The Havre des Pas bathing pool was constructed as long ago as the 1890s

THE story of Havre des Pas and Grève d’Azette is a reflection of the changing influences and industries of Jersey.

The area is the scene of stories of Jersey’s military history, the shipbuilding industry, the growth in tourism and Islanders’ constant relationship with the sea.

It was a natural harbour which originally provided shelter for ships coming into St Helier.
Now it is a built-up suburb but, when looking at the Richmond map of 1795, we can see that few properties existed – mainly clustered around the Dicq area and towards Green Street. The land now occupied by Marrett Road, Roseville Street and Cleveland Road and the land at Grève d’Azette consisted of fields and sand dunes.

The map shows a time when there were few houses and many fields in the bay

The 1795 map does show a building in the location of the Fort d’Auvergne Hotel on the promenade at Havre des Pas. This building, La Garde du Havres des Pas, was constructed in the 1780s. Both the map itself and the guard point were constructed as a consequence of the English and French wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and formed part of the increased fortification of the Island’s coastline.

The importance of the Island’s military position and threat of invasion after the Battle of Jersey were factors in the decision to construct additional fortifications at the Mont de la Ville in the early 1800s.

These were to become what we now know as Fort Regent and their construction and subsequent garrisoning influenced the development of the western part of Havre des Pas.
Green Street was the original site of the married quarters for soldiers from the garrison, their wives and children.

The 1861 census describes these quarters as Government Cottages and lists the names of a master gunner, a bombardier in the Royal Artillery and a captain.

No sign of the La Collette chimney on the horizon

One of those mentioned is Samuel Thompson from Ireland, a 34-year-old corporal in the Royal Artillery, who lived with his wife, Mary, and their two sons, Samuel and John. The family had two additional children in the early 1860s, William Herbert and Agnes Mary.

Sadly tragedy struck the family when Samuel died. Mary presumably struggled to look after four young children and in 1869 two of the boys, Samuel and William, were admitted to the Jersey Home for Boys.

The military families in Green Street lived among a community of shipbuilders, carpenters and rope makers for much of the 19th century. The shipbuilding community at Havre des Pas flourished, with many yards being established at this time, including those of Francis Allix, 1847–1877, Thomas Bisson, 1856–1873, Edward Nicolle, 1824–1835, Matthew Philip Valpy, 1837– 1868 and Le Vesconte and Vautier, 1854–1858.

The ships built at Havre des Pas sailed around the globe and included the Asia, a 97-ton schooner, built at the yard of Francis Allix, registered in 1850 and lost off Madagascar in 1865.

Allix ships were also lost in seas as far afield as New Zealand and Florida.

The site of the Allix shipyard can still be seen on the promenade at Havre des Pas, where a public open space celebrates the shipbuilding heritage of the area.

A view over Havre des Pas and Grève d'Azette

Francis Allix was born in 1815, the son of Jean and Elizabeth Godel. In May 1847 he married Betsy Mary Ann Landhatherland, daughter of Richard Landhatherland – the owner of Holyrood House, located near the Allix shipyard.

It was also in 1847 that the first ship to be built under Francis’s name was registered.
By 1851 Francis and Betsy are recorded as living at Mont Aubin Cottage at Havre des Pas with their two sons.

By looking at the West of England Insurance registers from the 1850s we can see that Francis has insured his property at Havre des Pas. He pays to insure his own house, 2 Mont Aubin Cottage, and also insures the models and utensils of his trade.

Francis is also paying insurance on 2 Pigeon’s Public House at Havre des Pas. It is thought that Pigeon’s Public House was originally owned by the Landhatherland family. The building, next to Holyrood House, is still run as a bar.

In the 1881 census Francis is listed as living in the Landhatherland home – Holyrood House. Later that year he died, leaving a large amount of property at Havre des Pas to his two sons, Francis Richard Land Allix and Richard Francis Land Allix.

Between them the brothers inherited the workshops and shipyard, Holyrood House, Derby House, 1, 2 and 3 Sidon Place, Eden Villa, Stanley Lodge, Stanley House and land in the Havre des Pas area. The brothers’ property holdings increased in 1899 when they inherited Fort d’Auvergne, Fort d’Auvergne Cottage and Mont Aubin from their great-aunt, Marianne Landhatherland.

Battling it out over the waters of the bathing pool

Fort d’Auvergne provides the link between the military importance of Havre des Pas, the shipping families of the 19th century and the area’s growth as a seaside resort into the 20th century. As the shipping industry declined, the increased numbers of visitors to the Island and Havre des Pas in particular led to the development of hotels and guesthouses where there were once shipbuilding yards.

Many of the Allix family properties were listed as lodging houses in the 1881 census. Lodgers at Fort d’Auvergne House included Alexander McDonall, a journalist from England who was travelling with his mother Juliana, born in the East Indies, aunt, Anne Lindsay and two lady’s maids.

Fort d’Auvergne House was brought from the Allix Family by George Thomas Day in 1925.
When Day sold the property in 1930 to Alfred Cabeldu it was described as a hotel and was run by the Cabeldu family as a thriving business before and after the Occupation.

During the Occupation the hotel was requisitioned by the German authorities and used by German officers. The archive holds film footage of German soldiers on the beach at Havre des Pas and it is likely that some of the soldiers pictured lived at the hotel.

The Havre des Pas film footage of the 1940s shows another feature of the area that made it so attractive to tourists – the Jersey Swimming Club bathing pool.

The club was founded in 1865 after the deaths of two young boys who drowned while bathing at Havre des Pas. The founders of the club recognised the need to improve the safety of the bathers and the bathing places near St Helier while encouraging the sport of swimming.

Stanley Guiton, honorary secretary of the Jersey Swimming Club, performs a hand balance dive from the 35-ft platform

The club’s collection of records is now held at Jersey Archive and includes many wonderful photographs of the club’s competitions held at Havre des Pas bathing pool, which was constructed in the 1890s.

Those living to the east of the Dicq at Grève d’Azette also had an important relationship with the sea.

The 1871 census shows numerous fishermen, including Thomas Ahier and William Friehold from Germany, as well as a number of mariners, such as Philip Le Masurier and Philip Ahier, living in the area.

Also living at Grève d’Azette at the time were ships’ carpenters, rope makers and John Le Riche, an anchorsmith.

The 1881 census shows that a number of farmers also lived and worked in the area. The Le Masurier Family living at Sequée Farm on the Coast Road had farmed in St Clement for a number of years.

By 1901 the census for Grève d’Azette includes an entry for Auguste Mauviel, the Grève d’Azette railway stationmaster. The Jersey Eastern Railway which ran from Snow Hill to Gorey was established in the 1870s and ran through Grève d’Azette station until it was closed down in 1929.

The railway years are mirrored by the growth of Grève d’Azette as a suburb of St Helier, with houses being built at St Luke’s Crescent and F B Cottages in the 1920s and Coastlands Avenue in the 1930s.

The F B Fields are shown on the 1934 ordnance survey map. The fields were named for Florence Boot, wife of Jessie Boot, Lord Trent, who gifted them to the Island in 1928.

Compiled with the help of the Jersey Archive

The Havre des Pas bathing pool was constructed as long ago as the 1890s

A view over Havre des Pas and Grève de Lecq

A view over Havre des Pas and Grève de Lecq

No sign of the La Collette chimney on the horizon

The map shows a time when there were few houses and many fields in the bay

Battling it out over the waters of the bathing pool