Both of these show the pier at Deal which is on the south east tip of Kent, itself on the south east tip of England. The top postcard of these two is dated 1923 and I suspect the second is much the same date. Notice the man in the first with binoculars. It's hard to tell what he could be looking at.
The second card is interesting because at first I thought there was snow on the road (snow is much on my mind at the moment). It can't be snow of course because of all the people about so I think it must be sand. That in itself is odd, because the beach is not sandy at all, it is a shingle (pebbled) beach.
The third is dated 1966 and is more or less what the pier looks like today. Notice the group of men and the two women apparently sheltering near the pier entrance. I don't think it was a bright and warm day.
A Dutch ship collided with the old pier in 1940 so it had to be demolished. This new structure was put in place in 1957. In fact it is the third pier to be here. A wooden structure was wrecked by gales in 1857.
A post for Sepia Saturday. A click on the button will take you to the Sepia Saturday blog where you can find links to all the other people taking part.
I was thinking the ladies dresses and hats looked a little older than the 1920s, but if it is dated, then I am wrong.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the card could well have been old stock, or just an old image re-published, but it was definitely postmarked on 24 August 1923. I know nothing about the history of clothing.
DeleteOr maybe they're just old-fashioned in Deal!
DeleteMore pier posctards, what fun!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you can date postcards by road markings like NO PARKING.
ReplyDeleteYou can't beat a pier. Excellent old photographs.
ReplyDeleteIt must be a universal trait that people seem to just enjoy walking out over water, even if they don't plan to go fishing.
ReplyDeleteDoes every English coastal village have a pier?
ReplyDeleteAnd please accept my apologies for the Dutch ship colliding with your pier. The captain probably mistook Dual for Chatham :)
Dual should read Deal of course.
DeleteThese are great ... very clear and showing the area in different eras. I wonder if they lock the gates at night on the last one, and if you had to pay to go walk on the pier?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this post.
Kathy M.
I do love traditional piers. Some are sadly long gone.
ReplyDeleteI am growing to really appreciate these old cards that were photographed with seemingly little regard for posing.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had more piers to visit, that offered more than just a walk across it. Of course where I live we don't have much of anything like that as it is! Nice photos!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm loving your postcards of Deal! I've made a promise to explore more of Kent this year and Deal is definitely high on my list.
ReplyDelete