St Ouen in 1953

Today is a brief extract from Stuart Petre Brodie "SPB" Mais's account of a trip to Jersey in 1953. Stuart Petre Brodie "SPB" Mais (1885–1975) was a prolific British author, journalist and broadcaster, and wrote many travel books. Here is a glimpse of Jersey, just post-war, as the tourism industry was starting to take off well, but before the rise of finance.

SUNDAY
St. Ouen's Bay-North Marine Drive

From this rugged scene at Corbière, we descended to the pleasant bay of Petit Port, and then took the devious route round to the village and hotel of La Pulente.

Here we came on to the straight Five Mile Drive which skirts the shores of the broad St. Ouen's Bay which occupies the whole of the west coast of the island. This is a place of sand dunes covered with marram grass.

To our left was the broad stretch of sand where the motor speedway races are held and where the large breakers coming in from the Atlantic give one of the few opportunities for surf riding which our islands present.

On a collection of projecting rocks just at the low-tide mark is one of the numerous Martello Towers in which he island coast abounds. Built like those on our own Kentish Coast, as a protection against the French, they were apparently all occupied and made use of by the Germans luring their Occupation, who stationed thirty men in each tower throughout the island.

All the shacks which originally disfigured this part of the coast were destroyed by the Germans, and the loneliness is now relieved only by a new growth of cafes, bars and restaurants which blossom on the beaches of this island.

To our right on the landward side were stretches of flat fields interrupted only by the low-lying St. Ouen's Pond, which I am told is the largest stretch of fresh water in the island and which is a sanctuary for bird life.

A prominent feature of these fields were the large stacks of drying seaweed which from time immemorial has been highly prized in Jersey as a fertilizer and is responsible in very large measure for the amazing fertility of the soil.

Every storm washes up large quantities of this valuable stuff on the beaches, and the gathering of this is reputedly still in the right of the Seigneurs, as it has been from earliest times.

At the far end of the bay we climbed to L'Etaquerel where there starts the northern coast of the island with its savage rocky coast line and little bays. 

We then struck inland through narrow lanes and through green valleys reminiscent of our Devonshire combes and past granite farmhouses to join the newly constructed North Marine Drive, or Route du Nord. This was built during the war by the islanders in order to find work for the unemployed during the difficult time of the Occupation.

The States paid workers £2 10s a week, but even so it was difficult to compete with the Germans who paid all islanders who worked for them £7 a week-in addition to which the latter had full opportunity of purloining petrol and stores with clear consciences!

The view from the North Marine Drive across the steep and rugged rocky coast of St. John's Bay is a tremendous one. From a height of some 350 feet of sheer cliff one looks in one direction along at the seas breaking on the rocks below and in the other across the width of blue sea to the Paternoster Rocks and the island of Sark fourteen miles away.

We were back in St. Helier by six o'clock and wandered about looking for a suitable place to drink. We were lucky in finding an excellent bar at the Royal Yacht Hotel which was full of elderly couples from the North of England.

At 7.15 we were back at the hotel sitting down to a dinner of tomato soup, cod, roast beef and vanilla ice. After dinner I worked in a warm lounge full of rather noisy bridge players and elicited some information about the German Occupation.

My informant told me that the Germans behaved better than they expected. When they landed on 1st July, 1940, they immediately tried to convince the natives that their rule was to be that of a benevolent despotism. The despotism, however, was more obvious than the benevolence.

St Helier in 1953 - Part 2

Today is a brief extract from Stuart Petre Brodie "SPB" Mais's account of a trip to Jersey in 1953. Stuart Petre Brodie "SPB" Mais (1885–1975) was a prolific British author, journalist and broadcaster, and wrote many travel books. Here is a glimpse of Jersey, just post-war, as the tourism industry was starting to take off well, but before the rise of finance.

Above is a picture of St. Helier Harbour between 1951 and 1953, showing BRITTANY berthed alongside ISLE OF SARK taking on fuel. KENTISH COAST is in the Victoria Pier London Boat Berth, and on the New North Quay is a Southern cargo boat in No. 6 Berth and the Weymouth FREDOR in No. 7.

On the South Pier is the newly opened St. Helier Yacht Club clubhouse.

It seems delightfully unspoilt and charming!

SPM Mais – St Helier – Part 2
I discovered that the narrow entrance through which we had steamed this morning lay between the Victoria Pier and Albert Pier which were begun in 1841. Whilst passenger vessels berth at the Albert Pier, cargo steamers always berth alongside the new North and Victoria Piers.

