'Like a butterfly upon the ocean': The 150-year-old story of the West Pier

Thankfully it stayed away, allowing thousands to pour on to the shore and mark the opening of the town's newest pier.

Eager visitors turned out in their finery to line the streets and mark the occasion, paying the premium rate of one shilling to walk on the boardwalk for the first time. There was the typical procession of the great and the good, music, a 21-gun salute and even a banquet in celebration.

The event was worthy of mention on the front pages of national and regional newspapers later that day and it is of no surprise Henry Moor, chairman of the West Pier Company, referred to the structure - built by Eugenius Birch - as "noble" which stood "unrivalled" throughout Europe.

MP and Recorder John Locke saw it as a kind of "butterfly upon the ocean" which carried visitors on its wings to waft them among the balmy breezes of Brighton.

It became the town’s third pier, along with the Chain Pier and the Palace Pier, and in the 1890s transformed from a promenade pier into one of pleasure.

The Concert Hall was built in 1915 and 1916.

It hit its peak in the 1920s with more than two million paying visitors a year.

Fred Gray, the honorary West Pier historian who immortalised its story in his book Walking on Water, said pleasure piers were the most popular piers of the time.

"It's the type of structure that invented the seaside resort and the seaside holiday - that is why it is so memorable and important," he said.

"It is a great reflection of that 19th century Victorian optimism about the future - that idea they could take on and conquer nature by building structures over the sea.

"Even though they built it piecemeal it had this wonderful conclusive look to it, or at least it did until it started falling down. In its heyday it was a wonderful example of architecture and was the most graceful, beautiful pier in Britain."

It was constructed in the Glasgow iron works and shipped to Shoreham in 1863. It took three years to erect for the opening in 1866.

"So it is a Scottish pier which in some ways is quite interesting. It took 50 years to reach its final state. It was initially a promenade pier and over the years there was a theatre built at the end of the pier and a concert hall open in the centre of it - it had become a pleasure pier where there was regular entertainment.

"One particular thing it stood out for was its aquatic entertainers and divers. There was regular music on the pier and plays. There were pleasure steamers serving places like Eastbourne," Mr Gray, of Hove, said.

Then came the games area in the 1930s but it was closed during the Second World War.

The pier's central decking was removed during the Second World War to prevent enemy landings, and its popularity began to decline. On 26 November 1944 a Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoon fighter hit the pier, crashing onto the beach. The pilot sustained head injuries. The Typhoon was one of four aircraft escorting a VIP flight.

Its decline began in the 1950s as it became overshadowed by the palace pier and popularity began to wane. By 1975 it was closed to the public.

The West Pier Trust was formed in 1978 and in an incredibly rare move it became Grade I listed in 1982. In 1983 it bought the pier for just £100 from the Crown Estate Commissioners.

There were grants from Brighton Council and English Heritage, work started on a restoration project but in 1987 and 1988 storms caused significant damage and a 110ft section was removed.

In the mid-1990s the public could visit the remnants of the pier, which had been cut off from the land, during a special tour.

More years of uncertainty followed before the Heritage Lottery fund made £14 million available in the late 1990s. A private partner was found and work was set to commence on the rebuilding of the West Pier.

But the work was delayed by a legal challenge from the Palace Pier and then in 2003 two devastating fires scuppered the plans.

Funding was cut and the private backer pulled out. By 2004 English Heritage urged the trust to ditch its plans and instead focus on a new pier.

Also in 2004 former world boxing champion Chris Eubank criticised delays in restoring Brighton's West Pier and said he could raise the money needed to rebuild it in six months but that came to nothing.

In 2012 Property developer Mike Holland made a dramatic bid to rebuild the pier but his £25 million scheme with architects Angus Meek but he soon decided to pull out after blaming a “lacklustre” response from the West Pier Trust.

"There were several attempts to save and restore it and ideas were developed but it never quite happened,” Mr Gray said.

"Then there was a general process of decay and what remains is a skeleton. It is still the most photographed object in the city. Now it is all visitors ever knew but at the time people did not know what to make of it.

"Somehow because it is a ruin it tugs at the heart strings. Some people loathe it of course but there's something about the ruins that people admire and it makes them think about the future and the past.

"It is a very symbolic place in the hearts of people who live here.

"Visitors are intrigued by the history of this skeleton bird cage. Someone once described it to me as a living work of art and I think I would agree. It will eventually fall entirely into the sea. No-one knows when. There is a fascination in that, and the fact it changes before your eyes."

The West Pier Trust board backed the i360, which got planning permission in 2006, and a deal was struck which will result in it receiving £100,000-plus a year.

The trust held a public consultation on the future of the site and following the results it decided to press ahead with plans for a new pier once the i360 was up and running. They still hope to do this by 2026.

When he opened the pier for the first time in 1866, mayor Henry Martin hoped it would ever remain a benefit to the town. Who knows what he would say about its sorry state now? At least he would know it has been loved and admired for generations.