First Tower

First Tower

Looking towards First Tower from the west, along the Inner Road

First Tower is a western suburb of the town of St Helier. Its name is derived from the location of the first defensive round tower on the coast beyond the town; although it was not the first to be built. At one time, as shown in the photographs on this page, the tower was surmounted by a windmill.

St Aubin's Road at First Tower

Today this is a largely residential area, including First Tower School, which is one of the island's longest established elementary schools. In the heyday of the Jersey Western Railway First Tower was the first station after West Park, but today all the island's commuter traffic from the west speeds past on Victoria Avenue, the main coastal route out of St Helier to the west, and the inner road, St Aubin's Road, without stopping.

• A Street Story history of First Tower Added 2018
• The tower
• First Tower School
• First Tower Park

Picture gallery

1881 Battle of Jersey centenary arch. Even 100 years after the battle the island had not learned how to spell Major Peirson's name. Photograph by Ernest Baudoux

Click on any image to see a larger version

• 
  The view along the inner road from the west
• 
• 
• 
  First Tower from Westmount
• 
  Another view from Westmount
• 
• 
  Victoria Avenue at First Tower
• 
  First Tower viewed from Victoria Avenue
• 
  First Tower station
• 
  First Tower station
• 
  The urban sprawl of First Tower
• 
  1899
• 
  1955
• 
  1955
• 
• 
  Approaching First Tower from Bellozanne Road on the Route de St Aubin in 1976 - Picture Jersey Evening Post
• 
  The bottom of Tower Road in 1976 - Picture Jersey Evening Post
• 
  1976 - Picture Jersey Evening Post
• 
  The Victoria Avenue kiosk in 1980
• 
  First Tower Park in 1980 with St Andrew's Church seen through the trees

Bathing machines on the beach at First Tower in 1900

• 
  First Tower viewed from Westmount
• 
  1912
• 
  The shop behind the car in the foreground was a butcher's for many years, run by a Mr Syvret in the 1950s, and now sells fishing tackle
• 
  A major building development at First Tower in the 2000s
• 
  First Tower with the windmill seen from St Aubin's Road
• 
  The crossroads of St Aubin's Road and Mont Cochon
• 
  Open fields to the north of First Tower would not remain undeveloped for long
• 
  First Tower from the west
• 
  1939
• 
  Overseas Trading gates
• 
  Aerial view
• 
  First Tower Maisonettes, built by Jesse Boot
• 
  First Tower Maisonettes, built by Jesse Boot
• 
  First Tower viewed from Westmount
• 
• 

Late 1950s, before the road became a dual carriageway

• 
• 
  The slipway at First Tower disappeared in the Occupation when the Germans built a bunker over it
• 
• 
  An aerial view in 1981 - Picture courtesy of Jersey Evening Post
• 
  First Tower Institute
• 
  A smartly dressed gentleman walking towards Victoria Avenue
• 
  1975: the former Le Huquet's hairdressers with First Tower Discount Store behind
• 
• 
• 
  First Tower Institute snooker room
• 
  First Tower Institute snooker room
• 
• 
• 
  1977
• 
  German casemate - a relic of the Second World War
• 
  1950s

Businesses

• 
  Le Brun the baker. Was this the forerunner of the island's major bakery in the latter part of the 20th century?
• 
  Language lessons with the Rev J Hanau
• 
• 
• 
  Alfred Gallichan, ironmonger at First Tower in 1874
• 
  First Tower Basket Works, now the site of Les Vanniers flats
• 
• 
  1925
• 
  1931
• 
  1924