St Helier Harbour - early pictures

St Helier Harbour: Pictures from the early years

The first jetty in 1770, some distance from the town of St Helier

And another view by an unknown artist in 1776

The North Pier in the mid-19th century

A panoramic view of the Harbour in the first decade of the 19th century. From left to right: La Folie with two boats in the English Harbour in front. The harbourmouth is formed by the ends of the South Pier on the left and the North Pier on the right. That appears to slope towards the beach from half way down and not to be connected to anything. What is now known as the Weighbridge area has not been reclaimed. That work started around 1825; the North Pier was in use by 1798. So the picture can probably be dated to the first decade of the 19th century. But what are all those buildings shown at the bottom of Westmount? This area was sand dunes at the time. The only town buildings were out of the picture on the right, but perhaps this was artistic licence

• 
  Cargoes were unloaded on the beach before there were any harbours
• 
  This print is variously dated to 1783 and 1786. It shows two jetties in the area of South Pier
• 
  Work on South Pier
• 
  La Capelain drawing of boats leaving harbour
• 
  Le Capelain drawing of the harbour with shipping
• 
  This painting shows one of the early jetties
• 
  A very early picture of St Helier Harbour
• 
  A 1771 etching appearing to show two small jetties
• 
  The harbour in 1770
• 
  An etching of the Harbour
• 
  The harbour in the early 19th century when only the French and English harbours had been built
• 
  General G R Charlton's impression of harbour construction in 1814
• 
  1788 plan
• 
• 
• 
• 
  A view from offshore. This 1771 engraving was one of several different versions of the original artwork. The harbour of the time is on the far right of the picture
• 
  1772
• 
  1772

This magnificent etching of Elizabeth Castle in 1786 shows how tantalisingly close to the St Helier shoreline the castle stands, but plans which have surfaced on several occasions over the past 200 years to create a large, deep-water harbour linking the castle to the shore have never materialised. The unknown artist's work shows just how tiny the embryo St Helier Harbour was, and how isolated it was from the town it was intended to serve

Before the harbour was dredged, water used regularly to drain out entirely, as this painting of the pierhead by Edward William Cooke shows. The work is not dated, but a painting by Cooke of Elizabeth Castle is known to have been executed in 1841, when the artist was 30

A 1785 painting by Thomas Whitcombe