Portelet

On the coast

Portelet A painting of Portelet by C G Blampied Click on Pegman to view the location in Google Street View

1989 stamp

Portelet became the subject of enormous controversy during 2012 as blocks of flats on the skyline, which many believe to be an intrusive eyesore, were completed. They have taken the place of the former holiday camp, which was itself highly controversial when first built and at periods when substantial additions were made. It is interesting, therefore, to read the following description of the bay from 1951 by George Balleine in his Bailiwick of Jersey

"A picturesque cove in St Brelade parish, lying just west of Noirmont, once one of the beauty-spots of the Island, now alas, largely spoilt by a sprawling holiday camp. In the centre of the Bay is the Ile au Guerdain, which is an old family name found in the parishes of Trinity and St Brelade, on which stands a martello tower, built by the War Office during the Napoleonic Wars. This is often mistakenly spoken of as Janvrin's Tomb."

The name Portelet means 'little harbour'. There is also a cove behind Mont Orgueil Castle known as Petit Portelet.

Tourism

• Portelet Holiday Camp
• Portelet Hotel

2011 stamp

360-degree panoramic view

The bay from the common above

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  Janvrin's Tomb in 1920
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  Victorian children on the beach
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  An 1890 painting of Portelet
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  The camp awaiting demolition
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  The camp in the 1970s
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  The road down through the camp
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  Portelet when the holiday camp first opened - wooden chalets scattered over the slopes above the beach
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  The bay in the 1930s ....
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  .... and several decades earlier
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  In the 1920s
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  A panorama view
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  Portelet
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  Headland to west of Portelet
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  A desirable seaside residence, former home of the Parker family, owners of Hotel de France
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  A lantern slide, c1900
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  1947
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  Bungalows
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  Picture by Paul Lakeman
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  Picture by Paul Lakeman

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  1907
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  1870s
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  1931
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  A tinted version of an early 20th century LL postcard of Portelet
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  1933 aerial photograph by Aerofilms
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  1933 aerial photograph by Aerofilms
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  1890
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  1882
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  1891 albumen print
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  A panoramic view of the bay
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  The new flats - picture Jersey Evening Post
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  LL postcard
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  A three-dimensional satellite view of Portelet and Noirmont
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  1933 aerial view
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  1870
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  1875
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  1960s
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  A view through a gulley from Noirmont
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  1931 advert
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  Portelet in 1953
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  1931
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  1939
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  Occupation aerial
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  German troops during the Occupation
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  Defence Committee president Nicholas Messervy advertised the construction of a stone platform at Portelet Battery in ‘’Gazette de l’Ile de Jersey’’ in 1803

A view over the bay with holiday camp chalets on the sloping cliff