Ruperts
View of Ruperts with the harbour in Rupert's Bay
Location on Saint Helena
Coordinates: 15°55′10.9″S 5°42′44.0″W / 15.919694°S 5.712222°W / -15.919694; -5.712222
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
British overseas territory	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
Island	Saint Helena
District	Jamestown
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
Area code	+44

Ruperts, sometimes also written Rupert's,^[1] is a village of the island of Saint Helena, in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, in the South Atlantic Ocean.^[2]

History

It is believed that the village was named after Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619–1682), but it is uncertain.^[1]

Geography

Ruperts belongs to the district of Jamestown. It is 3.5 km by road from Jamestown, but is, as the crow flies, only 660 meters away from it, separated by a hill.

The village is composed of the zones of Rupert's Valley, further in and between two hills,^[3] and Rupert's Wharf, by the sea and in front of Rupert's Bay.^[4] Ruperts' main road runs into the valley to the harbour area, and the settlement spans on it for about 800 m.

Transport

Ruperts' main street forks into two roads: Field Road to Jamestown (3.5 km), Briars (2 km), and Alarm Forest (4.5 km); and Airport Access Road to Longwood (7 km) and Saint Helena Airport (13.7 km).

It is a port village with a small harbour by Rupert's Bay, with a wharf and a fuel gantry, and was expanded with the opening of a new jetty for the largest ships in February 2020.^[5] In early 20th century, Ruperts had a small narrow gauge railway by the seashore, serving the local desalination plant. The Ruperts Railway had a small fork to the valley.^[6][7]

Gallery