Archaeology is promoted in
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
by the ''
Société Jersiaise'' and by
Jersey Heritage
Jersey Heritage is an independent trust in Jersey which is responsible for the island's major historic sites, museums, and public archives. It holds collections of artefacts, works of art, documents, specimens, and information relating to Jer ...
. Promotion in the
Bailiwick of Guernsey
The Bailiwick of Guernsey (french: Bailliage de Guernesey; Guernésiais: ''Bailliage dé Guernési'') is an island country off the coast of France as one of the three Crown Dependencies.
Separated from the Duchy of Normandy by and under the t ...
being undertaken by ''La Société Guernesiaise'', ''Guernsey Museums'', the ''Alderney Society'' with World War II work also undertaken by ''Festung Guernsey''.
Archaeologists in each island give regular talks on their work and summer digs in the islands usually require helpers and volunteers.
Interest in the archaeology of the islands is first recorded in the 16th century. By the 18th century articles were being published in magazines with engravings explaining interesting historic sites.
[
]
Bailiwick of Jersey
The Société Jersiaise was founded in 1873. Over the years the Société Jersiaise has purchased archaeological sites for preservation and presentation, the two most important sites are La Hougue Bie
La Hougue Bie is a historic site, with museum, in the Jersey parish of Grouville. La Hougue Bie is depicted on the 2010 issue Jersey pound, Jersey 1 pound note.
Toponymy
''Hougue'' is a Jèrriais/Cotentin variant form of the more common Norm ...
, purchased in 1919, and La Cotte de Saint-Brélade, purchased in 1955.
The Museum, founded in 1893 by the Société Jersiaise and its extensive Museum collections are now looked after by Jersey Heritage. Jersey Heritage, founded in 1981, is a local charity that protects and promotes the Island’s rich heritage and cultural environment.
Planning permissions may include a requirement for archaeological monitoring and/or works. In 2014, 24 planning permissions included this requirement. Jersey Heritage reach out to engage the public, for example in 2014, the Société Jersiaise held a programme of archaeological events as part of the nationwide Council for British Archaeology Festival.[
]
Bailiwick of Guernsey
Guernsey Museums holds a wide range of archaeological collections. The Museums also holds important collections of antiquarian finds, dominated by 250 prehistoric stone tools, mostly gathered together by the Lukis family mainly in the 1830s and 1840s.
Guernsey employs a States Archaeologist who undertakes excavations or who approves visiting archaeologists.
Long-term projects have included:
* Herm. Island of the dead? The buried Neolithic landscape of Herm being undertaken by Durham University
, mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1)
, established = (university status)
, type = Public
, academic_staff = 1,830 (2020)
, administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19)
, chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen
, vice_chan ...
* Stepping stones to the Neolithic? Islands, maritime connectivity and the 'western seaways' of Britain, 5,000-3,500 BC by the Universities of Reading, Southampton and Liverpool.
* Alderney Nunnery, undertaken by Guernsey Museums
Maritime archaeology is similarly regulated and protected by laws, with displays at the Shipwreck Museum at Fort Grey
Fort Grey, colloquially known as the "cup and saucer", is a Martello tower located on a tidal rock in Rocquaine Bay in Saint Peter, Guernsey on the west coast of the island.
Château de Rocquaine
The French name of the rock is the ''Château ...
and the Maritime Museum at Castle Cornet
Castle Cornet is a large island castle in Guernsey, and former tidal island, also known as Cornet Rock or Castle Rock. Its importance was as a defence not only of the island, but of the roadstead. In 1859 it became part of one of the breakwaters ...
The “Guernsey Sites and Monument Record” is compiled and maintained by the Archaeology Officer. It is a register of known archaeological sites and find spots within the Bailiwick of Guernsey, including Ancient Monuments.[
Sections of early archaeological evidence on ]Alderney
Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide.
The island's area is , making it the third-largest ...
has sadly been destroyed, firstly during the Victorian era of quarrying and building fortifications and later by the German occupiers repeating the process. However the Alderney Society is thriving and has an excellent museum.
