Where the beach ends and the cliffs begin under Kipling Tors at Westward Ho! a group of black bumps appear and disappear in the swell of the waves.

At certain states of the tide they could from a distance be mistaken for a group of seals at play. But closer inspection reveals them to be encrusted iron stanchions.

The stanchions are all that is left of a pier which when it was finished just over 100 years ago was the pride and joy of those who had hopes and plans for the development of Westward Ho! as a holiday resort.

Unlike most piers, this one had a very brief life – and not a particularly gay one.

Originally it was to have been 600 feet long but an autumn gale of 1871 snapped off a series of the cast iron pillars and only 150 feet were left intact. The first contractor departed and a Bideford iron works proprietor and engineer, Mr John Abbott, undertook the pier in a shortened form.

The idea, of course, was to get out to the deeper water so that the coasting pleasure steamers bringing holidaymakers could come right into Westward Ho!

The enterprise never really had time to prove it was the hoped-for success. The sea was declared the winner and the pier was declared dangerous and unsightly. Demolition work then started.

The full Gazette article is dated 1 March 1974.