Groyne repairs

The first part of the Albion groyne was built in 1876 but its width was doubled in 1896 when it was extended over the storm water outfall running alongside. It originally had gas-lighting for the benefit of fishermen at sea but this presumably became redundant when the Palace Pier opened in 1899.

The carcass wall is constructed of pre-cast concrete and flint blocks but the upstanding wall along the edge is of hand-laid flints. This wall suffers battering from both sides in stormy weather and, as a result, a long section of this has evidently suffered damage and is being rebuilt.

A sloping joint between upper and lower sections of the carcass wall probably indicates the top of the original storm water outfall.

The groyne  is grade II listed as a "groyne and pleasure promenade, serving for a time as a coal delivery pier. c1880, sections of it rebuilt through the C20. Flint, walkway of paving stones." 

Sea walls

View east from West Pier

This postcard from  the early 20thC shows, in the bottom LH corner, an exposed sea-wall on the east of the West Pier. It is of similar design to that on the west side of the pier,  a gap having been left between them to accommodate the already existing Pier. The build-up of shingle has presumably rendered them redundant, which is a good thing inasmuch as the i360 is now occupying the self-same gap.

See also:- Brighton Beach

Rough seas at the Albion groyne

A brilliantly captured instant by Paul Cahill

Concrete groynes (in calmer weather)

Summer jumpers

The Norfolk Groyne

The Norfolk Groyne, opposite the Norfolk Hotel, was completed in 1894, the fourth and penultimate of Brighton's concrete promenade groynes.

May also be of interest:-
Long lost sea wall
Brighton beach
The Daddy LongLegs railway
Eastern prospect
Concrete groynes

Concrete groynes

The first two concrete groynes to be built were the East Street groyne (in the distance) in 1867, followed in 1876 by the Albion groyne (lower right) which also carries a storm water outfall. The seawall between them which carries the Grand Junction Road across Pool Valley (upper right) dates from 1829. Before its construction Pool Valley shelved gently into the sea and was liable to flooding at spring tides and high tides in stormy weather.

Related post: Wooden groynes

Wooden groynes

It is interesting to ponder that a few simple structures like this began in the 1720's to stabilise Brighton's seafront along basically the same line we have today. A great storm in 1703 had destroyed the old fishing village below the cliffs and, along the south coast, was said to have cost 8000 lives. There was a further bad storm in 1705 and the sea continued to encroach to such an extent that Brighton appeared on the verge of being devoured by the sea. It must have been a fairly wretched place but, for some reason, maybe good fishing, was thought worth saving, and money was raised to build two groynes adjacent the old town. These were spasmodically maintained and supplemented for the next 200 years until gradually, from 1867 onwards, they became supplanted by concrete structures.

There were several wooden groynes still to be seen on Hove beaches until well into the 20th Century. Their remains may be there yet, buried under the shingle. This photo is of one of two still visible near where the Hove-Portslade border enters the sea.

Tetrapods

Tetrapods protecting the wave-spending beach at Brighton Marina. They were invented over 50 years ago in France as a substitute for large boulders which tend to get dislodged over time by the pounding of waves. They are designed to lock together in a random but open structure which dissipates the energy of the wave through turbulence. Numerous variations in shape have since been produced but all go under the generic name "tetrapod", borrowed from zoology. 

Their use became very widespread at one time, but the pendulum has swung against "hard stabilisation' of coastlines as this interferes with natural currents, material drift and deposition. Tetrapods now are only used in special situations such as that shown above; and Japan has undertaken a large programme of removal of tetrapods in an effort to beautify its coast. However they are intriguing objects and collectively form a fascinating abstract sculpture. Moderation is the key.

Eastern prospect

A view from the Palace Pier shows a corner of Roedean school on the extreme left  and the West Quay (Wetherspoons) on the extreme right with St. Dunstans (1939) near the centre. The Marina access ramp sweeps across the picture with the multi-storey car park at the RH end and just beyond the car-park is the squat drum tower of the Seattle Hotel. The Rottingdean windmill is just to the left of the Seattle's flagpole but partly obscured by a crane working on Southern Water's new waste water treatment scheme. To the left hand end of the beach is the banjo groyne built 1877.

A view FROM the Chain Pier

Images of the Chain Pier, paintings, drawings, photographs, are plentiful, but it is strange that few Victorian visitors seem to have taken photos from on the pier itself. This makes the above view, before the days of picture postcards, very rare,

Near the centre of the picture is the clock tower of the Aquarium entrance, built 1872, but, conveniently, no sign of the Aquarium Terraces which were completed just two years later. This enables the photo to be confidently dated to about 1873. Construction of the Palace Pier was still two decades away. The Chain Pier was closed to the public in October 1896 and then wrecked in a storm two months later.

Wooden groynes, such as those seen here, were first built in 1723 and added to throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries. They seem now to have all been supplanted by concrete groynes, the first being built in 1867 opposite the bottom of East Street.*

*The Encyclopaedia of Brighton. Timothy Carder

The Daddy Longlegs Railway

During a recent low tide the remains of the track bed of the Rottingdean Railway were revealed; curving in to the Banjo Groyne, where it used to terminate.

 This photo was probably taken with the Pioneer, as the car was called, travelling away from the Banjo Groyne with a following wind. Top speed was 8mph but it was dependent on the tide and more often hardly walking pace was achieved. 

It ceased operation in 1900 due, it seems, to the non-cooperative attitude of the Corporation who wanted the line diverted further out to sea in order to build new groynes.

Long-lost sea-wall

This postcard from 1905 shows the eastern end of the sea-wall looking down from the West Pier. The wall is still there but has been buried for at least 70 years by the build-up of the shingle beach. This build-up followed the programme of sea-defence improvement in the late 19th century, particularly the construction of large concrete groynes.

On the sea-front near the right of the picture can be seen the sadly-missed late-Georgian Bedford Hotel; destroyed by fire in 1964 and replaced by a monstrous tower block.

Brighton beach

This great bank of shingle stretching from the Peace Statue to the remains of the West Pier and beyond is about 15 feet deep where it meets the lower promenade. It has built up over the last 100 years as a result of the construction of groynes, particularly the large masonry ones during the 19th century.  These groynes intercept the west to east longshore drift and trap the shingle.

An imaginary observer from the early 1900's, standing at the end of the Norfolk groyne where this photo was taken, would hardly recognise this scene. As well as wondering at the changes in the skyline and the missing West Pier, he would be confused by the absence of  the long seawall, now buried in the shingle. The capping of this wall is still visible as a kerb along the southern edge of the lower promenade.