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Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station

Buildings and structures in Weston-super-MareEngvarB from October 2013Lifeboat stations in Somerset
Birnbeck Island boathouse 2009
Birnbeck Island boathouse 2009

Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station is a lifeboat station at Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England. For more than 100 years it was situated on Birnbeck Island but is now in a temporary building at Knightstone Harbour until a new lifeboat station can be built nearby. It is operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). The first lifeboat was stationed in the town in 1882, and since 1969 it has only operated inshore lifeboats (ILBs), currently a B-class (Atlantic 85) and a smaller D-class (IB1).

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station

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N 51.352246 ° E -2.988129 °
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BS23 2EF
England, United Kingdom
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Birnbeck Island boathouse 2009
Birnbeck Island boathouse 2009
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Birnbeck Pier
Birnbeck Pier

Birnbeck Pier, also known as the 'Old Pier', is a pier situated on the Bristol Channel in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, England, approximately 18 miles (29 km) south-west of Bristol. It is the only pier in the country which links the mainland to an island, linking to Birnbeck Island, a 1.2-hectare (3-acre) rocky island just to the west of Worlebury Hill. The grade II* listed pier was designed by Eugenius Birch and opened in 1867. Birnbeck Pier is one of only six Grade II* piers surviving in the country. The refreshment and waiting rooms of 1898 were designed by local architect Hans Price and the clocktower and the piermaster's house have been attributed to him. The pier has been closed to the public since 1994 and is now on the Buildings at Risk Register. During the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries the pier was popular both with locals and tourists to the town. As a boarding point for steamers plying their trade in the Bristol Channel, it underwent various extensions and modifications over the years. During the Second World War the pier was commissioned as HMS Birnbeck by the Admiralty as part of the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development (DMWD) for research into new weapons. Notably conducting trials on the Barnes Wallis 'bouncing bomb'. The pier reopened after the war, but the number of visitors and steamer passengers declined. The final excursion visited the pier in 1979. Since its closure, ownership has changed many times and it has been subject to a series of proposals for its redevelopment which have all proved fruitless. The pier remains in a largely derelict state and part of it collapsed during storms in 2015. In 2023, the pier was purchased by North Somerset Council, with plans to restore it using funding from various sources.