Sea level changes in the Channel Islands
Understanding the changes to the sea level is vital when considering the early archaeology of the islands. The islands were never covered in ice, but suffered early erosion from rivers such as the Seine and Ay.[
Over the last million years sea levels have changed significantly. 800,000 years ago sea levels were likely to have been 35m higher than now. This fell gradually, with the formation of ice elsewhere and the land rising, to 30m higher than now around 400,000 years ago to 21m 300,000 years ago, to 13m 200,000 years ago to 2m 120,000 years ago,][ when it was thought a catastrophic ]outburst flood
In geomorphology, an outburst flood—a type of megaflood—is a high-magnitude, low-frequency catastrophic flood involving the sudden release of a large quantity of water. During the last deglaciation, numerous glacial lake outburst floods were ca ...
permanently diverted the Rhine into the English Channel. Sea levels continued to fall, but more rapidly over the next 100,000 years.
Looking at the last 20,000 years, which started with a glacial period, the sea level was around 100m lower than now, making the sea coast some 120 km west of the islands. There followed a dramatic rise, by 9,400 BC the sea had risen to come close to where it now lies, but with the islands still connected to mainland France. The separation of Alderney probably occurred first, the Guernsey/Sark landmass occurred around 9,200 BC[ with the Bailiwick of Guernsey becoming separate islands of Guernsey, Sark and Herm around 5,000 BC. Jersey being finally separated from the French coast about 1,000 years later,] although there are traditions that a land bridge
In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and Colonisation (biology), colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regre ...
between Jersey and France lasted until finally broken in a storm or series of storms in 709 AD, the same storm separating Herm from Jethou.
The islands contain raised beaches including one 8-9m above current heights from about 130,000 years ago and evidence of a forest (in Vazon Bay, Guernsey) below the current sea levels. There are very high tides and swift currents in the Mont Saint-Michel Bay
The Mont-Saint-Michel Bay (french: baie du Mont-Saint-Michel, br, Bae Menez-Mikael) is located between Brittany (to the south west) and the Normandy peninsula of Cotentin (to the south and east). The bay was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site ...
which caused additional erosion between Jersey and the French coast.
Buildings, key archaeology sites and evidence from various periods
Palaeolithic period
''Whilst connected to mainland Europe.''
* La Cotte de St Brelade
La Cotte de St Brelade is a Paleolithic site of early habitation in Saint Brélade, Jersey. ''Cotte'' means "cave" in Jèrriais. The cave is also known as ''Lé Creux ès Fées'' (The Fairies' Cave).
Neanderthals lived there at various times ...
, Jersey. First investigated in 1904. The Site was first occupied by humans in the Middle Paleolithic
The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleoli ...
, 240,000 years ago based on thermoluminescence dating
Thermoluminescence dating (TL) is the determination, by means of measuring the accumulated radiation dose, of the time elapsed since material containing crystalline minerals was either heated (lava, ceramics) or exposed to sunlight (sediments ...
, during a cold glacial period when most of the present seabed would have been uncovered. Dated at approximately 180,000 BP, two impressive piles of animal bones, of mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...
s and woolly rhinoceros
The woolly rhinoceros (''Coelodonta antiquitatis'') is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch and survived until the end of the last glacial period. The woolly rhinoceros was a me ...
, are located beneath an overhang having been butchered.
* La Cotte à la Chèvre is a small cave in Jersey. Flints and a hand axe have been found here, also indicating Neanderthal
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...
occupation.[
]
Ice Age period
''14,000 BC – 12,000 BC whilst connected to mainland Europe following extinction of Neanderthals.''
* Over 3,000 stone tools and Ice Age engravings dating from at least 12,000 BC have been found at Les Varines site in south east Jersey, showing occupation by Homo sapiens
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
.
Mesolithic period
''12,000 BC to 4,500 BC when rising sea levels
Rising may refer to:
* Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique)
*Elevation
* Short for Uprising, a rebellion
Film and TV
* "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starga ...
created the islands.''
* La Cotte de St Brelade was also found to have had more recent human occupants, flint and stone tools, animal bones and hearths have been found in the cave.
