Station Name: TOLLESBURY PIER[Source: Darren Kitson]
Tollesbury Pier Station: Gallery 2: c1907 - c1930
 The same two sailors, ladies and child are also present in this postcard view but this time we are looking towards the shore. The building on the shore and to the right of the pier may have been the building of Tollesbury Pier station, the sea wall at this time being rather lower than it was many years later.
Photo from John Mann collection  Another early postcard view, the image predating October 1909 when the postcard was posted. By this time a second grounded carriage body had appeared but why this was required is something of a puzzle. Pier station was passenger only and the only goods which could be handled were those which could be loaded into the van of passenger trains, namely oysters and other types of catch. The grounded body of the former Brake Third, nearest the camera, has gained an appendage. It was perhaps a toilet of the 'thunderbox' type with which one sat on a wooden seat with a hole and excreted into a bucket. It is difficult to imagine what else the appendage could have been. A urinal was provided in the usual place at one end of the station building but external to it.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection 
The causeway leading onto the pier soon deteriorated but is seen here, left, in very good condition so this view likely dates from no later than 1910. In the river are a number of yachts, sailing barges and smaller craft while it appears quite a crowd has assembled on the pier head. The scene depicts what the GER hoped would become a thriving yachting resort but what we see here is about as good as it ever got.
Photo
from John Mann collection
With the railway station behind the camera, this view from the sea wall is looking along the causeway towards the pier. There was a ramp where the causeway met the pier and this can just be discerned in the distance, but it is better seen in other photographs. This is another postcard view, this time dating from sometime prior to July 1915.
Photo from John Mann collection 
The Zeppelin View Hotel, 2/8 Worcesters at Tollesbury Pier in 1915. A little more information can be found in the main text. What is not known is if the carriage body was the second example to be placed at Pier station, more or less opposite the station building, or if it was a third provided specifically for the Worcesters and removed at the end of the war. Note the GER lifebelt, no doubt 'borrowed' for the photograph to identify the location despite the caption which would have been added subsequently. In the First World War there was not the urgency to conceal locations as there was in the Second.
Photo from John Mann collection  Despite the image being black and white we know the flag is the Red Ensign. The Union Flag occupies the Canton while the Field contains a Device (badge etc) at its Fly end. Where a Device is present this is known as a "Defaced Ensign"; nothing to do with vandalism it simply describes a variation from the norm which in this case would be a uninterrupted Field. The Red Ensign is flown by merchant vessels including other organisations such as certain yacht clubs. This photograph will therefore likely show some sort of yachting jolly ongoing but unfortunately not enough of the Device is visible to identity the occasion beyond doubt. There is plenty of information online about the history of the various Ensigns should readers wish to learn more.
Photo from John Mann collection 
The desolate Pier station on an unknown date and facing toward the bufferstop at the end of the line. The infrequency of the train service plus the salty estuary air means one would not expect to see the railheads highly polished but here they don't show any evidence of being polished at all. This photograph therefore likely dates from the period trains called only when required, which was in fact for most of the short life of the extension. The fencing to the left shows signs of settlement, suggesting later in the life of the extension. As is evident, the station was provided with only a run round loop, no double ended siding as provided elsewhere along the line.
Photo
from Jim Lake collection
Pier station building, with one man and his dog in attendance, on an unknown date but likely to be shortly after closure. Although the window vents are open the top sections of the doors, which were glazed, have been boarded over but why the windows have not been similarly dealt with is open to question. Perhaps it was a work in progress. At the bottom of the front wall some planks have been removed. Perhaps they had rotted or, perhaps, had been removed to allow an air flow beneath the building to combat damp. The building did not survive for too long after closure and had disappeared by the 1930s. The bench seat is curious in that its ends to not appear to have the GER monogram cast into them; unfortunately the photograph is not clear enough to determine for certain.
Photo
from Jim Lake collection
Looking along Tollesbury Pier towards the head at low tide. The presence of the two ships perhaps dates this view to circa 1930. The two vessels are laid-up and a number could be found on the Blackwater, changing from time to time, at around the suggested period. 'Laid-up' means out of service and there were usually one or two men onboard to look after the wellbeing of the vessels. Some details of vessels laid-up on the Blackwater can be found on the Mersea Museum website linked to on the branch history pages. The general scene is fairly typical of estuaries with mud flats, beyond which there would be a quite sudden drop-off into the deep channel.
Photo from John Mann collection  On this occasion it was high tide and to the left is the causeway which led to the pier from Pier railway station. Also visible is the ramp linking causeway to pier, probably provided to allow for settlement of the causeway, the pier or both. More laid-up shipping can be seen and again some details, albeit often patchy, can be found on the Mersea Museum website linked to on the branch history pages.
Photo from John Mann collection 
Looking along the pier from the pier head at low tide, perhaps in the 1920s. The ropes would have been attached to a small boat. The railway station, if it still existed by this time, was in the left background but would have been hidden from view by the sea wall.
Photo from John Mann collection  In this view the railings along the causeway have disappeared, allowing us to better see the ramp between causeway and pier. Why this ramp was provided is not clear but it may have been to allow for, or maybe provided as the result of, settlement. The ship on the left looks very much like the SS Baltriger which was laid up in the Blackwater between October 1929 and August 1931. Assuming this is the vessel we thus have a date window for this photograph. The Baltriger, built at Copenhagen in 1917 as the St. Croix, came into the ownership of the United Baltic Corporation in 1920 who renamed her Baltriger. She was again sold in 1933 to the Stavanger Steam Ship Co. who renamed her Ryfylke. Her eventual fate was to be requisitioned by the Germans in April 1940 and sunk by HMS Sealion (an S Class submarine, Pennant Number 72S) in the Norwegian Sea on 5 February 1941. All onboard were saved.
Photo from John Mann collection 
Compared to the other photograph showing the skeletal remains of the carriage body (below), this view is from a little earlier as some of the body's panels and beading are still present. Somebody has written 'The winkle hut' on the ducket and no doubt the body was used by fishermen for one purpose or another. It would appear some notices had been fixed inside the body, visible to the left of the ducket. Who the group of people are is not known; perhaps a family or group of friends out for a stroll. One thing they were not is fishermen (a lady is also present) as their attire makes that fairly obvious. When still in service the carriage was a three-compartment Brake Third and is broadly similar, but not identical, to No. 62261 before conversion for conductor-guard working.
Photo
from Jim Lake collection
Click here for Tollesbury Pier Station: Gallery 3
July 1933 - August 2023
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