gorey

Gorey

The Port of Gorey is situated on the east coast of Jersey, and is fifteen miles from the coast of France, and as a result, from early times there was a thriving mercantile trade between the two.

Nestling under Mont Orgueil Castle, the harbour is tidal, and access for trading vessels is restricted to approximately two hours either side of high water, and with the time of high water advancing by an hour each day it is impossible to operate a service to a regular timetable.

Originally there was just a small stone jetty, but in December 1835 the States agreed to lengthen the pier, and with a price of £4,500, Mr. Thomas Slater won the tender and the first stone being laid on March 16 1836.

The waters off Gorey also had an oyster fishery which resulted in many skirmishes with French fishermen and to combat that, a Royal Naval Fishery Protection unit was established, with H.M.S. CUCKOO and a small cutter being positioned early in 1848, and at the same time a naval training school was established on the land above the port. This fishery had finished by the early 1900’s, and December 1904 saw the closing of the station and at the same time the school was closed.

Steam communications commenced from Gorey in 1867, when HEATHER BELL commenced a service to Portbail, being followed in 1881 by CLAIRE which operated from both Portbail and Carteret.

Passengers had always been carried on the trading sailing vessels, but with the introduction of steamers, the States decided on March 18 1868 that a landing place for passengers be built at Gorey.

Trade through Gorey was boosted in 1873 by the opening of the railway line on August 7 from St. Helier, but the line terminated at Grouville Common, a mile short of Gorey Harbour, and it was not until after a retaining wall was built from the Longbeach slipway to the harbour ( in the 1883 Budget, contract cost £5,700 ) that allowed the line to be extended to the harbour station, but this was not opened until May 25 1891.

Various small improvements were made for the better handling of passengers over the years , but it was the withdrawal of the naval vessel in December 1904 which freed up the end of the pier and allowed a wooden landing stage just inside the pier head to be constructed early in 1909.

The number of passengers passing through Gorey varied greatly, and at times the operation of services was spasmodic, but following improvements to the harbour at Carteret in 1894, a more regular summer service was introduced.

Services were again spasmodic between the two World Wars, and even after World War II Gorey remained a “closed “ port with no Customs facilities, and it was not until 1949 that the port was re-opened. Services from Carteret had in fact started in August 1947 using small motor boats, but these had to use St. Helier.

In 1948 the larger vessel PERLE DES ILES commenced a regular summer service, and Gorey was finally opened to her in 1949.

was a regular summer only service from Carteret which gradually saw an increase in passengers

One feature of Gorey Harbour over the years was the six sided lighthouse at the end Pier and which appeared in many post cards. It was a unique structure, having been cast in Jersey by Messrs Ennis Bros in 1849. It was first positioned on the Victoria Pier, before being moved to Gorey on June 7 1898.

There it remained until disaster struck at about 7:15 pm on the evening of Wednesday March 3 1965, when during a south-easterly Force 8 gale the end of the pier crumbled into the sea, and with it the lighthouse. The structure was badly damaged, and beyond repair. The rebuilding of the pier head took until the end of November 1967 to complete, with the light being re-established on June 1 1968.

A larger purpose built vessel was introduced in 1967, and to cater for this and the expected increase in the day tripper traffic, an extension to the passenger hall was commenced in May 1972, and completed in mid August, and at the same time a new harbour attendant’s office was built with a look-out on top.

Traffic continued to build, with an even larger vessel being introduced in , the same year that a service was commenced from Portbail. Larger and faster vessels were added, with a peak being reached in the late 1980’s, at which time some of the vessels were also used for onward trips to Sark and Guernsey.

To cater for this volume of traffic the old wooden landing stage was replaced during the winter of 1978 - 1979 by a concrete structure which was faced with granite, and also it was made two metres longer. The work was undertaken by Holdyne Structures (Jersey) Ltd.

The following year the passenger hall was rebuilt with a granite faced building which also included shipping company offices, and a new larger port control office built on top at the far end.

These improvements were needed due to the fact that passenger numbers had increased from 32,000 in 1972 to 130,000 in 1979.

But just as the 1970’s and 1980’s had seen a bustling traffic through the port, so the 1990’s saw the trade gradually dropping off, to such an extent that the last service ceased in 2001. Now Gorey only receives a few odd calls a year from the Manche Iles vessel VICTOR HUGO, and a fast rib.

The vessels which maintained the Fishery Protection service were

H.M.S. CUCKOO early 1848 - May 1850

H.M.S. DASHER 31-07-1851 - 16-07-1884

H.M.S. MISLETOE 20-08-1884 - 16-06-1894

H.M.S. RAVEN 15-07-1894 - 07-11-1901

H.M.S. ALBACORE 23-12-1901 - -12-1904

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The port of Gorey, situated on the east coast of Jersey, with St. Catherine’s Breakwater in the background.

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A view showing Mont Orgueil Castle and the pier.

Picture : S. Marshall (Wholesale) Ltd. Photographed by Airviews (M/c) Ltd. No. 3041, 309w 423.5k

A lovely shot of Gorey showing the new pier-head and light house erected during the re-build of 1967. Post Card PM 1973.

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A view from the Castle at high water.

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Nearly the same view towards low water.

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A fine aerial picture showing the concrete landing stage of 1979, and the harbour watch house of 1980.

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H.M.S. ALBACORE moored at Gorey after being painted in “French grey” with a red funnel in April 1903.

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CYGNE embarking passengers, and the postcard showing the lighthouse which adorned the harbour between June 1898 and March 1965.

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CYGNE alongside the wooden platform completed in early 1909.

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A view of the Castle, taken from the wooden landing platform just after WW 2.

Gorey pierhead as it is today, January 10 2013. The 1980 built Harbour Office is now adorned with mobile phone aerials in addition to the marine D/F aerial, and is now only used by the Gorey Boat Owners and Gorey Regatta Associations.

COTE DES ILES (II) makes a nice picture in the evening sun on June 4 2000. This vessel provided the last regular service into Gorey, which ceased in 2001.

VICTOR HUGO alongside the 1979 concrete landing stage, on one of her occasional calls, June 22 2012.

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