* On Jethou
Jethou ( ) is a small island that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is privately leased from the Crown, and not open to the public. Resembling the top of a wooded knoll it is immediately south of Herm and covers a ...
evidence of flint manufacturing in an area exposed only at low water between the island and Crevichon
Crevichon is an islet off the west coast of Herm, immediately to the north of Jethou, in the Channel Islands
According to S. K. Kellett-Smith, it means "isle of crabs, crayfish or cranes". Like other names in the region, it is Norman language, ...
shows occupation around 10,000 BC.
* There is evidence on Little Sark
Sark (french: link=no, Sercq, ; Sercquiais: or ) is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of l ...
of human farming dating from around 5,000 BC.
* A number of sites show evidence of Mesolithic communities including Lihou
Lihou () is a small tidal island located just off the west coast of the island of Guernsey, in the English Channel, between Great Britain and France. Administratively, Lihou forms part of the Parish of St. Peter's in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...
and the Royal Hotel site in Guernsey and Les Landes, Jersey.[
]
Neolithic period
''4,500 BC –1,800 BC''
The archaeological community debate whether the Neolithic Revolution was brought to the British Isles through adoption by natives, or by migrating groups of continental Europeans who settled there, however evidence of a farming lifestyle exists in Guernsey from the start of the Neolithic period, a thousand years earlier than on mainland Britain.[ Sites excavated include:
]
Jersey
* La Hougue Bie
La Hougue Bie is a historic site, with museum, in the Jersey parish of Grouville. La Hougue Bie is depicted on the 2010 issue Jersey pound, Jersey 1 pound note.
Toponymy
''Hougue'' is a Jèrriais/Cotentin variant form of the more common Norm ...
, Jersey. Excavated in 1924. Neolithic ritual site which was in use around 3,500 BC comprising an passage chamber covered by a earth mound. Grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.
They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...
comprising mainly pottery were found. The tomb is aligned to allow sunlight to enter on the equinoctial sunrise.[
* Dolmens exist in a number of places in Jersey including:
** La Pouquelaye de Faldouet
** Les Monts de Grantez, contained 6 adults and a child and tools including a spindle whorl.
** La Sergenté, early and unusual in that it was covered with a round mound.][
** Mont Ubé
Are passage graves and finds include human bones, urns, pottery, axes, flints and a polished stone pendant.
* La Hougue des Géonnais is a passage chamber. Pottery, flint scrapers, arrowheads and broken querns were found.
* Le Couperon is a gallery grave surrounded by a ring of eighteen outer stones, flint and pottery were found.][
* La Table des Marthes is possibly a huge capstone. Pottery, burnt stones and broken stone axes were found.
* La Hougue Boëte, a closed megalithic cist with round mound 9m high containing a man, horse and axe.][
* Ville-ès-Nouaux, a long chamber and cist in circle Inside were found nine beaker type pots protected by stone slabs and six were Jersey bowls. An archers wrist guard was also found.
* At least 10 menhirs are located around the island.
]
Guernsey
* Castel Menhir
A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be foun ...
standing stone 2m high depicting a female figure, discovered under the steps of the Castel church in 1878.
* Déhus Dolmen, prehistoric passage grave first excavated in 1837, which yielded quantities of finds. There is also a human figure carved under a capstone.
* Le Trepied Dolmen, Le Catioroc, a passage grave that yielded iron swords and scabbards, shield boss, knife, urn and spearheads.
* La Gran'mère du Chimquière, standing stone menhir shaped into a female figure, the head being recarved, possibly in Roman times, located at St Martin’s church.
* La Platte Mare a cist in circle, located on L'Ancresse
L'Ancresse ''()'' is an area in the Vale, Guernsey, comprising a common and several beaches covering 737 Vergées (298 acres).
History
The sea levels having risen and stabilised around 9,400 BC leaving L’Ancresse looking similar to the current ...
common. Axes and arrow heads discovered.
Alderney, Sark, Herm and Jethou
Alderney has a cist, or burial chamber named Roc à l’Epine dating from 4,000 BC.[ On Sark, there is a terraced area that dates from the late Stone Age (c.2,400 BC). ]Herm
Herm (Guernésiais: , ultimately from Old Norse 'arm', due to the shape of the island, or Old French 'hermit') is one of the Channel Islands and part of the Parish of St Peter Port in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. It is located in the English ...
contains at least eight known visible tombs with another seven suspected. Jethou has a menhir.[
]
Bronze Age
''1,800 BC –1,100 BC''
* Le Pinacle
Le Pinacle is a protruding pinnacle of rock, at the coastal edge of a Les Landes in the north-west of Jersey, with remains and ruins at its base dating from five periods including the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, the Bronze Age, and the ...
