Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Remains of the pier for Rosherville estate and gardens.

Monument Types

• PIER (Post Medieval to Modern - 1837 AD to 1910 AD?)

Full description

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Rosherville estate and gardens, developed in 1840s by chalk merchant Jeremiah Rosher, were served by a pier into the Thames. Impressive walling and stairs survive plus a double arch from which the pier originally extended, within which there is an apsidal chamber large enough to house a boat (1). No visile remains of the pier during the 2005 coastal survey. (2)

Listing Text:

742/0/10020 THE SHORE
06-JAN-11 Rosherville quay walls, steps, drawdoc
k and WWII mine watching post

II
Quay walls, steps, drawdock and attached WWII mine watching post. 1837, designed by the architect H.E.Kendall (1776-1875) and his son Henry Edward Kendall, Junior for Jeremiah Rosher. The attached mine watching post is of circa 1940. The 1960s concrete reinforcement to the sides of the platform is of lesser interest.

MATERIALS: The quay walls are constructed of coursed stone rubble with ashlar dressings and stuccoed gatepiers. The steps are of York stone. The drawdock has lower walls of coursed stone but clunch to the rear wall and the upper part is of stock brick in English bond. The WWII mine-watching post is of yellow brick with concrete roof.

PLAN: Linear quay walls with central entrance which has steps leading down to the drawdock, which extends underneath the road.

DESCRIPTION: The quay walls rise to about 9.6 metres high in the centre, sloping down at the sides. They extend 70 metres either side of the central arch, with stone coping, patched in places with cement, and in the centre are two stuccoed gate piers with pyramidal stone caps linked by cast-iron railings. The western side terminates in a stone pier with pyramidal caps but the eastern pier is missing. There are two raised stone bands and a round-headed culvert on the western side. The central entrance leads to two flights of York stone steps, descending either side of a 7-metre-high-round-headed arch with ashlar voussoirs. Attached to the west side of the arch is a World War II mine watching post, constructed of yellow brick in English bond with flat concrete roof, flat-arched entrance and window opening. In front of the large arch is a projecting platform with a smaller round-headed arch about 5 metres high, also with ashlar voussoirs, the sides of the platform encased in 1960s concrete. The drawdock is approximately 7 metres high, 5 metres wide and 20 metres deep. There are a series of putlog holes in the brickwork to the north river-facing end, providing evidence of a former room at this level. The landward or south end roof terminates in a semi-circular dome and is lined in clunch. A missing section of brick and stonework to the western side of the rear wall reveals a further brick wall behind. Remains of stone structures in the side walls towards the rear are thought to be the remains of winches used for hauling boats into what was effectively a drawdock.

HISTORY: The quay walls and drawdock were constructed during the 1830s as part of Rosherville New Town. Jeremiah Rosher (1765-1848), born in Rotherhithe, saw the potential of chalk excavation along the Thames at Northfleet for use in the manufacture of cement for the building industry. By marriage to the daughter of Benjamin Burch he acquired a large property with grounds called Crete Hall and had the idea of building a new town, taking advantage of Gravesend's popularity as a resort town with Londoners visiting for the day by steamboat or buying a house in the area. Rosher started building some new houses in 1830, designed for business men who could travel to London by steamboat. In the Gravesend and Milton Journal of 1 August 1835 the architect H. E. Kendall was advertising building plots at Rosherville. In the same journal of 1 July 1837 the 'stone building of the present pier' is mentioned, which confirms that the stone quay walls and a wooden pier were built by that date. Jeremiah Rosher had just leased the pier to an unnamed businessman connected with the steamboat company. Mr Kendall was employed to lay out an exsplanade and build a hotel. Various elaborate architectural designs by him survive, one showing an impressive quay wall with round-headed arch and a very elaborate stone pier with two storey pavilions. It appears that only the stone quay wall with steps and arch of this design were constructed and the proposal for a very expensive stone pier was replaced by a cheaper wooden pier. A print of Setember 1844 shows the quay walls, central arch and attached wooden pier with the Italianate style Rosherville Hotel on the explanade behind.

Rosherville New Town was not as successful as Jeremiah Rosher hoped and in 1837 he leased the large excavated chalk pit for 99 years to George Jones, a businessman from Islington who formed the 'Kent Zoological and Botanical Gardens Company. From 1842 Rosherville Gardens were a great success, mainly because of day visitors from London, arriving by steamer at Rosherville pier. However, after a successful three or four decades, decline was precipitated by the sinking of the Princess Alice paddle steamer with great loss of life in 1878 and the rise of affordable train trips to the seaside. In 1886 a railway station, Rosherville Halt, was constructed specifically to bring visitors to Rosherville Gardens and took some trade from the pier. In 1900 Rosherville Gardens went bankrupt and, despite re-opening following changes in 1903, continued to lose money. The pleasure gardens closed in 1913 and never re-opened.

On the 1863 Ordnance Survey map the area of the quay is marked 'quays' and in the centre Rosherville Pier is marked with a projecting section at the river end. Rosherville Pier is shown on the 1898 map, although by that date the projecting section on the end has been lengthened. By the 1910 map the projecting section at the end is entirely missing and the structure is now marked 'Rosherville Pier (Disused)'. The pier no longer exists.

During the Second World War a mine watching post was constructed adjacent to the western steps of the quay. In the 1960s the lower steps to the beach were enclosed in concrete.

SOURCES
Gravesend and Milton Journal, 1 August 1835.
Gravesend and Milton Journal, I July 1837.
Newman, J, The Buildings of England. West Kent and the Weald (1976),438.
Curl, J, S, Oxford DNB entry on H. E. Kendall.
Smith, L 'The place to spend a Happy Day' (Gravesend Historical Society 2006)

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The Rosherville quay walls, steps, drawdock and WWII mine watching post are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: impressive c.1837 stone quay walls, drawdock and steps to a Thames pier at Rosherville, designed by the eminent architect H. E. Kendall. It is the only marine structure designed by this architect.
* Degree of intactness or alteration: The quay walls, steps and drawdock survive substantially intact. The wooden pier no longer survives.
* Historic interest: This is the only surviving structure of the 1830s new town, Rosherville, and it provided travel to the very popular pleasure gardens, Rosherville Gardens, between 1837 and 1913. The attached WWII mine watching post is evidence of a further use at a later historical period.

<1> RCHME, 1994, The Lower Thames in 1994, a photographic survey from the river Blackwell to Tilbury and Greenwich to Gravesend, Neg: AA94/3441 (Photograph). SWX9333.

<2> Wessex Archaeology, 2005, North Kent Coast Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey: Phase ll: Field Assessment Year Two Report (Unpublished document). SWX12323.

Sources and further reading