BREAKWATER AND PROMENADE

Under Construction 1879 - 1891

Text Laurie Stonehouse

Plans were drawn up in the 1870's to turn Newhaven into an official harbour, the original plans show an inlet on the Eastside, but this was subsequently abandoned. In the summer of 1879, the massive job of building this concrete structure began, the cliffs were dug out by hand with pick axes and shovels and the rubble was used as infill for the promenade.

The Breakwater was built on a base of 100 ton concrete bags that were dropped into the sea by a special steam vessel called the "Trident".  This vessel collected it's loads from the concrete hopper situated on the East Quay, eventually these 100 ton bags reached the surface, mass concrete was then added to the base, thus enabling the workers to finish the top half and then the arches. All this work probably took the best part of a decade, an amazing achievement considering there was no heavy machinery to aid the construction.  This was only the second construction of this type be built, I believe the first to have been built in Aberdeen in the 1870's.   The Breakwater lighthouse was then erected in 1891. A few years later the tramway was extended up to the Breakwater lighthouse, this allowed the Fenchurch to travel the entire lenght thus providing a means to service the Breakwater.