During the five years between 1872 and 1877 two other piers were being built to enclose an enormous expanse of water, one called the Hermitage built from Elizabeth Castle, and the other from behind Elizabeth Castle. The work had to be abandoned owing to the many obstacles that presented themselves.

There are about six miles length of quays, the old Harbour being used almost solely for fishing boats and yachts. The two small basins on the quayside of this Harbour are known as the English and French Harbours respectively. It was here I had seen the yachts this morning.

Above the Harbour on the hill called Mont de la Ville stands Fort Regent which has been fortified for centuries, but the present fort dates from 1806. A vast sum of money was spent on making it impregnable. The well, which supplies 6,000 gallons of water daily, is sunk 232 feet in the solid rock.

The most interesting historical building near St. Helier is Elizabeth Castle which stands on a detached rock some three-quarters of a mile out from the shore and is reached by a causeway which is completely covered at high tide but is available about three hours after high water and remains available for nearly six hours. It takes about twelve minutes to walk across. On the other hand there is an amphibious vehicle (an army DUKW converted to more peaceful uses) that will take you over, whatever the state of the water. The castle is open every day of the week and a charge of sixpence is made for admission.

In the Middle Ages Jersey was continuously ravaged by invaders, and in 1551 was once more attacked by the French under de Bruel who landed a force at Bouley Bay.

As a result of this last raid Elizabeth Castle was constructed for the defence of St. Helier. It was finished in 1594 and in 1600 Sir Walter Raleigh was appointed Governor of the island. During his three years of office he established trading connections between Jersey and Newfoundland and set up the first Public Registry.

In the Civil War Sir Philip de Carteret defended the island for the King, but he was succeeded as Lieutenant-Governor by a Parliamentarian officer called Lydcott who was driven out by de Carteret's nephew, Sir George, who fitted out a number of small armed craft known as the "Jersey Pirates" to harass the Cromwellian ships in the channel.

After Charles I's defeat at Naseby, he sent his son, afterwards Charles II, to Elizabeth Castle in 1646, where he stayed for two months before proceeding to France. He returned after his father's execution and on 17th February, 1649, de Carteret caused the Prince to be declared King.

Meanwhile the "Jersey Pirates" became more and more daring, capturing at least twelve large valuable ships and successfully raiding Dartmouth, Plymouth and other ports.

Admiral Blake appeared with a fleet in 1651 and, after a battle lasting for four hours in St. Ouen's Bay, Sir George Carteret and his Royalist islanders drove them off to try to force a landing elsewhere.

Even when St. Aubin's Castle and Mont Orgueil surrendered, de Carteret held out in Elizabeth Castle which was bombarded from the hill on which Fort Regent now stands.

One shell exploded the powder magazine, as a result of which forty men were killed and the Abbey church was wrecked. As a result of this disaster the garrison surrendered on honourable terms after a siege of eight weeks.

The islanders were less kindly treated and suffered severely at the hands of the Parliamentary forces until the Restoration when Sir George returned to Jersey and another de Carteret was appointed Bailiff and Governor.

During the next hundred years Jersey remained more or less at peace, but in 1781 the Baron de Rullecourt, at the head of a French invasion, made an unexpected landing in St. Clement's Bay, seized St. Helier and forced the Governor, Moses Corbet, surprised in his bed, to sign a document of Capitulation.

The soldiers in Elizabeth Castle, however, refused to surrender, and in reply to de Rullecourt's demands replied: "The English flag flying over our heads reminds us how gallantly their fortress has withstood the attacks of its besiegers, and I have resolved that the honour of its majesty shall never be sullied while I command here."

A young English officer called Major Francis Peirson, who was now in control, said that if the French force did not immediately surrender he would attack it in thirty minutes. At the end of the stipulated period Peirson led his men into the Market Place where he was mortally wounded, but his men continued the struggle and after half an hour completely routed the French forces.

From that day until the German Occupation, Jersey was no longer worried by outside interference.

The Castle was bought by the States of Jersey for £1,500 from the British Government in 1922. After the last war the British Liberation Force restored the Castle to its pre-war state after the Germans evacuated and handed it back to the States.

The lower road of the Castle was built in 1626 and King Charles' Tower added a few years later at the wish of Charles II who had every reason to be interested in the fort which resisted its capture by the Cromwellian forces.

Sir Philip de Carteret, whom I have mentioned, had strengthened the Castle on the outbreak of the Civil War. Lord Clarendon stayed in the Castle from 1646 to 1648 and, while he was there, began to write his famous History of the Rebellion.

The Castle has been modernised from time to time and mainly used as a barracks, the Germans in particular altering it very considerably.

