Anthony Wills, of the National Piers Society and co-author of British Seaside Piers (English Heritage, £25), explores the rise and fall of the pier:
"This year marks the 200th anniversary of the opening of the first seaside pier, at Ryde on the Isle of Wight.
"Piers continue to enthral and entertain visitors to holiday resorts up and down the UK.
"You can still go angling on them, catch a steamer, take in a show, feast on fish and chips, play the slot machines, experience the thrill of fairground rides or simply relax in a deckchair and watch the world go by.
"You can even get married on some of them! But why were they built in the first place?
"The coasts of Britain have some of the highest and lowest tides in the world, and piers were initially constructed as landing stages, allowing passengers disembarking from steamers to walk to the shore rather than having to wade through the water, or hire a porter to give them a piggyback ride.
"The shallower the water, the longer the pier.
"Bandstands and pavilions soon arrived, and many piers even had their own orchestras offering classical music concerts to the town gentry.
"Entrance tolls were charged to walk on the pier in order to keep the lower classes away.
"But the arrival of paid holidays saw entire factories arriving in resorts on special excursion trains and making straight for the seafront.
"The pier owners quickly adapted their offerings to cater for them, with concert parties, open air dancing, roller skating, diving displays, rides and amusement arcades.
"By the turn of the 20th century there were more than 100 piers around the coasts of England and Wales, many of them built purely for recreation.
"The First World War prevented further piers being built and during the Second World War many were sliced in half in case enemy troops landed at the end and tried to invade.
"Piers reached the zenith of their popularity in the 1950s, when families traditionally came to resorts for a fortnight's summer holiday; but the arrival of cheap package holidays abroad, where the sunshine was guaranteed, saw their appeal decline sharply.
"Many were taken over by local councils who leased them to charitable trusts run by volunteers.
"These were able to apply for grant aid from the Government and, in particular, the Heritage Lottery Fund, created in 1996.
"Despite the expertise of Victorian engineers such as Eugenius Birch (who built 14 of them), piers are by their nature susceptible to winds and waves, fires and even ship collisions.
"Two of the most recent serious fires were at Weston-super-Mare (2008) and Hastings (2010). Cromer and Blackpool North were badly hit during last winter's exceptional storms, but are up and running again.
"Miraculously, 60 of the 100 built between 1814 and 1905 survive and bodies such as the National Piers Society are campaigning strongly for them to be cared for, so that future generations can experience the thrill of 'walking over the waves' without getting wet."
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