St Helier Hotels

St Helier Hotels
Hotels in the city city of St Helier are often required for tourists who want to visit the famous region of Jersey. Some may want to see the culture, sports, tourist attractions and society of the famous St Helier. Some may want to stay at high quality hotels in the region. Some may want to stay at high quality hotels. Some may want to stay at cheap or luxury hotels in the region. Some may want to at hotels that offer decent prices. Some may want to stay at hotels that new or old.

Hotels in Saint Helier are often required for tourists who require short term accommodation.

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.

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.

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 and 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.

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 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.

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.

The parish is divided into vingtaines for administrative purposes: La Vingtaine de la Ville, Canton de Bas de la Vingtaine de la Ville, Canton de Haut de la Vingtaine de la Ville, La Vingtaine du Rouge Bouillon, La Vingtaine de Bas du Mont au Prêtre, La Vingtaine de Haut du Mont au Prêtre, La Vingtaine du Mont à l'Abbé, La Vingtaine du Mont Cochon

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St Helier Hotels

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