, a natural rock formation in Jersey has two earth and rubble ramparts. In Roman times the site held a rectangular Gallo-Roman temple. Amongst the large number of finds from various excavations are flints, hammers, rubbers, polishing stones, a copper arrow head, bronze spear head, wheel turned pottery and a Roman coin.
* Trinity Hoard, Jersey. 23 bronze axeheads, found inside a pottery container in 2012.
* Sark Mill digs run by Sir Barry Cunliffe
Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, (born 10 December 1939), known as Barry Cunliffe, is a British archaeologist and academic. He was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007. Since 2007, he has been an Emeri ...
revealed spindle whorls and amber beads indicating sheep were reared on the island in this period.
Iron Age
''1,100 BC-500 AD ''
* Longy Hoard, Alderney, discovered in 1832. 200 bronze items (dating from around 800 BC), including axes, spear heads, sickles, chisels and bronze scraps
* La Motte, Jersey
La Motte is a tidal island, and listed archaeological site, also known as Green Island, located in the Vingtaine de Samarès in the parish of St Clement on the south-east coast of Jersey, Channel Islands.
There is evidence of human visits to th ...
is a small island. A cairn and a number of middens, dating from 1,500 BC to 300 BC have been uncovered.
* Le Câtel de Rozel with its 6m high bank extending 200m is the largest Iron Age fort in Jersey.
* Hoards dating from 1st century B.C. found in Jersey:
** La Marquanderie Hoard, Jersey. 10,547 Armorica
Armorica or Aremorica (Gaulish: ; br, Arvorig, ) is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that includes the Brittany Peninsula, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic Coast ...
n coins, almost all issued by the Curiosolitae
The Coriosolites or Curiosolitae were a Gallic people dwelling on the northern coast of present-day Brittany during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Coriosolitas'' (var. ''coriosolitos'', ''curiosolitas'', ''curi ...
.
** Le Câtillon Hoard found in 1957 of over 2,500 Celtic coins representing tribes in Armorica and Gaul as well as in Southern Britain. Tribes include Coriosolites
The Coriosolites or Curiosolitae were a Gallic people dwelling on the northern coast of present-day Brittany during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Coriosolitas'' (var. ''coriosolitos'', ''curiosolitas'', ''cur ...
, Osismii
The Osismii, Ossismii, or Ostimii (also Ossismi, Osismi) were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the western part of the Armorican Peninsula (modern Brittany) during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Etymology
They are mentioned as ''Osismos'' and ...
, Aulerci
The Aulerci were a group of Gallic peoples dwelling in the modern region of Normandy, between the Loire (Liger) and the Seine (Sequana) rivers, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were divided into the Cenomani, the most powerful of ...
, Baiocasses
The Bodiocasses or Baiocasses were an ancient Gallic tribe of the Roman period. They were a tribal division of the ''civitas'' of the Lexovii, in the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Bodiocasses'' by Pliny (1s ...
, Durotriges
The Durotriges were one of the Celtic tribes living in Britain prior to the Roman invasion. The tribe lived in modern Dorset, south Wiltshire, south Somerset and Devon east of the River Axe and the discovery of an Iron Age hoard in 2009 at Shalfle ...
, Redone
Nadir Khayat ( ar, نادر الخياط; born 9 April 1972), better known by his stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive.
As a record producer and songwriter, he has worked with many high-profi ...
s, Unelli
The Venellī or Unellī (Gaulish: *''Uenellī/Wenellī'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling on the Cotentin peninsula, in the northwest of modern Normandy, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
In 57 BC, they capitulated to Caesar's legate Publiu ...
(or Venelli), Veneti, Ambiani
The Ambiani (Gaulish: ''Ambiāni'', 'those around') were a Belgic coastal tribe dwelling in the modern Picardy region during the Iron Age and Roman periods.
