The Island and Coast of Guernsey – Part 2

My post today is a selection from "The Channel Islands" by David Thomas Ansted and Robert Gordon Latham, published in 1865. Most travel guides look at the population, the sights to visit, something of the history, but this is an exception. It begins by looking at the geography of the Islands, and then considers how it his has shaped their subsequent history, so it is a bit different from the general guidebook.


The Island and Coast of Guernsey – Part 2
The most prominent near objects, on approaching St. Peter's Port from the sea, are Castle Cornet and the new harbour works. The former will be referred to presently. A portion of the latter, consisting of a magnificent sea wall, now connects and passes beyond the rock on which the castle stands, commencing at the southern extremity of the town; so that the castle and the works appear to form part of one great plan. This sea wall forms the south arm of the new harbour.

The old harbour of Guernsey, ordered to be built  AD 1275, by King Edward the First, and in course of construction for two centuries, from 1580 to 1780, was only four and a-half acres in extent, and the quay-room was extremely narrow and restricted. Plans for its enlargement, still retaining the character of a tidal harbour, were submitted to the states in 1836, by Mr. James Walker, and subsequently, others by Mr. Rendell.

The latter, though not very different from the former, were accepted; and their execution entrusted to Mr. G. Fosberry Lyster, on the recommendation of Mr. Rendell. Soon after the commencement of the works, important alterations were proposed; and it was decided that, instead of a mere tidal harbour, the natural features of the locality should be taken advantage of, the old harbour being entirely closed. It has also since been greatly improved. The whole of the alterations have been planned and carried out by Mr. Lyster.

An idea of the present harbour will be at once obtained by looking at the annexed plan. Two noble esplanades have been constructed, one on each side of the old harbour, running parallel with the sea front of the town, their total length being 2500 feet, with a breadth of 150 feet. From the two extremities of this, spring breakwaters: one at the south extremity, reaching beyond Castle Cornet, and now nearly 2000 feet in length, connects the -castle with the main land; the other, at the northern end, is incomplete. It is intended to run this out 1300 feet in an easterly direction, and then bend round 750 feet towards the north-east angle of Castle Cornet. 

Within this space will be enclosed, not only a large and excellent anchorage-ground of fiftyseven acres, the whole covered at low water neaps, but the small old harbour, now an inner harbour, a space intended to form a floating dock of ten acres extent, building yards, a careening hard, and other conveniences for shipping. The space enclosed will amount to as much as seventy-three acres at low water, and is being dredged to nine feet, low water spring tides.

Landing-places for steamers, accessible at all times of tide,— slip-ways and berthing for vessels, offering every convenience for trade,—form part of the plan in prosecution; and a great length of quays, eighty-four feet wide, has been already constructed, in addition to the level roadway and footpath on the breakwaters. All these latter are carried to a height of from ten to fifteen feet above the highest tides; arid two enormous massifs, or square emplacements, covering rocks, have been constructed,—one intended as a ladies' bathing-place, with bathing houses and hot water baths—and the other, at present left unemployed. On this it has been suggested that a first class hotel might with advantage be built.

The masonry of the work executed for the harbour is of granite, and does the greatest credit to all concerned. Much of it is Cyclopean, doing away with the formality of level courses, and this without any sacrifice of strength, although with a great economy in labour.

Castle Cornet was a far more picturesque object when a detached island fort, in the time of Charles the Second, than it has since been. It could then well compare, in this respect, with Elizabeth Castle, in Jersey. Although much dismantled, it still contains many architectural gems.  For a long time, and till the year 1811, it was the island prison; but this use is now superseded by a building near St. James' church, immediately behind the Court House, in the centre of the town.

The new gaol is, however, too small, and is ill adapted for its purpose. It is a singular fact, that all the modern buildings in the island are, without exception, singularly wanting in good taste; but whether this arises from want of cultivation, from the remains of Puritanical feeling, still very marked, or from absence of natural power of appreciating what is beautiful, is not easy to say.




St. Sampson's, the only other town, is much smaller than St. Peter's Port, and is now almost connected with it by houses and rows of buildings along the shore. It is a place of some business in connection with the stone trade, which is centred there, to take advantage both of the adjacent quarries and of the little harbour. Many improvements have been made in the harbour, and it is continually increasing in importance. There is little to attract or interest a stranger in the town; all the buildings, except the church, being small and of modern construction.

The harbour is entirely dry at low water, and was originally part of a small arm of the sea, which severed the northern portion of the island from the main land. It is only sixty years since this strait was permanently embanked at each end, and the intervening land reclaimed. The space forming the harbour is about 2000 feet in length by 500 feet wide, and encloses twentytwo acres of water, at high spring tides. A breakwater now extends 650 feet in a southerly direction from the north shore, and terminates 120 feet from the south pier-head; and this work, recently completed, has greatly improved and sheltered the harbour.

