Saint Lawrence

Saint Lawrence

St Lawrence is the central parish of Jersey, stretching north from St Aubin's Bay

The municipality in 1989

Saint Lawrence covers 5,258 vergees and occupies the centre of the Island. Most of the parish is inland, though it has a short stretch of coastline in St Aubin's Bay. It borders St Peter and St Mary to the west, St John to the north and east, and St Helier to the east.

Vingtaines

The parish is divided into vingtaines for administrative purposes:

• Vingtaine Haut de la Vallée
• Vingtaine Bas de la Vallée
• Vingtaine du Coin Hatain - named after the Hatain family (Hasteyn, Hastain)^[1]
• Vingtaine du Coin Motier - from old French moutier meaning monastery ^[2]
• Vingtaine du Coin Tourgis Nord - named after the Tourgis family who owned the fief des Arbres in 1292 ^[2]
• Vingtaine du Coin Tourgis Sud

St Lawrence is one electoral district and elects two Deputies.

A St Lawrence valley

Constables

• Constables of St Lawrence

Twin towns

St Lawrence is twinned with:

• Barneville-Carteret on the Normandy coast

Churches

There are two Anglican churches in the parish. Aside from the parish church itself, the church of St Matthew at Millbrook boasts a unigue interior. It was reconstructed in 1932 for Lady Trent, in memory of her late husband the former Jesse Boot. The interior fittings of carved glass were commissioned from the renowned French glass designer Rene Lalique; it is said that the soft furnishings are an exact match for the blue colour in the trademark sign of Boots the Chemist. Lady Trent also gave Coronation Park, adjoining the church, to the island in 1953, having created the park in 1937.

Millbrook

Millbrook, a large district in the south of the parish, began to develop as a residential area in the early 19th century, and is now almost entirely built up.

The Manifeste of 1646

• St Lawrence Manifeste of 1646

Further reading

• Alexandra House
• A history of Six Rues
• A history of St Lawrence village Added 2018

Art

The parish has a small collection of oil paintings on display in the Parish Hall, featured in the Your Paintings project.

Click on any image to see a full-size version

References

1. ↑ BSJ 1908
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} St Lawrence - A celebration of our Parish, a history of parish life published for the millennium (1999)

External links

• Saint Lawrence, Official Parish website
• Saint Lawrence at Les Pages Jèrriaises

Gallery

You can't believe everything you read on a postcard. This LL card describes St Lawrence Parish Hall as the parish church, which is next door, and appears in another LL card at the start of the gallery below

Click on any image to see full-size version

Few areas of the island have remained unchanged over the past 60 years, particularly in the six parishes which touch the sea along the south coast. But as this aerial picture of the heart of St Lawrence shows, when compared with the recent Google satellite image below it, there are exceptions. The photograph was taken from a Dakota aircraft in 1959. It shows the parish hall and adjoining parish church cemetery towards the bottom left. Most of the fields can be seen to have remained the same shape, and although some of the farms have a few additional buildings, the only significant development is that of Clos du Sommier, built around the former parish arsenal between the parish hall and parish primary school