Over the entrance gateway to the Tudor Keep are the arms of Queen Elizabeth flanked by those of the Paulets and the Norreys.

Close to the rock on which the Castle stands is the Hermitage Rock joined on to it by the unfinished break-water. It was here that the hermit Helerius or St. Helier had his cell in the sixth century. He was murdered by the captain of a band of pirates in 559 A.D. who was afraid lest his men should be converted by the Saint's eloquence.

In 1126 a Norman baron, Guillaume de Hamon, built an abbey and a church in his memory on the site of the place where he met his death.

The chapel built over the hermit's cell has three white-washed walls, the fourth or north side being solid rock.

On the other side of the great sweeping bay of St. Aubin is another ancient island fort known as St. Aubin's Castle which lies just off the little harbour of St. Aubin, and which was built in the reign of Henry VIII to protect the town from attacks by sea. These were the days when St. Aubin, now completely overshadowed by its neighbour, St, Helier, was still an important place.

The Fort was rebuilt in 1742 and in the 1920's it was leased to a private tenant, who fitted it up as a house for the summer. Here too the[ Fort is reached by a causeway exposed for two hours after high tide. Visitors are allowed on the island, but not of course inside the walls of the Fort.

I like this idea of living in an island where you can walk ashore at certain times of the day. It must give you a sense; of isolation without feeling that you are completely cut off from your fellow men.

St Helier in 1953 - Part 1

Today is a brief extract from Stuart Petre Brodie "SPB" Mais's account of a trip to Jersey in 1953. Stuart Petre Brodie "SPB" Mais (1885–1975) was a prolific British author, journalist and broadcaster, and wrote many travel books. Here is a glimpse of Jersey, just post-war, as the tourism industry was starting to take off well, but before the rise of finance.

The stone-mason who is mentioned in connection with carving a V in the Royal Square was Brittany-born Roman Catholic, Joseph Le Guyadier who also was responsible for an anchor in the granite (to celebrate a British victory in a Naval engagement) in the Sacred Heart frontage.

It seems delightfully unspoilt and charming!

SPM Mais – St Helier – Part 1

SATURDAY

We Arrive in Jersey-

St. Helier and Elizabeth Castle

At six o'clock the steward brought round tea and I went on deck to find a grey forbidding morning with little visibility and light rain, while the sea had roughened considerably.

At 6.30 precisely we docked at St. Peter Port and the Guernsey passengers in their anxiety to get ashore at the earliest possible moment were already queueing. I must leave any description of St. Peter Port and Guernsey until my visit to those places.

The most important thought for the moment was food. We had a good breakfast at seven o'clock for 4s. each, of cereals, egg and bacon and coffee. As we left St. Peter Port and came out of the shelter of the island the wind had freshened. We soon began rolling among the white horses, but it didn't affect me at all, in spite of the fact that I invariably get into a panic lest I should be seasick when the sea is rough.

We passed the long line of Sark and looked back at the gap between Herm and Guernsey. Soon I descried the low long coastline of Jersey, and within another three-quarters of an hour or so we were passing close to La Corbière Lighthouse-close enough to watch the sea spray dashing over its surrounding rocks.

We sat in the sun in the smoking-room and watched a small child play gleefully with an enormous balloon. At 8.45 we passed very close to the St. Julian churning her way towards England. She was pitching badly.

I was both pleased and surprised by the wide expanse of fine sands that I saw in the bays that lay behind the granite rocks and cliffs of the island. We passed the bell tower of Noirmont Point and then the wide bay of St. Aubin, whose shores and hills are dotted with handsome white houses.

At 9.15 we were in port at St. Helier moored to the Albert Pier. Here we were met by the porter of the Ommaroo Hotel. There must have been fifty different hotel buses from all parts of the island waiting on the quay-side.

I was favourably impressed by this cheerful town at the outset. The bright green of the hotels by the Weighbridge gave us the immediate feeling that we were going to enjoy our stay-though what their impact may have been on any unfortunates who may have been seasick, I hesitate to speculate.

We drove the long detour round Fort Regent to our hotel which was on the Havre des Pas facing the swimming pool and the low reefs of the picturesque rock-strewn bay.

There were crowds of visitors sitting on the veranda in the morning sunshine and wandering vaguely up and down the front steps. They one and all gave us the distant and rather suspicious surveillance reserved for new arrivals, little suspecting indeed the real sinister purpose of our visit.

