Jersey In Colour - Part 5

Today is an extract from an early 1960s Jarrold Guide to Jersey, entitled "Jersey In Colour". How beautiful the Island looked in the 1960s!

Jersey In Colour - Part 5

There were once very many water-mills in Jersey. LE MOULIN DE LECQ is one of the oldest and has been standing here for at least 6oo years. Until 1929 it was still used for the milling of flour, but it fell into disuse.

During the occupation the power was utilised to generate electicity for the searchlight batteries on the island, and in 1955 the mill was restored with its original water-wheel. This weighs eighteen tons, is twenty-one feet across and is driven by the weight of water which feeds it.

Today the mill has been converted into an up-to-date inn, while retaining its old-world atmosphere. In one of the lounges relics of the mill are preserved, including some of the oil lamps and grinding instruments. After dark in the summer months the inn is attractively floodlit.

Named after the Chapel which was given to the Abbey of St. Sauveur le Vicomte in the twelfth century, beautiful BONNE NUIT BAY lies midway along the northern coast. The cliffs on its western side are the highest in this part of Jersey.

A rock in the bay, known as "William's Horse", used to be the scene of a curious custom. On midsummer day people would congregate from far and near and would be taken round the rock by boat. This pilgrimage was supposed to protect the participants from bad luck for a year.

At the end of the eighteenth century this custom was extended into a yearly fair, which became so undisciplined that it was suppressed shortly afterwards. Bonne Nuit Bay is a good landing-place and during the nineteenth century it was a favourite resort of smugglers. The pier was built in 1872.

In Trinity Parish lies BOULEY BAY, one of the beauty spots of Jersey. The road to the shore is winding and steep, qualities which have made it the scene of the annual motor-cycle hill climb. The sheltered beach is a popular rendezvous and hereabouts many-coloured pebbles can be collected from the shore. In the nineteenth century oyster-fishing was a profitable occupation and a small pier was built for the fishermen.

The cliffs which shelter the bay are nearly five hundred feet high; from the headland to the east, called Le Jardin d'Olivet, there are wonderful views of the coast. Trinity village lies a short way inland. The Church, part of which dates from the twelfth century, has a spire which rises over four hundred feet above sea level. The manor house near by was rebuilt in its present French style in the early years of this century.

ROZEL BAY is a charming place at the north-east of the island. Its sandy beach, popular with holidaymakers, is protected by a short pier which was constructed in 1892 for the convenience of oyster boats. The bay is sheltered by well-wooded cliffs.

On the promontory to the east, called Le Couperon, is a neolithic tomb which is nearly four thousand years old. Eighteen upright stones surround a central gallery some twenty-seven feet long.

On the hill at the other end of the bay there are the remains of the Castle of Rozel where important finds of Roman and Gaulish coins have been made. The castle is undoubtedly another example of those forts which are found in many places liable to invasion. A short distance inland stands Rozel Manor which dates from 1770, though it was considerably enlarged and altered fifty years later.