Piering Back in Time

This week's Sepia Saturday's prompt is a steamer on the water in the southern hemisphere and a photo with writing on it

"Going for a Sail, Morecambe"

 so I take you sailing in the northern hemisphere.  From the flags on Central Pier, the well wrapped spectators and the run of the tide I would guess you could get up a good few knots up skimming across Morecambe Bay on the day of the photograph.

As you see I liked this view so much I bought it twice however this looks like a beautiful summer's day, warm enough to encourage paddling. The Central Pier was opened in 1869 and enlarged in the 1870s which made it  ideal for steamers to call in (this part of the coast was a popular with people sailing on pleasure steamers calling in at various destinations).  The pavilion shown was added in 1897/8 and its ornate nature gained it the nickname "the Taj Mahal of the North", it would be destroyed by fire on 31st July 1933 and even that was quite a draw - the crowds came to watch its demise. A new 2000 seat pavilion was built, a café and an open air roller skating park. All those things that seaside resorts were popular for, ballroom dancing, music, classical concerts and comedy were offered here at the new pavilion . The pier was closed in 1986 after decking collapsed at the seaward end and a fire in 1987 damaged the shore end.  The owner was told to upgrade in 1989 but the council condemned and demolished it in 1992.  All this would be long in the future when the card was sent

 on 27th July 1908 saying "The weather is lovely send Annie and Fred by the next train".  The weather that July was especially warm so I imagine that Annie and Fred would enjoy receiving the message. The addressee Mrs Hilton's husband Samuel's  job is registered as 'Herald Varnisher', I have no idea what that is but is sounds a niche occupation. The Annie mentioned in the postcard would become a cotton weaver and marry in 1921.

[Update thanks to  Scriptor Senex's information in the comments.  The job is not varnishing a passing herald as he carries his message but a Heald Varnisher an occupation of the textile mills.  It is part of a weaving loom, after knitting the healds were varnished and put in a special oven.  See here ]

I have a soft spot for Morecambe because I spent some happy times at the seaside there as a child and I too arrived by train.  I don't remember the piers, either this central one or the West End Pier which was washed away after a storm in 1978 but a vividly remember the donkeys and riding them up and down the beach.  There is one water structure that survives which probably enforces that biblical admonition to build upon rock

The Stone Jetty with the paddle steamer TSS Minden departing for Blackpool in the mid 1930s.  The Minden was operated for five seasons starting in 1933 by the newly formed Blackpool Pleasure Steamers,  in 1938 she was sold for breaking up in Preston, the golden era of pleasure steamers on the Lancashire coast was at an end.

The Stone Jetty is the remains of the original harbour that was built around 1853 the reason for the original goods railway line being built which later that century would eventually bring the pleasure seekers..  I think boating pools are quite rare today although I did spend a happy time licking my ice cream and watching small yachts being sailed on one in Suffolk last year.  Today the Stone Jetty is still popular, there is a café by the lighthouse and of course it is THE place to lean against the railings at the end and gaze at the Lakeland hills across the water. Instead of the boating pool and an anchor there are a series of artist inspired pavement games, a inset compass and stone cormorants sitting on the railings.