After unpacking, we walked along to the town about a mile or so away, first of all past a series of newly painted and obviously prosperous cafes, restaurants and boarding-houses, then along the La Cobette Walk skirting the rocks of the headland, amongst which a man with a horse and cart was energetically gathering seaweed, and so back by the road overlooking the harbour, where we could again see the Isle of Guernsey at the distant quay-side. I was impressed by the number and variety of yachts and other small craft in the nearer inner harbour.

So, already vested in holiday mood, I called at the Tourist Information Office at the Weighbridge, where I was told that the States were sitting, so we decided to listen to this Island Parliament in session.

"The States", which acts as the General Council of the Island of Jersey, consists of fifty-four persons-a Bailiff, twelve Senators, twelve Constables and twenty-eight Deputies. The Dean, as head of the Church, is an ex-officio member but is not allowed to vote. The two Crown Officers, Attorney-General and Solicitor-General, may speak on questions of law, but may not vote.

This Parliament, which is a completely independent body, is presided over by the Bailiff. The Bailiff, whose salary is £2,500 a year, is appointed by the Crown. The office is one to which the Attorney-General of the Island usually succeeds and it is held during "Her Majesty's Pleasure".

The Attorney-General and Solicitor-General, whose salaries are £2,200 and £1,500 a year respectively, hold their positions from the Crown and are responsible for the interpretation and carrying out of the law.

The Attorney-General has the unusual office of prescribing the sentence of offenders which has to be received or modified before the Court can pronounce sentence.

The office of Viscount dates from the tenth century and carries with it the duties of Sheriff and Coroner. The Viscount is an ex-officio member of the States, but is not allowed to vote or speak.

The Queen is represented by the Lieutenant-Governor whose chair in the Legislative Chamber is on the right of the Bailiff's chair but several inches below it. He possesses no vote, is entitled to speak, and in certain circumstances has a right of dissent. The office is invariably held by a military officer of high rank and he receives a salary of £2,500 a year and an official residence. He is assisted by a Government Secretary and several A.D.Cs.

When we climbed to the Public Gallery we found it completely packed out with a company of schoolboys who were reading comics and cheap "horrors" instead of listening. We were taken the Usher to a front seat from which we which we looked down upon the Senators and Deputies of whom there were 46 present.

The first debate in motion was on the proposal for a large Concert Hall that Senator Rumfitt, President of the Tourism Committee

He complained that little or nothing was being done to entertain visitors and that tourism was the island's major industry. "That alone keeps our income tax down to 4s when it might easily rise to 6s. 8d.," he said.

There was vigorous opposition to his proposal on the ground that the Concert Hall as proposed would destroy the natural amenities. His motion was, however, carried by 35 votes to 11i.

The second proposal was about the export of potatoes and tomatoes and too involved for me to follow. Those in favour of any motion say "Pour" or "For" and those against say "Contre" or "Against". I was intensely interested in the debates which were conducted with great good humour.

After lunch we went out to see the town. My first impression of St. Helier was of a clean, prosperous seaside town and commercial port of considerable size - its population is one of 28,000 or about half the population of the whole island. It has one of the most spacious Esplanades I have ever seen. The roadway has a width of from fifty to sixty feet and it runs just above the magnificent sweeping shore of St. Aubin's Bay with fine sands on one side and handsome villas with their pleasant brightly flowered gardens on the other.

The shopping centre with its narrow streets is as habitually crowded as ever I have seen Oxford during the recent war, with shops stocked with a range of goods that take one's breath away by reason of their variety as well as their cheapness. I have known worse occupations than peregrinating these bustling and cheerful streets, surrounded on all sides by comely and shapely young women holiday-makers.

As a pleasant backwater just off this is the Royal Square, where the more peaceful atmosphere of past centuries lies on the large rococo block of buildings that house the Legislative Assembly, the Royal Court House and the Public Library on one side of the square, and the professional and commercial buildings on the other, the whole being presided over by the statue of George II in the centre, arrayed in the incongruous costume of a Roman Emperor with a laurel crown on his head.

A further point of interest is illustrated by this story.

Whilst the Germans were in occupation the granite stone slab paving in the Square required renewing and a stonemason was employed. Without attracting any special attention to what he was doing he managed to pattern a very large and quite indestructible "V" sign within the stonework. When the "Vega" arrived, with relief food supplies, additional letters E G A were given to the "V". Then, as victory came in 1945, the figures 1945 were included.

That plain man's memorial is clearly visible in the stonework, and looking at it I could not help an admiring thought for the man who had put his own thoughts on the ground which the German forces were each day treading. The position of this work is close to the Bank at the west end of the Square.

Other important buildings are the Town Hall, the Parish Church of St. Helier and, a little way off, the French Catholic Cathedral with its almost 200 feet high steeple.