They settled in the region between the 4th century and the second part of the 2nd century ...
, Bituriges Cubi
The Bituriges Cubi (Gaulish: ''Biturīges Cubi'') were a Gallic tribe dwelling in a territory corresponding to the later province of Berry, which is named after them, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They had a homonym tribe, the Bitur ...
and Volcae Arecomici
The Arecomici or Volcae Arecomici were a Gallic tribe dwelling between the Rhône and the Hérault rivers, around present-day Nîmes, during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
The meaning of the ethnonym ''Arecomici'' remains unclear. The ...
.
** Rozel Hoard (1820)
** Rozel Hoard (1875)
* Sark Hoard, found in 1719, of horse silver and coins from the 1st century BC.
* Jersey finds include an Iron Age house in St Clement, elsewhere quern stones, glass beads, briquetage used in salt making and pottery have been found.
* Midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
analysis of soil, food remains and pottery on Jethou excavations indicate activity between 380 and 160 BC.[ There is also evidence of salt manufacture on the island.
* Pottery from about 500 BC was discovered in 1968 in Alderney.]
Gallo-Roman period
''50 BC – 450 AD''
The Roman name for the Channel Islands was ''I. Lenuri'' (Lenur Islands) and is included in the Peutinger Table
' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the ''cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire.
The map is a 13th-cen ...
* Grouville Hoard, Jersey. 70,000 late Iron Age and Roman coins. The hoard is thought to have belonged to a Curiosolitae
The Coriosolites or Curiosolitae were a Gallic people dwelling on the northern coast of present-day Brittany during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Coriosolitas'' (var. ''coriosolitos'', ''curiosolitas'', ''curi ...
tribe fleeing Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
's armies around 50 to 60 BC.
* ‘’Asterix’’ shipwreck, Saint Peter Port Harbour
Saint Peter Port Harbour is located in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey. It was a natural anchorage used by the Romans which has been changed into an artificial harbour that is now the island's main port for passengers. Loose cargo, liquids and gas ar ...
, Guernsey. It is thought to be a Roman cargo vessel and was probably at anchor or grounded when the fire broke out around 280 AD. The wreck, discovered in 1982 has been raised, coins, pots, cordage, barrels and a bronze bilge pump was found, the preserved timbers are on display next to the Fort Grey Shipwreck Museum.[
* Alderney Nunnery – 4th century fort, 30m x 30m square with rounded corners where towers were built. Built of stone and Roman concrete. Possibly a signal station linked to protection of trade.
* La Plaiderie, St Peter Port, Guernsey where excavations uncovered remains of a trading place with stone warehouse type structures from the Roman period. Amongst the finds were moulds for counterfeiting coins.][
* Little evidence has emerged of Roman period houses. Roof tiles have been found in Grouville church cellar and in the Castel church walls in Guernsey. In King’s Road, Guernsey, excavations of burials uncovered various items of jewelry and a complete Samian bowl.][
* Roman pottery and evidence of glass and metal working have emerged from excavations in Guernsey at the Bonded Stores dig and at La Plaiderie, giving evidence of a thriving maritime economy. Finds of trade goods have been uncovered on most of the Channel Islands, including amphora on the ]Écréhous
The Écréhous (or in Jèrriais: ''Êcrého'') are a group of islands and rocks situated six miles (9.6 km) north-east of Jersey, and eight miles (12.8 km) from France. They form part of the Bailiwick of Jersey and are administratively ...
.[
]
Early Middle Ages
''450 AD to 1000 AD''
* The first churches and chapels constructed were probably of timber or loose stone construction. On Jethou a small trapezoidal building with internal dimensions of 4.8m by 2m has been excavated which was possibly an ecclesiastical structure dating from 675 AD ± 190 years.[
* On Herm a building, thought to be linked to ]St Tugual
Saint Tudwal (died c. 564), also known as Tual, Tudgual, Tugdual, Tugual, Pabu, Papu, or Tugdualus (Latin), was a Breton people, Breton monk, considered to be one of the Brittany#Religion, seven founder saints of Brittany.
Life
Tudwal was said ...
who died in 564 AD or his followers, is incorporated into the later 12th century building.
