Steetley Pier: The Beauty in Decay

Standing alone against the elements, Steetley Pier is one of Hartlepool’s most distinctive coastal landmarks. Originally built to serve the Steetley Magnesite Works, the pier once channelled seawater nearly a mile inland to extract magnesium from sea salts — a process that helped supply British industry for decades. When the works closed in the late 1980s, the pier was abandoned to the tides, slowly succumbing to rust and erosion.

Yet, in its decay, it’s found a strange new life — not as a structure of function, but of fascination. The pier has become a favourite among photographers, walkers, and locals who see in its skeletal form a reminder of Hartlepool’s proud industrial past. It’s a monument not of grandeur, but of endurance — the kind that quietly tells its story to anyone who stops long enough to listen.

Captured here at sunset, the fiery light washes over the North Sea and the fragile beams of the pier, turning what was once purely industrial into something almost poetic. It’s a sight that feels both melancholy and magnificent — a moment where history, light, and water meet perfectly on the horizon.