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Two local walking guides have shared their favourite historic facts about Jersey – and let readers in on their best-loved places to visit.
Here, Bronze Badge Guides Melanie Cavey and Sue Gorin reveal their walking tour secrets...
"As a historian and a guide, for me St. Helier has an incredible wealth of history going back several centuries," Melanie says.
"I love researching and sharing this history which can readily be discovered in the variety of buildings and architecture still to be seen in the town centre and through hearing of the lives of the numerous men and women who have contributed to the town, whether they be tradesmen, lawyers, philanthropists, architects, politicians or entrepreneurs."
Outside the bustling town centre, Melanie likes to visit Victoria Tower and La Collette Gardens. "For me, both provide retreats into quieter parts of our busy island," she says.
Pictured: Situated on the hill-top above Gorey, Victoria Tower was named after Queen Victoria to commemorate her accession to the throne.
Victoria Tower, tucked away on the headland above Gorey, was built in the 1830s in defence against potential French invasion, Melanie explains. "It is the only tower in the island to have a moat around it."
La Collette Gardens, meanwhile, extend from the top of the hill leading down to La Collette and Havre des Pas from the harbour. "The gardens have lovely views across St Clements Bay, which are always changing with the tides, and the historic La Collette barracks and tower alongside it add some special history too," she says.
Pictured: La Collette Gardens overlook the seafront at Havre des Pas.
For Sue, one of her favourite places in Jersey is Jardin D'Olivet, also known as Trinity Common. "It's a place full of history, folklore, intrigue and fantastic views," she says.
"Battles and duels were fought on this very spot while not far away the Marine Pleasure Palace was built to take in the views over the sea to Les Écréhous and the French mainland.
"But my links to this place go deeper with my ancestors working on the common thrashing wheat from 1919, through the occupation till after WWII."
Pictured: Jardin D'Olivet, looking down to Bouley Bay.
The Royal Square is another of Sue's favourite places on the island: "So much history happened on the ground beneath our feet and if we look hard enough we can be transported back in time to witness history in the making," she says.
Fact 1
Toads and voles live in Jersey but not in the other Channel Islands. Why? Because Jersey broke away from the continental mass of Europe some 7000 years ago, which was after the break of the other islands which were further north, and before the creatures had reached them!
King John 1st of England (the great great grandson of William the Conqueror) had spent time in Jersey before becoming king himself as his brother King Richard the Lionheart had sent him to be ‘Count of Mortain and Lord of the Isles’.
This was a new post which gave John responsibility for the government and defence of the island and so he was well aware of its strategic importance to England when he himself became King in 1200 and built Gorey castle to protect it from his French enemies.
In ancient times St Helier was once a marshy basin into which streams fed their way to the sea and it is only in the 19th Century that streams were culverted.
During the English Civil War, the divide came to Jersey. Parliamentarians held the Royalists at bay in Gorey and Elizabeth Castles. So we were not all Royalists or Parliamentarians; the Jerseyman is a mixture of both.
