1. Llanduno pier is grade II listed. At 2,295 ft (286m) the pier is the longest in Wales and the fifth longest in England and Wales built on iron columns.
Event and Historical Information:
The original structure was much shorter in length - just 242 ft built on 16 wooden piles. It was opened in 1858 by the St George's Harbour and Railway Company. This short pier was part of a more ambitious scheme to build a major port in Llandudno Bay. Unfortunately, the pier was severely damaged in the Royal Charter Storm of 25 October 1859. Although repaired and used for a further 16 years, the pier could only be used by steam ships at high tide. The present pier was built for the Llandudno Pier Company by Walter Macfarlane of Glasgow using iron castings from the Glasgow Elmbank foundry, designed by Charles Henry Driver for Brunlees and McKerrow architects (noted in his obituary, The Builder 1900). It was opened to the public on 1 August 1877. The landwards extension to the same design, still in deep water and also supported on iron columns, was opened in 1884 and a new landing stage was added in 1891. In 1969, the landing stage was totally rebuilt in concrete and steel, which enabled its use by the Isle of Man Steamers. The pier pavilion was destroyed by fire in 1994 and not rebuilt.
Sources include:
Wynne Jones, I, 2002. Llandudno Queen of Welsh Resorts
RCAHMW, October 2010.
2. New historical information revealed from research by Paul Dobraszczyk (2014).
Llandudno Pier was originally designed by the engineers Brunlees and McKerrow (who are still largely credited with the final structure) as rather a plain, engineered structure. The 1875 plans (preserved in Conwy Archives: CMaps & Plans 71/2172) were presented in May 1876 to Parliament, the town's Improvement Committee and the Mostyn Estate, but appear far more plain than the final structure as built today.
It seems that the original Brunlees and McKerrow plans were rejected and different architects were engaged to enliven the designs. Architect Charles Driver, renowned for his expertise in ornamental cast iron work, was then employed by Brunlees and McKerrow to consult on the design, working with Charles H. Rew. Driver also designed Nice Pier, France and the extension and pavillion to Southend Pier (along with numerous other commissions, for Messrs. Brunlees and Mckerrow. See obituary in The Builder for 1900). At Llandudno he produced dramatic new ornament in the Islamic and naturalistic style for the railings, shelters and their elaborate roof brackets. These designs were novel in their day and 'enhanced Llandudno's self-conscious image as an exclusive resort' (Dobraszczyk 2014, 148-9). No final architects plans survive of the structure as built, as they were probably lost after manufacture at Glasgow's Elmbank foundry.
3. Edited from journal article in Piers (2020): Driver (2020): 'Charles Driver: Llandudno Pier’s forgotten architect'
'Llandudno Pier is a highlight of Victorian seaside architecture on the North Wales coast and at 700m long is the longest in Wales. In Cadw’s listing description it is graded II*, as ‘the finest Victorian pleasure pier in Wales’. The cast iron work is particularly fine, with an interplay of Islamic ornament and naturalistic motifs.
… Charles Driver (1832 – 1900) was a pioneer in the use of ornamental ironwork and an expert in its casting and manufacture. He was involved in numerous projects; from the 1850s he designed a number of railway stations in England before going on to work with Bazalgette (between 1864 to 1866) on the London sewerage system, pumping stations and the architecture of the Thames Embankment. Between 1868-70 he was responsible for the Central Market (Mercado Centrale) in Chile’s capital city Santiago. He came to piers later in life, working on those at Llandudno (1878), Nice and Southend-on-sea (1887-90). Towards the end of his life he was also responsible for the ‘Station of Light’ in Sao Paulo, Brazil (1897-1900), now a famous historic building in the city.
Much of the original research on Charles Driver was first published by Paul Dobraszczyk in a 2006 article about his work on the London’s main drainage system (‘Historicizing Iron’; Architectural History, Vol. 49). Driver is described as an ‘unknown Victorian architect’ whose work ‘…remains unacknowledged by architectural historians’. Driver spent much of his professional life seeking the idea of the ‘true architect’, a fusion of the architectural and engineering professions blending art and beauty with science and geometry. Yet, as with many Victorian architects it seems that all too often it was the engineers or ironmasters who were credited with the finished building with Driver’s contribution often lost to history.
This was the case with Llandudno Pier, generally credited to civil engineers Sir James Brunlees and Alexander McKerrow and the contractor John Dixon for the Llandudno Pier Company. Many individuals are mentioned in the newspaper record of its opening in The North Wales Chronicle and Advertiser for the Principality (11 August 1877) including Dixon, Brunlees and McKerrow, but no Driver.
The mystery of Driver’s involvement in the pier was recently solved by Dobraszczyk during research for his 2014 book Iron, Ornament and Architecture in Victorian Britain (148-9). The only surviving plan of the pier is in Conwy Archives [CMaps & Plans 71/2172] and dates to 1875, two years before its opening. Yet this drawing made by Brunlees and McKerrow, for approval by Parliament, the town’s Improvement Commissioners and the Mostyn Estate, shows a very different structure than the one which stands today. This ‘unambitious and rather ordinary’ initial design (Fred Gray) had generic decorative iron railings and only a single pair of plain shelters. Dobraszczyk concludes that at some point before the pier was completed in 1877, a more exclusive decorative scheme was chosen.
It appears that Charles Driver, whose expertise with cast iron was well known, together with Charles H. Rew, was brought in to consult on the plans and transform them into something exotic and exclusive, befitting Llandudno’s resort reputation. No final drawings by Driver and Rew survive; they were probably dispatched to the Elmbank foundry in Glasgow for manufacture. However, today’s pier clearly owes most of its rich decorative scheme - its exotic Islamic railings, multiple kiosks and its ornate pavilion - to this new vision and design expertise'.
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to Paul Dobraszczyk, Kathryn Ferry and staff at Conwy Archives.
Sources:
Driver, T. 2020. Charles Driver: Llandudno Pier’s forgotten architect. PIERS Issue 138, Winter 2020. The Journal of the National Piers Society
Dobraszczyk, P. 2014. Iron, Ornament and Architecture in Victorian Britain. Routledge
Welsh Newspapers online. Opening of Llandudno Pier, The North Wales Chronicle and Advertiser for the Principality, 11 August 1877: Welsh Newspapers [accessed 09/12/2024]
Wynne Jones, I, 2002. Llandudno Queen of Welsh Resorts
4. Damage from Storm Derragh, 7th December 2024
As winds across north Wales reached 90mph in Storm Derragh, one of the historic kiosks on Llandudno Pier was blown over and severly damaged.
Updated by Dr Toby Driver, RCAHMW, December 2024.