As well as the Island of Jersey, the Channel Islands consist of  Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou,

Brecqhou, Burhou and Lihou.

The Island of Jersey is divided into 12 Parishes: St. Brelade, St. Clement, Grouville, St.Helier, St. John, St. Lawrence,

St. Mary, St. Martin, St. Ouen, St. Peter, St. Saviour and Trinity

Here is a short video giving you an overall impression of The Island of Jersey.

(French language: Saint-Hélier, Jèrriais: St Hélyi) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St. Helier has a population of about 28,000, roughly 31.2% of the total population of Jersey, and is the capital of the Island (although Government House is situated in St. Saviour). The urban area of the parish of St. Helier makes up most of the largest town in Jersey, although some of the town area is situated in adjacent St. Saviour, with suburbs sprawling into St. Lawrence and St. Clement. The greater part of St. Helier is predominantly rural.

The parish covers a surface area of 4.1 square miles (10.6 km²), being 9% of the total land area of the Island (this includes reclaimed land area of 494 acres (2.00 km²) or 200 ha).

The parish crest is two crossed gold axes on a blue background, symbolising the martyrdom of Helier and the sea.

It is thought that the site of St. Helier was settled at the time of the Roman control of Gaul.

The medieval hagiographies of Helier, the patron saint martyred in Jersey and after whom the parish and town are named, suggest a picture of a small fishing village on the dunes between the marshy land behind and the high-water mark.

Although the Parish Church of St Helier is now some considerable distance from the sea, at the time of its original construction it was on the edge of the dunes at the closest practical point to the offshore islet called the Hermitage (site of Helier’s witness and martyrdom). Before land reclamation and port construction started, boats could be tied up to the churchyard wall on the seaward side.

An Abbey of St. Helier was founded in 1155 on L’Islet, a tidal island adjacent to the Hermitage. Closed at the Reformation, the site of the abbey was fortified to create the castle that replaced Mont Orgueil as the Island’s major fortress. The new Elizabeth Castle was named after the Queen by the Governor of Jersey 1600-1603, Sir Walter Raleigh.

The Hermitage of Saint Helier lies in the bay off St. Helier and is accessible on foot at low tide

Until the end of the 18th century, the town consisted chiefly of a string of houses, shops and warehouses stretching along the coastal dunes either side of the Church of St. Helier and the adjacent marketplace (since 1751, Royal Square). La Cohue (a Norman word for courthouse) stood on one side of the square, now rebuilt as the Royal Court and States Chamber (called collectively the States Building). The market cross in the centre of the square was pulled down at the Reformation, and the iron cage for holding prisoners was replaced by a prison gatehouse at the western edge of town.

This is Elizabeth Castle, one of the many attractions around the Island of Jersey

Elizabeth Castle on the Island of Jersey

Below is the ferry or ‘duck’ as we like to call it, that will take you to the castle when the tide is up.

When the tide is down you can walk but please be careful and check when the tide is coming back in as they can come in quickly and cut you off.

You will need to wear strong shoes to walk as there can be a lot of stones and shells brought in by the tide.

The Island of Jersey ‘Duck’

One of the gun emplacements in the Castle.

View from Elizabeth Castle on the Island of Jersey.

George II gave £200 towards the construction of a new harbour – previously boats would be beached on a falling tide and unloaded by cart across the sands. A statue of the king (by John Cheere) was erected in the square in 1751 in gratitude, and the market place was renamed Royal Square, although the name has remained Lé Vièr Marchi (the old market) to this day in Jèrriais. Many of St. Helier’s road names and street names are bilingual English/French or English/Jèrriais, some having only one name though, although the names in the various languages are not usually translations: distinct naming traditions survive alongside each other.

The Royal Square was also the scene of the Battle of Jersey on January 6, 1781, the last attempt by French forces to seize Jersey. John Singleton Copley‘s epic painting The Death of Major Pierson captures an imaginative version of the scene.

As harbour construction moved development seaward, a growth in population meant that marshland and pasture north of the ribbon of urban activity was built on speculatively. Settlement by English immigrants added quarters of colonial-style town houses to the traditional building stock.

Continuing military threats from France spurred the construction of a citadel fortress, Fort Regent, on the Mont de la Ville, the crag dominating the shallow basin of St. Helier.

Military roads linking coastal defences around the island with St. Helier harbour had the effect of enabling farmers to exploits Jersey’s temperate micro-climate and get their crops onto new fast sailing ships and then steamships to get their produce into the markets of London and Paris before the competition. This was the start of Jersey’s agricultural prosperity in the 19th century.

From the 1820s, peace with France and better communications enabled by steamships and railways to coastal ports encouraged an influx of English-speaking residents. Speculative development covered the marshy basin north of the central coastal strip as far as the hills within a period of about 40 years, providing the town with terraces of elegant town houses.

From the 1820s, peace with France and better communications enabled by steamships and

In the second half of the 19th century, the need to facilitate access to the harbour for hundreds of trucks laden with potatoes and other produce for export prompted a programme of road-widening which swept away many of the ancient buildings of the town centre. Pressure for redevelopment has meant that very few buildings remain in urban St. Helier which date to before the 19th century, giving the town primarily a Regency or Victorian character.

Pierre Le Sueur, reforming Constable of St. Helier, was responsible for installing sewerage and provision of clean water in St. Helier following outbreaks of cholera in the 1830s. An obelisk with fountain in the town centre was raised to his memory following his premature death in office from overwork.

In 1995, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jersey being liberated from Nazi occupation, and thus 50 years of peace, a sculpture was erected in what is now called Liberation Square, in front of the Pomme d’Or Hotel, the focal point for the celebrations when the island was originally liberated.

The sculpture was originally to depict islanders releasing doves of peace, but this came under fierce criticism, with some islanders remarking that had any doves been on the island during the occupation, they would have been eaten by starving German soldiers. Therefore the sculpture was revised to show islanders raising the British flag, as they had done on the day of liberation 50 years previous.

Liberation Square is now a focal point in the town – the former terminus of the Jersey Railway housed the Jersey Tourism office until 2007.

Reviewed 13 June 2011

Gorey (French: Gouray; Jèrriais: Gouôrray) is a village in the parishes of St. Martin and Grouville on the east coast of Jersey. It is one of the three main harbours of the island.

Its position as the closest strategic mainland point to the Cotentin peninsula has meant that it has a history of fortification going back at least to the Iron Age. After the division of the Duchy of Normandy in 1204, the strategic location of the harbour led to the construction of the castle of Mont Orgueil to protect the island against the French, also serving as residence for Governors of Jersey until the late 16th century when Elizabeth Castle was constructed off Saint Helier.

The pier below the castle is the scene of the annual Fête de la Mer (seafood gastronomic festival) and also contains an interpretation centre exhibiting the history and environment of the area. The annual Gorey Fête in August is one of the largest such events in Jersey.

Gouray Church, an Anglican church, serves the village and surrounding district.