Saint Helier, Jersey

Saint Helier is the capital of the Bailiwick of Jersey.  With its almost 36.000 people, St. Helier is home to more than a third of the entire island, and it is the island's only town.  As St. Helier is also the name of the parish, most people just call it "town".

St. Helier, located on the south coast of the island, was founded sometime in the mid-12th century.

King George II gave £200 to St. Helier towards construction of a new harbour.  In gratitude, a statue of him was erected in 1751 at Royal Square.  

The statue is the Jersey's zero milestone from which all distances on the island are measured.

Piquet House was used by the military police unit 1924.  The building hasn't been used for anything for a few years.

The States Assembly is Jersey's parliament building.  It shares a complex with the Royal Court, the Bailiff's Chambers, and the Judicial Greffe.

The Parish Church of St. Helier is an Anglican Church that was first built in the 11th century.  For unknown reasons the church was reconsecrated in 1341.

The Jersey Museum and Art Gallery is also home to the Société Jersiaise.  

The Société Jersiaise was founded in 1873 and is committed to preserving Jèrriais - the Norman French dialect spoken on the island.

An obelisk was built in 1855 to commemorate in memory of Pierre Le Sueur, who was elected constable five times, providing the town with clean water and who died in office form overwork.

The toad monument was erected in 2004 at Charing Cross to commemorate Jersey's 800 years of allegiance to the English Crown.

La Croix de la Reine commemorates the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977.

There was an open market on this site for 78 years before being demolished.  The market reopened in 1882.

Liberation Square used to be the eastern terminus of the Jersey Railway which opened in 1870. 

From the rear of the building, 1.186 English-born residents were deported to Germany in September 1942.  

The Liberation sculpture was unveiled in 1995 on the 50th anniversary the end of the German occupation.

Parade Gardens used to be the drilling grounds for the island's garrisoned troops in the early 19th century.  Today is is a popular park in the centre of St. Helier.

The cenotaph was unveiled in 1923 for Armistice Day to honour those soldiers killed in WWI and later WWII.

All Saints Church is an Anglican Church at Parade Gardens.

Howard Davis Park opened in 1939.  There is a walled rose garden and a pond.

At the other end of the park is the Jersey War Graves Cemetery.

The cemetery was dedicated on 26 November 1943 and has graves of American and British servicemen killed in WWII.

On the south side of the park, next to the cemetery, is St. Luke's Church.  It is an Anglo-Catholic Church.  I've never heard of an Anglican/Catholic Church combo before but I guess it's a thing.

The Jersey Opera House opened in 1900 and the current building is a 1922 renovation of the original.  The theatre reopened in 2000.

Havre des Pas is the part of the coastline that was historically used for ship building.  

Today it is beach with some shops and private residences along the coast.

The Havre des Pas Bathing Pool was built by the Jersey Swimming Club and it opened in 1895.

Fort Regent was originally built as a Napoleonic Fort at the top of Mont de la Ville.  It is currently a sports and leisure venue.  Glacis field is a grassy field on the south end with views of the harbour and of the castle.

Elizabeth Castle is a 16th-century castle that sits on a tidal island off the coast of the town.  Today it is a museum.

Freedom Tree was unveiled by Queen in 2005.  It was commissioned to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Jersey's liberation.

Victoria Pier

There was lots to see and do in St. Helier but I wasn't here at the best time.  Tourist season finishes as the end of October so I wasn't able to visit the Jersey War Tunnels because they don't open again until March.  It would have been nice to take a boat trip out to les Minquiers but this too is only available during season.  I'm really glad that I was able to take the island tour on Friday.  I guess that a return visit is in order. 

Authentic Island Tour, Jersey

On Friday, I took a seven-hour bus tour around the island with Waverly Coaches.  The Authentic Island Tour was £27,50 (€32 / $34) and it was well worth it. 

The coach picked me up at my hotel in Saint Helier and in seven hours we drove all around Jersey, checking out all twelve parishes.

St. Matthew's, also called the Glass Church, is an Anglican Church in Saint Lawrence parish.  The unassuming church was built in 1840. 

In 1934, it became the "Glass Church" when a French glassmaker was commissioned to decorate the church. 

The moulds used were destroyed after they completion so there is nothing similar in world by artist René Lalique.  

Battery Lothringen is a WWII artillery battery at the top of Noirmont Point in Saint Brélade parish.  It was built in 1941 by the Germans to defend against the Allies when the Channel Islands were occupied.

There's a memorial stone for the men and women of Jersey who perished in the war from 1939 - 1945.

The site overlooks la Tour de Vinde that the British built in 1915.

Janvrin's Tower, also known as Janvrin's Tomb, was built by the British in 1808 on Île au Guerdain in Portent Bay in Saint Brélade Parish.

The beach at Saint Brelade's Bay is one of the island's most popular.  Even in November, it felt so good to be on the beach.

Next to the bay is the St. Brelade Parish Church.  The church dates back to around the 12th century.  

Next to the church is the medieval Fisherman's Chapel.

The Corbière lighthouse was built in 1874.  There's a causeway from the shore to the lighthouse at low tide.

Near the lighthouse is a sculpture commemorating the 1995 rescue of the Saint-Malo catamaran.  On 17 April 1995, a French catamaran was sailing form Jersey to Sark when it hit a rock.  Nearby ships came to the aid and all 307 passengers and crew were rescued.

There are also more German defensive positions that once made up the Atlantic Wall during the war.

The seven-story German observation tower was converted in 2004 to the island's only self-catering holiday accommodation.

The Channel Islands Military Museum is housed in a German bunker.  We only drove past the museum as it's not one of the tours designated stops.  It wouldn't have mattered as the museum closed in November and won't open for the tourist season until April.

In Saint Ouen parish we stopped at Jersey Pearl for a lunch break.  They café was quite good and there was enough time for a short walk out to the beach.  

I didn't have any interest in buying pearls but one interesting thing was a replica of the pearl jacket and dress worn by Princess Diana which sold at a charity auction in 1996 for $151,000.   

After lunch it was on to Grosnez Castle on the north-west corner of the island.  It was built in 1330 to provide local farmers with protection fro the French at the start of the Hundred Years' War.  It has been in ruins since the mid-16th century.

At the St. Ouen parish church is a memorial for Louisa Gould who during the Nazi occupation, took in a hid an escaped Russian POW for 18 months.  

She was caught and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, 90 km (56 miles) north of Berlin.  She was gassed and died in 1945 just two months before the camp was liberated.

In 2010 she was posthumously honoured as a British Hero of the Holocaust.  Her story was the inspiration for the film Another Mother's Son.

We later stopped off at Gorey Harbour, in Saint Martin parish, for a tea break.  Above the village is the Mont Orgueil Castle, also simply called Gorey Castle, which was built from 1204 to 1450.  It was the island's main fortress until Elizabeth Castle was built in 1594.  

I suppose that no visit to Jersey is complete without coming across a Jersey cow.  This tour ticked that box too.

I was surprised that we got to see as much as we did.  There were a few times that the tour guide provided some cultural references which were lost on me.  

I did have to chuckle when one elderly English guy asked me what my native language is.  He seemed shocked when I said 'English'.  Good times.