The featured image shows the entrance to the amusement arcade on the pier in Teignmouth, Devon. Although the arcade survived the winter storms, the pier did not. Half the structure was swept away in January 2026 by high seas raised by Storm Ingrid. Teignmouth neighbours Dawlish, whose seafront features in the next One Shot Story (later today). Both are classic seaside towns, although Teignmouth is somewhat larger and grander.
The pier was built in 1865 and must have survived many storms over the last 160 years, but storms seem more destructive now and England’s nineteenth century infrastructure is no match for natural forces in our time. The future of the pier is uncertain. It requires extensive repairs costing upwards of £1000000 and was uninsured.
The seafront near the pier has a couple of traditional amusements – this faded peep show sentry box has seen better days, although it seems it was renovated as recently as 2022. The peep show is decorated with an image of the seaside railway line built by I K Brunel in the nineteenth century. The line was considered a marvel of Victorian ingenuity and engineering, bringing the winding railway through a complex series of tunnels along the shoreline. The views are breathtaking. However, the line is now a fragile piece of infrastructure, subject to regular disruption due to winter storm damage and inundation.
The peep show would have been a popular form of Victorian and early Edwardian seaside entertainment. The sentry box now holds about half a dozen images of historical interest and the images can be glimpsed through the binocular viewing lenses. The broken paving stones at the foot of the peep show might be debris from the storm. The sea takes its toll.
Even in its weather worn state, the peep show box is a perfect example of the colourful seaside aesthetic, precisely observed by Philip Larkin (1922-1985) in the first lines of his poem To the Sea:
To step over the low wall that divides
Road from concrete walk above the shore
Brings sharply back something known long before –
The miniature gaiety of seasides.
To the Sea is the first poem in Larkin’s 1974 collection High Windows. This was Larkin’s last formal collection of poems. He was not a prolific poet but explored the English identity with an unflinching, iconoclastic eye for detail.
The images were recorded using a Pentax Auto 110 Super with wide angle lens using Lomography Tiger cartridge film rated at 100 ISO. Minor jpg editing in Shotwell open source image editing software.
Share this post:
Comments
Chuck on The Pier at Teignmouth, Devon
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
davesurrey on The Pier at Teignmouth, Devon
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
I’ve written before that it was the Pentax Auto 110 that allowed me to take a camera to places where it would have been problematic otherwise with a larger format system. As a result I have so many photographic memories that I wouldn’t have had were if not for the 110 format.
As well as a Pentax Auto 110 (several actually including a Safari version and a Super with a broken winder) plus a full set of lenses I have a Minolta 110 Zoom SLR (Mk2) plus several “chocolate bar” ones including a Canon 110ED and a Kodak Ektramax.
But with the cost of film and a need to declutter many of them will have to go. Sad.
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
Sneakerzoom on The Pier at Teignmouth, Devon
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
Comment posted: 26/07/2026
Walter Reumkens on The Pier at Teignmouth, Devon
Comment posted: 27/07/2026
Comment posted: 27/07/2026
Alan Simpson on The Pier at Teignmouth, Devon
Comment posted: 27/07/2026
Alan
Comment posted: 27/07/2026