Just ahead, you’ll spot a long, slim walkway stretching out over the Thames, with a pavilion at the end that almost seems to float on the water-keep your eyes on the river’s edge and you can’t miss it!
Picture yourself here in 1834-the pier brand new, designed by the talented William Tierney Clark, built of cast iron and stretching bravely out into the busy Thames. All around, the river echoes with the clang and clatter of steamboats as over 3 million passengers come and go in just a few years. Back then, the Town Pier was the beating heart of travel, soaking up stories, secrets, and the hopes of everyone escaping London for Kent… until the noisy railways muscled in around 1900, and the grand old pier suddenly grew silent. But like a classic British comeback story, Gravesend Town Pier was restored in 2000, its shiny new restaurant and bar ready to welcome laughter and clinking glasses. Although business didn’t boom for long, don’t feel too sorry for our grand old friend-it’s the oldest surviving cast iron pier in the world and now a Grade II* listed treasure! These days, the pier rings with new sounds as Thames Clippers boats ferry passengers to London, just like in the old days. And if you fancy yourself a music fan, picture this spot as the dusty stage for the haunting ballads of “Gravesend Pier”-where riches and poverty met on the river, and the tide carried their tales downstream.
