Town Pier, North Queensferry

The Town Pier is a long jetty and pier running south-south-west, designed by John Rennie between 1810 and 1813, and extended by Thomas Telford between 1828 and 1834. It forms part of a group of related structures at North Queensferry including the Signal House, Lantern Tower, and East and West Battery Piers.

The jetty extends 165 metres in length, paved with setts and bordered by large slabs. It wraps around the end of the pier and returns landward to the west of the pier wall as a narrow low-level quay. A raised pier flanks the jetty to the west. The eastern wall is constructed of coursed droved sandstone blocks, ending midway along the pier-head where two sets of steps descend—one north to the water and one south towards the Forth. A longitudinal extension beyond the pier-head continues as a parapet wall, terminating in a tapered circular base for a beacon with a date stone marking 1834. The surface of the pier is keyed with small oblong blocks arranged in pairs.

Five stone tapered cylindrical rounded posts with dimple carving to their tops stand at the north end, formerly joined by a chain handrail. Two sets of foot holes forming a ladder are cut into the eastern wall—one at the centre and one below a partially truncated post to the right.

The pier was built following an Act of Parliament in 1810, when the Forth Ferry Trustee Company (established in 1809) compelled the former proprietors of the Ferry Passage to sell their rights to the Government for £10,000. John Rennie was commissioned to improve the slip landings and piers at both North and South Queensferry at a total cost of £33,825, including improvements at East Battery and a new landing place at West Battery. The Town Pier became the main landing point for ferryboats crossing from South Queensferry.

With the introduction of the steam ship Queen Margaret in 1820, a longer pier was required to accommodate the new vessel type. The Town Pier was the arrival point for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1842. Following the opening of the Forth Bridge in 1890, the Railway Pier built in 1877 at West Bay became the usual pier for road traffic. The ferry passage ceased entirely with the opening of the Forth Road Bridge in 1964.