Dunoon Pier in 2011
Wikimedia Commons
Dunoon Pier in Dunoon, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, was completed in broadly its current form in 1895, and is now owned by Argyll and Bute Council. Reaching out into the Firth of Clyde, the earliest parts of the pier date to 1835. It was designated a Category A listed structure
Structure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection. in 1980, as the best surviving example of a timber ferry pier in Scotland.[1][2]
The first timber pier of 1835 was replaced by a more substantial structure in 1845, after tourism to the town had increased. This second incarnation was destroyed in a storm three years later. The pier was rebuilt the following year, and extended in 1867 by the Scottish architect Campbell Douglas.[2]
The pier was enlarged and a new waiting room constructed in 1867 to cater for the growth of paddle-steamer traffic, and a larger 400-foot (122 m) jetty was added in 1881. The pier was again rebuilt in 1895, resulting in the two-berth structure broadly as it exists today, with the exception of the modern roll-on/roll-off facilities for vehicles, which was added in 2005.[3]
Fleets of paddle steamers brought holidaymakers from Glasgow to Dunoon until the late 1960s. The pier was shortened in 2005 to allow the construction of a new breakwater, protecting it from storm surges. A new link span was installed alongside the breakwater at the same time, to allow the berthing and loading of roll-on/roll-off ferries instead of the side-loading ferries that used to serve the pier.[3]
Until June 2011 Caledonian MacBrayne ran a regular daily foot passenger and car-ferry service to Gourock. Since then they have operated a passenger-only service, and their use of the breakwater for berthing rendered the pier redundant, no longer having any transport function. By then, the pier buildings were in a sad state of repair, and it was generally assumed that they would be demolished.[3]
But instead, in 2014 Argyll and Bute council agreed to restore the pier as a tourist attraction, and committed more than £2 million towards the first phase of its restoration, which was completed in 2016.[3]