The wide shingle bay, having at intervals large spits of sand, that extends between St. Sampson's and St. Peter's Port, has already been mentioned as presenting few features of interest. About half way between, however, there is a curious ivycovered fragment of antiquity, called the ' Chateau des Marais,' better known as the Ivy Castle. It is surrounded by a fosse and by an outer wall, enclosing a

space of about four acres.

To form an idea of Guernsey, it must be visited in two ways; for the interior gives but little idea of the coast, and the fine scenery of the coast seldom opens at all into the island. As a whole, there are few parts of the Atlantic coast of Europe where the cliffs communicate so little, by picturesque open valleys, with the interior of the country; but this arises chiefly from the fact, that the rock is everywhere granite, sloping with some degree of regularity in one direction. The natural fractures, produced by the elevation of the mass, have been already deeply penetrated by the sea, and have produced a multitude of detached islands and rocks, so that what remains consist of hard, rocky masses of table land, often high, but nowhere hilly.

It will be advisable to describe, first, the coast scenery, and afterwards, that of the interior; and, as the most convenient order, we may, with advantage, commence in the vicinity of the town, and notice the chief points of interest as we follow the line of cliff immediately to the south.

From the harbour, the sea wall continues for a short distance to a part of the coast called Les Terres, at which point the cliffs are precipitous, and a strip of public walks and gardens between them and the sea is now in course of arrangement. The ground thus utilised was laid bare during the construction of the harbour; and the mode in which an operation, which might have been unsightly, has been rendered decorative, is worthy of every praise. Two or three small bays beyond, included within the enceinte of the fort, and not accessible to the public, terminate at a small projecting headland, marked with a very unsightly white turret, serving as a sea mark.



Fermain Bay, at the foot of the cliff at this point, is a pretty sandy cove, behind which is one of the few narrow glens opening into the interior. A road runs up to the right from the sands of Fermain Bay to the St. Martin's road, passing two cottage residences placed on the steep slope of the gorge; and a blind path, choked with furze and brambles, may be found to the left, and followed between thick hedges up another branch of the glen, also to the St. Martin's road.

Perched on a tongue of high land between these, is the park-like and well-wooded little estate of Bon Air, built by a former bailiff of the island. There is a private way through the gorse-covered sides and ferny bottom of the glen, from the house to the sea; and the annexed wood cut will give some notion of the exquisite beauty of the broken ground, and the mixture of cultivation and wildness in this part of the island.

From the narrow path just alluded to, a branch will be found close to the edge of the cliff, and an extremely picturesque path conducts to a small fisherman's landing-place, called the Bee du Nez, near which are two open, rocky caverns. Still further on, the same path enters a grassy and ferny hollow, below the Doyle column at Jerbourg. It is quite possible to reach this point at all seasons, at the risk of tearing clothes with brambles and wetting feet in the damp, boggy earth.

From the hollow, which is always rather wet, the shore may easily be reached, and it is well worthy of the effort. To the left there is a cavern, superior to any in Guernsey, except the Creux Mahie, and remarkable for its noble and simple proportions, and magnificent entry through and amongst huge, broken rocks. Turning to the left, as you enter, several fine fragments of rock and grand arched rocks conduct to an imperfect representation of a cavern and funnel well known in Sark, and called there, the Pot. The chimney, or opening above, is here much less lofty than in Sark, and the top is concealed by a thick growth of brambles. In this respect it agrees better with the Creux at Herm.

In all these cases the hole has been originally produced in a soft vein, by rain water. The vein is a very dark green decomposing rock, and contrasts finely with the pink granite. It is continued across to a corresponding bay on the other side of Jerbourg promontory, called 'Petit Port.' Besides this vein, there is one of quartz, and several very interesting minerals are found near. The chief source of interest is, however, derived from the noble forms of broken rock, and the thick vegetation that comes down almost to the water's edge. Considering its wild beauty, it is singular that this little bay, so near the town, is not more frequently visited and better known.

Mounting the cliff at this point, we reach Jerbourg Point, where a column has been erected in honour of Sir John Doyle, a former governor, to whom the island was indebted for its roads, and for numerous improvements.

The views from hence, and also from the rocks about a quarter of a mile beyond, are very fine. The promontory on which the column is placed, forms the south-eastern extremity of Guernsey. It is the nearest point in the island to Jersey, being somewhat less than eighteen miles north-east of Cape Grosnez, in that island. The height of the cliff at the base of the column is about 300 feet. Beyond the foot of the cliff there are several detached rocks, rising out of deep water. The depth of water almost immediately outside Jerbourg Point, and close to these rocks, is at least twenty fathoms.

