Saint Aubin harbour, Jersey

This is still one of my only written and stamped postcards from Jersey...

Saint Aubin is a port in the Channel Island of Jersey. It opens out to a bay of the Gulf of Saint-Malo.

Originally a fishing village located on the west side of Saint Aubin's Bay opposing St Helier to the east, St Aubin is the hub of the parish of St Brelade. Its name refers to Saint Aubin the 6th Century C.E. bishop of Angers, and may reflect the name of a long-disappeared chapel.

The parish hall is housed in the former railway station. The Railway Walk, a trail following the route of the former railway to La Corbière, starts from St Aubin.

Saint Aubin's Fort lies in the bay on a tidal island, just outside the harbour. This fort is accessible on foot, at a low tide, via a causeway that runs from the road just in front of the Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club. The fort features a tower keep that is surrounded by granite walls and ramparts. During the Occupation of the Channel Islands, the German forces added bunkers and other features to the fort.

Jersey

I'm not usually lucky enough to get into groups in the Vacation RR on the Postcrossing forum but last year I got lucky and managed to squeeze into a Jersey group, I'd love to visit the island myself some day (and send lots of postcards :D) but it seems like such an expensive place, there's no way I could afford it and I don't think Matt would be too bothered in the first place. Anyway, at least I can see glimpses in postcards. :)

This is a view from Rozel Harbour. Rozel is an area on the north east coast of Jersey in the parishes of St Martin and Trinity, a small sheltered cove that was home to a small fishing fleet and in 1829 a harbour was built for the increasing numbers of vessels involved in the oyster dredging fishery which eventually collapsed at the end of the 19th century.

The card below is unfortunately not written and stamped. I found it on ebay and thought why not, I really like map cards and the changes of actually receiving a written & stamped one from Jersey are pretty slim.

Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is a possession of the Crown in right of Jersey, off the coast of Normandy, France. The bailiwick consists of the island of Jersey, along with surrounding uninhabited islands and rocks collectively named Les Dirouilles, Les Écréhous, Les Minquiers, Les Pierres de Lecq, and other reefs. Jersey is part of the ancient Duchy of Normandy, and is ruled by the Duke of Normandy—a title held by the reigning Monarch of the United Kingdom, though unrelated to those duties as king or queen of the UK.
 Jersey is a self-governing parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, with its own financial, legal and judicial systems, and the power of self-determination.

The island of Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands. Although the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as the Channel Islands, the "Channel Islands" are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a separate relationship to the British Crown from the other Crown dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It is not part of the United Kingdom, and has an international identity separate from that of the UK but the United Kingdom is constitutionally responsible for the defence of Jersey. The Commission have confirmed in a written reply to the European Parliament in 2003 that Jersey is within the Union as a European Territory for whose external relationships the United Kingdom is responsible. Jersey is not fully part of the European Union but has a special relationship with it, notably being treated as within the European Community for the purposes of free trade in goods.

Corbière Lighthouse, Jersey

Just one more card for today.. but it comes from a new country! Or not really a new country, but definitely a new postal entity or whatever you want to call it. It's kind of weird that this is my first postcard from Jersey, considering that it's not too far away from England and still sort of part of the UK. I've only received parcels from there before as a lot of internet companies are based there thanks to the lack of VAT on goods over there. ...mmmm, and Jersey Royal potatoes are really yummy! :P



This postcard shows the Corbière Lighthouse in the extreme south-western point of Jersey in St. Brelade. It was lit on 24 April, 1874, for the first time, and was the first lighthouse in the British Isles to be built of concrete. The lighthouse was built to designs by Sir John Coode. The lighthouse tower is 19m high and the lamp stands 36m above high water spring tides. The beam has a reach of 18 nautical miles, and was automated in 1976.

The lighthouse is situated on a rock which is a tidal island. A causeway links the lighthouse to shore at low tide. There is an alarm to warn visitors to clear the causeway as the tide rises, however there have been casualties among the unwary or unlucky. A plaque adjacent to the causeway commemorates Peter Edwin Larbalestier, assistant keeper of the lighthouse, who was drowned on 28 May, 1946, while trying to rescue a visitor cut off by the incoming tide.

Rebecca, who sent me this card, tells me that years ago there was a racehorse named Corbiere in the Grand National and thousands of people in Jersey bet on it. It nearly bankrupted the bookies when it won, but a lot of people in Jersey were celebrating.



The stamp is from a set of 6 stamps issued earlier this year, featuring a selection of six coaches which have graced the roads of Jersey. The one here shows the Rambler Tour Chevrolet, c.1935.