Shotley Pier

Shotley Pier was constructed by Frederick Hervey, 3rd Marquess of Bristol in 1894.^[1][2] It was a railway pier, used by the Great Eastern Railway for a ferry connection between Shotley, Suffolk, and Harwich, Essex, across the mouth of the River Stour.^[3] Its main cargo was mail and coal as well as munitions and sailors associated with nearby Royal Navy facilities such as the training establishment HMS Ganges in Shotley.^[2][4]

At low water the river is about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) at this point, mudflats extend around 200 yards (180 m) offshore.^[5][4] The timber pier extends 540 feet (160 m) offshore to a point where the water is 8 feet (2.4 m).^[4] The pier measures 10 feet (3.0 m) wide and has a 40 feet (12 m) wide platform at the end. By 2018 two fishermen's huts were located on the end platform.^[6] A second pier to the east is shorter with a transverse arm at its end.^[4]

In the early years of the 20th century the training ship HMS Ganges II (the former armoured frigate HMS Agincourt) was anchored off the pier.^[7] She was replaced by others Ganges: the former armoured frigate Minotaur and the former sloop Caroline), serving until the 1920s.^[8]

During the First World War Shotley Pier was used to land prisoners taken by British Q-ships.^[9] After the war more than 300 captured German U-boats (submarines) were kept in the Stour, some of which were moored to the pier.^[10][11] In 1937 Shotley Pier appeared in Arthur Ransome's We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea, part of the Swallows and Amazons series, where the children use it as an anchorage.^[3]

Small boat moorings are present just upstream of the pier.^[5] On 24 November 1985 a 16 feet (4.9 m) long angling boat was towed to the pier by an inshore lifeboat, having been spotted drifting in the water.^[12] On 8 August 2020 an abandoned fibreglass boat was wrecked on the pier.^[13]

Shotley Pier was purchased by the East Anglian Group in 2012. It was put up for sale by the group in July 2014 with an asking price of £195,000. The pier was described as being in "quite a state" but had planning permission for two food kiosks.^[6] In February 2018 the pier was purchased by the Shotley Heritage Community Charitable Benefit Society for £98,000. By this point the pier had been derelict for around 30 years.^[1]

The society planned to restore the pier, though their initial planning application was rejected by Babergh District Council in August 2018. A revised proposal was submitted, with toilets and café structures that were said to be more Victorian in appearance.^[1] The society asked for sponsors to purchase individual deck planks to help fund the restoration.^[11] These cost £100 each and, when installed, included a plaque with the sponsor's name on it.^[2][10] Additional funding came from the Coastal Revival Fund and European Union Rural Development Fund. The initial stage of restoration, of the first 30 metres (98 ft) of the pier, was completed in 2020.^[2]