The Island and Coast of Guernsey – Part 1

My post today is a selection from "The Channel Islands" by David Thomas Ansted and Robert Gordon Latham, published in 1865. Most travel guides look at the population, the sights to visit, something of the history, but this is an exception. It begins by looking at the geography of the Islands, and then considers how it his has shaped their subsequent history, so it is a bit different from the general guidebook.

The Island and Coast of Guernsey – Part 1

Guernsey is a wedge of granite, serving, like the Casquets, as one of the last remaining outworks of a tract of ancient land, at the entrance of the English Channel. It is the most westerly and exposed island of the Channel; covering and sheltering, by its position, several smaller islands. It is admirably adapted, in time of peace, to build ships and hold communication with the world; and it has been found equally well adapted, in time of war, to fit out and receive privateers, to destroy and harass the trade of an enemy.

The geographical position of Guernsey is as follows:—it lies between 49° 25' and 49° 31' north latitude, and between 2° 307 and 2° 41' west longitude. Its shape is triangular, two sides of the island making a right angle at the small south-eastern promontory of Jerbourg. The hypotenuse, or longer side of the triangle, bears nearly south-west and north-east, and measures about nine and a-half statute miles in length.

From south to north (on the east side) the length is about six and a-half miles, and from east to west (on the south side) about seven miles. These distances do not include the outlying rocks. The total area of land and rock, at low water, is rather more than twenty-four square miles, the measurement usually recognised giving 15,560 English acres. Of this area, about 10,000 acres are under cultivation.

The whole of the southern part of Guernsey consists of a plateau, with very few undulations, slightly broken at various places by narrow ravines; some towards the sea, and others landwards. The surface is almost entirely cultivated, and covered with farms.

By far the finest coast scenery of the island, is that produced where this plateau terminates abruptly towards the sea. Whether on the plateau itself, looking down the valleys which conduct to the various little bays and coves, some rocky and some sandy, we notice the wooded scenery of the island opening out to the sea; or, wandering round on the cliffs, follow the outline of the rocks, and notice the wild and picturesque beauties from point to point, to the westernmost extremity of the island; we shall be sure to find everywhere a combination of the beautiful with the grand, not easily matched in other parts of the British Islands, or indeed of Western Europe.

The highest part of the island is at Haut-nez, above Icart Point; and is 349 feet above mean tide. This elevation continues, with very little change, along the whole of the south coast. Towards the north, the land falls somewhat gradually; and at length dies away to the sea level, before the northern extremity of the island is reached.

Until within a comparatively recent period, the sea, at high water, could wash across the island from the Grande Havre to St. Sampson's Harbour, crossing the tract of land called the Braye du Val; a part of which, though now reclaimed and cultivated, still contains a brackish-water pond, from which the sea is kept out by embankments. 

It has been doubted, and with some reason, whether anything has been gained by reclaiming this land, without leaving a ship canal of salt water. Beyond the Braye to the north, there is a tract of low ground, much of it covered with sand; and ledges of rocks extend in every direction, far beyond the extreme low water mark. Still beyond this, to the north-east and west, are numerous outlying rocks, rising out of deep water, to a distance of more than two miles. The largest of these rocks is the Silleuse.

A singular fringe of rocks, rising from the sea-bottom to the surface from various depths up to twenty fathoms, entirely surrounds the whole island of Guernsey. Off the steep south coast, the depth increases most rapidly, and the rocks are there nearer the shore than to the east, north, and north-west. In these latter directions, the number of rocks, at all times of tide, is almost countless; but at dead low water, they present an appearance only to be matched where coral reefs rise out of a tropical sea, as mushrooms out of the ground on an August night—limited only by the space open to them.

The most important of the defined groups of outlying rocks, towards the Channel, are the Hanois (Hanways), the Sambule and the Grunes, which follow in succession parallel to the south-western side of Guernsey, at a distance of about two miles from the shore.

The islet of Lihou, connected by a reef with the land at low water, is nearer, and requires separate notice. They are all either granitic, or veins in granite. 

The principal rocks are the Hanois, on one of which is a light-house. It is built throughout, in the soundest manner, of Cornish granite, each stone dovetailed, and the whole solid to a considerable height.

Les Hanois Lighthouse was constructed between 1860 and 1862 to a new design by James Douglass, and was first lit on 8 December 1862. 

The middle of the eastern coast of Guernsey, from Vale Castle to beyond Castle Cornet, is called Belgrave Bay. It is a wide open bay with a shingle and sand beach, from which the land gradually into the interior, to a moderate height. The country behind is pretty, and the approach from the sea is picturesque.