* In the Fishermen's Chapel, Jersey, a more solid structure was created, the builders used limpet
Limpets are a group of aquatic snails that exhibit a conical shell shape (patelliform) and a strong, muscular foot. Limpets are members of the class Gastropoda, but are polyphyletic, meaning the various groups called "limpets" descended indep ...
shells crushed and dissolved with boiling sea-water to make liquid lime-mortar which was poured into the wall-work.
* A chapel built around 911, now forms part of the nave of the Parish Church of St Clement
The Parish Church of St Clement is the parish church of the parish of Saint Clement in Jersey. It is one of the twelve "Ancient Parish Churches" of Jersey.
In ancient Latin documents the church is referred to as Ecclesia Sancti Clemtentis de Pe ...
, Jersey.
* On the Île Agois a 76m high rock stack north of Jersey remains of 25 hut structures were found containing 7th or 8th century objects including a socketed axe and glass beads.[
]
High Middle Ages
''1000 AD - 1300 AD''
The wealth of the Dukes of Normandy
In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western France. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles III in 911. In 924 and again in 933, Normandy ...
and the Norman church is demonstrated in the number of building works. There are also a number of surviving written documents dating from this period.
* Construction of fortifications
** Mont Orgueil
Mont Orgueil ( French for 'Mount Pride') is a castle in Jersey that overlooks the harbour of Gorey. It is also called Gorey Castle by English-speakers, and ''lé Vièr Châté'' (the Old Castle) by Jèrriais-speakers.The castle is first called 'M ...
, Jersey
** Castle Cornet, Guernsey
** Chateau des Marais, Guernsey
The Chateau des Marais is a protected chateau in Saint Sampson, Guernsey. The colloquial name is Ivy Castle. A moated medieval castle dating from before the 12th-century .
History
Neolithic settlers from 3,500 to 1,500 BC made use of the mound, ...
(Ivy Castle)
*Construction of many religious buildings, often to replace older smaller chapels, including:
** St Brelade's Church
St Brelade's Church is one of the twelve ancient parish churches in the island of Jersey; it is sited on the west side of the island in the parish of St Brelade, in the southwest corner of St Brelade's Bay. It is unique in the Channel Islands ...
, Jersey. Chapel was pre 1035
** Parish Church of St Clement
The Parish Church of St Clement is the parish church of the parish of Saint Clement in Jersey. It is one of the twelve "Ancient Parish Churches" of Jersey.
In ancient Latin documents the church is referred to as Ecclesia Sancti Clemtentis de Pe ...
, Jersey.
** Parish Church of St Helier
The Parish Church of St Helier is the parish church of the parish of Saint Helier, Jersey. It is a Church of England church, one of the twelve 'Ancient Parish Churches' of Jersey, and serves as the Island's civic church and Pro-Cathedral.
Hist ...
, Jersey, extended in 12th Century
** The Vale Church, Guernsey
St. Michel du Valle is the parish church of Vale, Guernsey.
Early History of the Church
In January 1949 an Early Christian monument was unearthed outside the West door of the church. This stone dates from the 7th or 8th century. It is now situa ...
** Priory of Notre Dame de Lihou
* Old Street, Jersey, excavation in 1979 revealed remains of a 13th-century house, 6m x 10m.[
]
Late Middle Ages
''1300 AD to 1500 AD''
* Written archaeological evidence increases in this period, with for instance Assize Rolls
The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...
from 1303, 1306 and 1338.[ An eyewitness account to a battle in Jersey in 1406 exists.]
* Grosnez Castle
Grosnez Castle is a ruined 14th-century castle in Saint Ouen, situated in Grosnez in the north-west corner of the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands. Philippe de Carteret held it against the French when they held half of Jersey between 1461 ...
, Jersey. Built around 1330, dismantled 150 years later.
* Albecq Medieval Settlement, Guernsey, comprising stone buildings, where pottery and 18 silver coins dating from pre 1375 were discovered.
* Chapel of St Apolline, Guernsey with 14th-century frescoes.
Early modern period
''1500 AD – 1750 AD''
A 1651 depiction of Elizabeth Castle
* Surviving church records of birth marriage and deaths in the islands start in the 16th century.
