South Pier, Bridlington Harbour

South Pier, Bridlington Harbour

This harbour installation was built between 1843 and 1848 by James Walker, with substantial alterations carried out in the 20th century.

The pier forms the southern side of the harbour, extending approximately 460 metres westward from below South Cliff Road. At its landward end, it merges with the upper western portion of Gummer's Landing. A slipway extends south-westwards from the pier down to the beach. On the harbour (northern) side of the pierhead is a flight of steps leading down to the harbour bed.

The pier is constructed from substantial sandstone ashlar blocks. Both sides of the pier feature curving batters, with the harbour-side batter being smooth-faced and the seaward side stepped, except for the top four courses which form a wave return coving. The seaward face is topped by a substantial two-course parapet, the lower course forming a raised walkway above the main deck. The base of the seaward face at the western end is protected by an apron of stone blocks that extends to protect the base of the slipway. The slipway is principally surfaced with large granite blocks, this surfacing extending to the landward end of the pier. On the landward side of the slipway is an early 19th-century stone ashlar revetment wall, now topped by a 20th-century concrete revetment including a wave return coving.

An 85-metre long section of the pier on the harbour side was widened in the 20th century to accommodate a fish market. A second widening, 32 metres long and also on the northern side, is situated half way along the pier. Approximately mid-way along the pier on the harbour side, the pier is widened by about 5 metres for a length of about 30 metres, consisting of 22 metres of sheet steel-piled extension to an original stone-built offshot that remains exposed at the west end. Towards the eastern end of the pier, two further stone offshots are now encased in a further sheet-piled widening to provide a quayside in front of a two-storey fish market building built on top of the original pier. This building is a steel-framed utilitarian structure.

Fittings on the pierhead beyond the fish market building include a cast iron octagonal capstan, an octagonal bollard, and a rope guide chock, arranged to form a right-angled triangle. At the landward end of the pier, at the head of the slipway, stands a simple timber post that was historically used for horse-powered haulage of boats.

The sheet-piled extensions and the fish market building, though materially and stylistically at odds with the historic character of the pier, are now integral to its physical structure and are included within the listing. However, they are not considered to positively contribute to the special interest of the pier. Other 20th-century and later additions within the mapped area, such as street lighting, cranes, and fuel tanks, are similarly not of special architectural or historic interest.