The pier opened on 19th August 1869, John Dixon of London’s Cannon Street being both designer and contractor. Construction had taken just five months.

It had originally been thought that it was sold to a group of North Wales businessmen in 1895/6 , dismantled and re-erected at Rhos-on-Sea near Colwyn Bay.

However, in the book ‘Piers of Wales’ written by Martin Easdown and Darlah Thomas, it has been conclusively proved that the Douglas Iron Pier never went to Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn Bay. The Douglas pier was closed in 1891 and acquired by the the council who offered it for scrap as they wanted to widen the promenade at the foot of Broadway.

A number of resorts (such as Penarth and Abergele) had a look at the pier with a view to re-erecting it at their resorts (it was up for sale at £1,300) but that failed to happen. In the early part of 1894 demolition of the pier began by a Manchester scrap metal merchant, which was completed by May.

So the pier was never re-erected at Rhos. This wrong information came about because one author claimed it happened in a book published in 1952 and everyone took his word for it.

National Piers Society

Celebrating Seaside Piers

Douglas, Isle of Man

Douglas, Isle of Man

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