WORTHING HERITAGE TRAIL - THE TOWN AND THE SEA

The Town and the Sea - presented by local historian Chris Hare. This short film is part of a trail that follows a route along the seafront, exploring aspects of the pier's history.

The walk commences at the VisitWorthing Information Centre, from where it makes its way to the Pier Pavilion. When the pier was built in 1862 a small hut housed the piermaster, who would take the entrance money. In 1889 two ornate kiosks were added, and it was these that were removed to make way for the current pavilion in 1926. Designed to mirror the appearance of the South Pavilion at the sea end of the pier, the symmetry could only be appreciated for seven years, as the sea-end pavilion was lost to fire in 1933.

Worthing’s first pier was designed by Sir Robert Rawlinson and cost £6.500. However, it was a narrow deck pier with little space for promenading – so beloved of the Victorian middle class – so the pier was widened and a sea-end pavilion added during the years 1887-89. On Easter Saturday in March 1913, a violent storm and high tide swept away the central section of the pier. (The isolated sea-end pavilion was accordingly nicknamed ‘Easter Island’.) The reconstructed pier was opened amidst much local celebration by the Lord Mayor of London in May 1914. A fire in September 1933 gutted the southern pavilion and much of the decking. The current Art Deco pavilion was opened in 1935. During the Second World War the central section of the pier was removed to prevent it being used as a landing stage by enemy invaders. Today the pier is considered one of Worthing’s biggest assets and is in a far better state of preservation than many neighbouring piers on the Sussex coast.

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