* Essex Castle built in Alderney. Work started 1546.
* The 1588 Alderney Elizabethan Wreck.
* Elizabeth Castle
Elizabeth Castle () is a castle and tourist attraction, on a tidal island within the parish of Saint Helier, Jersey. Construction was started in the 16th century when the power of the cannon meant that the existing stronghold at Mont Orgueil w ...
, Jersey started in 1594.
* There are many houses in the islands dating from this period.
Late modern period
''1750 AD to 2000 AD''
* The William Gardner's Map of Guernsey (1787) and the James Cochrane's Map of Guernsey produced in 1832 shows every house on the island. Previous maps tended to only show main roads and navigation marks such as fortifications, windmills and churches.
* Many defensive works were created in the 1750-1815 era because of the threat of invasion from France. Conway's towers in Jersey and Guernsey loophole towers The British built 15 Guernsey loophole towers at various points along the coast of Guernsey between August 1778 and March 1779 to deter possible French attacks after France had declared itself an ally of the Americans in the American Revolutionary W ...
were followed with signal stations, gun batteries, magazines and Martello towers
Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.
They stand up ...
. Most of these structures still exist and are protected.
* Victorian fortifications and a breakwater in Alderney were built between 1850 and 1870.
* Lager Sylt labour camp and Lager Norderney in Alderney dating from 1942 have been searched with ground radar and to recover any deteriorating archaeological evidence.
* The excavating and preserving of material and the restoration of a number of World War II military structures in Jersey and Guernsey have been undertaken by the ''Channel Islands Occupation Society
The Channel Islands Occupation Society (CIOS) is a voluntary organisation that seeks to study all aspects of the German occupation of the Channel Islands and to raise awareness and educate the public about the occupation during the Second Wo ...
'' and ''Festung Guernsey '' which include:
** Battery Lothringen
Battery Lothringen was a World War II coastal artillery battery in Saint Brélade, Jersey, named after the SMS'' Lothringen'', and constructed by Organisation Todt for the Wehrmacht during the Occupation of the Channel Islands. The first instal ...
, Jersey
** Battery Moltke
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
* Automotive battery, a device to provide power ...
, Jersey
** Sechsschartenturm Heavy MG bunker, Jersey
** Fort Hommet Casement, Guernsey
* Archives of documents are now maintained in all the islands by their governments.
* Both Jersey and Guernsey are producing 3D digital maps of their islands.
Museums
Jersey
* Jersey Museum and Art Gallery
* Jersey Archive
* La Hougue Bie
* Maritime Museum
* Mont Orgueil
Mont Orgueil ( French for 'Mount Pride') is a castle in Jersey that overlooks the harbour of Gorey. It is also called Gorey Castle by English-speakers, and ''lé Vièr Châté'' (the Old Castle) by Jèrriais-speakers.The castle is first called 'M ...
Guernsey
* Guernsey Museum at Candie
* Fort Grey
Fort Grey, colloquially known as the "cup and saucer", is a Martello tower located on a tidal rock in Rocquaine Bay in Saint Peter, Guernsey on the west coast of the island.
Château de Rocquaine
The French name of the rock is the ''Château ...
* Castle Cornet
* Guernsey Occupation Museum
* Island Archives
Alderney
* Alderney Society Museum
Sark
* Occupation Museum
External links
Herm. Island of the dead?
Société Jersiaise excavations and digs
Guernsey Museums archaeological sites
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Cataroche, Jenny, (2012), ''The History and Archaeology of Jethou'', L&C Press,
* Festung Guernsey, (2012), ''German Tunnels in Guernsey, Alderney and Sark'' Channel Island Art & Books,
* Gavey, Ernie, (1997), ''A guide to German Fortifications on Guernsey'', Guernsey Armouries,
* Rule, Margaret & Monaghan, Jason, (1993) ''A Gallo-Roman Trading Vessel from Guernsey'', Guernsey Museums & Galleries,
* Sebire, Heather, (2011), ''The Archaeology and Early History of the Channel Islands'', NPI Media Group,
{{Alderney topics , state=collapsed
History of Guernsey
History of Jersey
Archaeology of Jersey
Archaeological sites in Jersey
History of the Channel Islands
C