St Helier Jersey - The City and The Saint

St Helier is one of the most perfectly positioned towns in the British Isles. It is the gateway to the beautiful island of Jersey, which boasts stunning beaches and glorious countryside delivered in a compact package of nine miles by five. As the capital city of the Bailiwick of Jersey, the town is a prosperous international financial centre in its own right

St Helier offers a unique blend of British and Norman French history and culture, with many street names in French and intriguing narrow lanes and squares. At Royal Square, an invading French army was defeated by the heroism of Major Peirson. Of course the same streets were occupied by Hitler's armies for five terrible years in the 1940s.

As an eyewitness to centuries of turbulent history, Elizabeth Castle sits majestically in St. Aubin's Bay, looking over the old rocky islet where the town's patron saint St. Helerius lived as a hermit. This vast Renaissance fortification is joined to the mainland only at low tide and sits splendidly isolated and floodlit at high tide.

St. Helier is no twee, tourist town. It lacks the picture postcard quality of St. Peter Port in Guernsey and its industrial features include a busy working port and a power station. The new and sprawling Waterfront development is regarded by many Islanders as a missed architectural opportunity. Fort Regent, the old British Army outpost converted into a post-war leisure centre, glowers like an alien spaceship high over the town at night.

Yet the town is a captivating, thriving and stepped in centuries of history. It is the ideal introduction to an island that, like the TARDIS, only appears small from the outside. St. Helier is the only major population centre on the captivating island of Jersey. It remains, in the truest sense of the words, absolutely unique.

Saint Helier was a hermit of Belgian origin who lived a quiet life of contemplation and prayer in a rocky islet in the harbour of old St Helier. He also pastored the Christian community on the island and founded a small village (now St Helier) on the sand dunes overlooking the bay. He is recorded as performing a healing miracle.

Then one day in AD 555, a marauding party of Viking raiders attacked. St Helier was beheaded on the beach, but stunned the brutal invaders by picking up his own head and walking with it to the shore. Hence the civic symbol of St Helier which is seen on road signs and public buildings - two crossed axes. The city that bears his name is now a leading offshore financial and commercial centre and a major tourist destination.

The Battle of Jersey was a decisive moment in the island's history. The Channel Islands, possessions of the Duke of Normandy since before the conquest of England in 1066, had long pledged fealty to the Duke rather than the French King. Even when the English possessions in France were lost, Jersey and Guernsey stayed loyal. Gorey Castle was built as a massive defensive bastion against the French, and when that great medieval edifice became vulnerable to cannon fire, the modern and sleek Renaissance fort of Elizabeth Castle was thrown up to dominate St. Helier's harbour.

Nonethless, a force led by Barron de Rullecourt slipped ashore on the January 5, 1781, the very night when Christmas was still celebrated under the old calendar.They landed at La Rocque, that strange tidal hinterland where mile upon mile of sea bed is exposed at low tide. The French army of 2,000 men marched into St. Helier. The Governor was surprised in his mansion and surrendered; the fall of the island seemed imminent.

Yet Major Peirson of the 78th Regiment of Foot led a valiant defence of the beleagured town of St. Helier. In a short but fierce battle right at the heart of St Helier - on Royal Square - the British bravely repelled the invading force. Though Peirson himself died in the struggle, Baron de Rullecourt also fell and the French were scattered. Today Major Francis Peirson has achieved a form of immortality in a painting by John Singleton Copley and on the face of the Jersey ten pound note.

To deter further attacks, Fort Regent in St Helier was constructed as an impregnable and brooding fortress and still glowers over the city today from the commanding heights of the Mont de la Ville. Thirty or so Martello Towers were constructed for the defence of the island, many of them striking landmarks such as Archirondel Tower and La Rocco. The French never troubled the island of Jersey again.

The next wave of invaders would come with machine guns and march under the Nazi swastika. Today the compelling and terrible history of the island in the Second World War is commemorated at the Jersey War Tunnels, which are carved deep underground into the Jersey rock. Finally, on May 9th 1945, after five long years of German occupation, the island was liberated.

Today, St Helier's most poignant and striking landmark is the sculpture of Liberation by Philip Jackson (1995) that stands in front of the Pomme d'Or hotel. It is a celebratory sculpture, but also a sobering reminder of war, occupation and the depth of history in old St Helier.

St Helier hotels range from the spectacular and famous to the traditional and slightly run-down British seaside boarding house. The Pomme d'Or is famous as the residence of Victor Hugo during his literary sojourn in Jersey and was a military headquarters for the German Navy during the Second World War. The restaurant is excellent. The Grand Jersey is another prestigious and palatial Jersey hotel with an enviable location on the Esplanade offering spectacular views over the tidal bay to Elizabeth Castle.

For a funkier, more modern ambience, try the Jersey Inn. Located on Queen's Road, it is a good 15 minute walk from the town centre but makes up for this with a more urban and contemporary feel that its peers. Finally, the Radisson Blu, an uncompromising modernist block in the regenerated Waterfront area, provides an outstanding location close to the multiplex cinema, the harbours and the ferry port. The styling may not be to everyone's taste but the harbour and seaward views are superb.

Jersey is a small island but with no rail services remaining, car hire in Jersey is essential for making the most of your stay here. One thing to remember though at all times - the speed limit on the island is 40 mph!