Blackpool Photo Gallery - The Piers

Blackpool has a long stretch of beach along the Irish Sea. Similar to other English seaside towns, there are piers built out into the water offering entertainment with a twist. Blackpool has 3 such piers, all from the Victorian era. Construction of the first, now the North Pier, started in 1862 at a cost of over 11,000 pounds with a cast iron frame and a wooden deck on top. It opened partially complete in May 1863 in a ceremony attended by over 20,000 people. Immensely popular, the government decided to build a second pier in 1866, which opened 2 years later. The entertainment here catered to the masses with open-air dancing and games. Dubbed the "people's pier", Blackpool was trying to close in on Brighton as a major resort, although during by the early 1870s, Blackpool only had less than a tenth of Brighton's population. The small town dewveloped between the two piers and stretched inland towards its first railway station. In 1990, a 33m-high ferris wheel was added to the attraction. The South Pier opened in 1893.