, it is probably mid to late Victorian due to the type of glass used for the sea and it’s wooden base, possibly of burr walnut. Without it’s cover it can be properly appreciated as an extremely delicate and amazing survivor. It has been constructed entirely from green and light brown card with great skill and precision. Accuracy is again key to the success of the model. The ‘bazaar’ building in the cliff at the shore end  includes railings to the top promenade and steps to the beach. Several bathing machines are positioned on a realistic gravelly beach ready for use. The green machines are marked ‘Ladies Bathing’ and ‘Allen’ written on the roof (Allen was a type of bathing machine). The plainer brown ones are the ‘Gentleman’s’. The Pier head has two green kiosks and flag poles with pennant flags. In testament to the maker’s precision, despite it’s age and fragility only a few joints have come adrift. A true marvel of patience and the model makers art. Unfortunately this model comes with no provenance so we can only speculate on its history, but it is an admirable addition to our collections. The model is currently on display in our Museum.