On the northern side of this bay are the small town and natural harbour of St. Sampson's; and at the southern extremity is St. Peter's Port, the principal town of the island. North of St. Sampson's, are the rocks, covered with loose sands, of l'Ancresse; and south of St. Peter's Port, the cliffs rise almost immediately, and are crowned by Fort George. 

Castle Cornet, situated on a ledge of rocks, about a quarter of a mile from the shore, was formerly disconnected, except at very low water, but is now united to the main island by the south arm of the new harbour.

St. Peter's Port presents a straggling frontage of nearly a mile and a-half towards the sea. Along the whole of this distance and beyond, nearly to St. Sampson's, the sea is kept off by a permanent sea wall and esplanade. The buildings near the sea are irregular, and for the most part poor; but not unpicturesque from a distance. Behind them the rising ground is much broken and is covered with houses and other buildings, rising one behind another, and crowned by several constructions of greater pretensions, though scarcely in better taste.

Of these buildings, one of the most prominent and by no means the least pleasing, is the Victoria tower, commemorative of the Queen's visit in 1846. Another is the College, built in a style which it would be unfair to call Gothic, except in a sense now exploded. Castle Carey, built as a private habitation, but now the Government House, is another rather anomalous pile: these, with one or two churches, in a mongrel style, popular about half a century ago, but not at present in favour, form the more prominent objects: bad as they are, they cannot destroy the picturesque effect produced by the shape of the ground, and by the considerable variety of domestic architecture which still remains, and is characteristic of the island.

There is, however, fronting the sea, although in a position too low to command attention or attract notice from a distance, a really important ecclesiastical building, known as the Town Church. It is far superior in design and execution, as well as in historical interest, to any old building within the compass of the Channel Islands, and might well bear comparison with many in England or the Low Countries. 

It is, unfortunately, still crowded with galleries, which interfere greatly with the effect, but it well deserves examination, and reflects the highest credit on all concerned in restoring it from the state of neglect into which it had fallen during the last century. It contains much new work added to and replacing the old.

The style is Flamboyant Gothic, but with many marks of early work retained. The painted windows are modern, but very good. A new window has recently been presented by the Lieutenant-governor of Guernsey, General Slade.

The Geography of Alderney – Part 2

My post today is a selection from "The Channel Islands" by David Thomas Ansted and Robert Gordon Latham, published in 1865. Most travel guides look at the population, the sights to visit, something of the history, but this is an exception. It begins by looking at the geography of the Islands, and then considers how it his has shaped their subsequent history, so it is a bit different from the general guidebook.

The Geography of Alderney – Part 2

Although the coast certainly affords the principal objects of interest in Alderney, there are other not trifling matters on the plateau. The town itself is pretty much what might be expected from the circumstances of its origin and growth. A vast multitude of new, small, plain houses, covers the part looking towards the new harbour. There is nothing either in their design or execution, that requires a single remark. There are few public buildings except the new church, and not one of them exhibits anything but the worst style and most vulgar taste, if we except an Independent chapel, now being built, which is creditable, even elegant.

The new parish church, however, forms a marked exception. Placed unfortunately in a depression, and not on the top of the high ground, the massive early English style selected prevents it from being favourably seen, except from one or two points, not easily reached. Thus its noble and severe proportions, instead of being felt as elements of strength and beauty, as they would have been, had the building occupied a commanding position on so small an island in an open sea, now communicate an opposite impression, and some of the best parts of the design cannot be at all appreciated.

Still it is a remarkable building, and does great credit to its eminent designer, Mr. Gilbert Scott. The walls are of island sand-stone, with quoins of Caen stone—a selection much to be regretted, as this latter stone is eminently ill adapted for outdoor work, in such a climate as that of Alderney. Accordingly, although not constructed more than fifteen years, all the faces of these stones on west and south-west exposures, are scaling and falling away.

Except the doors, which want size and importance, and the windows, which, oven for the style, seem extremely narrow, the exterior of this fine church must be regarded as satisfactory, if we exclude from consideration the unfortunate want of adaptation of the building to its site. Within, few modern churches could be pointed out, which show better taste and feeling for the sacred purpose of their construction. Everything here harmonises, and even the smallness of the windows is not objectionable, so soft and well arranged is the light.

A beautiful circular apse, at the extremity of the choir, forms a proper finish, and is connected with the building by an arch of exquisite proportions. The roof is simple and effective, not at all prominent, rather original and very ingenious, while there reigns throughout a mixture of order and variety that cannot but please the most fastidious taste.

The church is a worthy memorial of the family of Le Mesurier, long the hereditary governors of the island; and was erected, with that intention, by the son of the last of the hereditary governors, Lieut. General Le Mesurier.

An extremely fine portrait and good picture, said to be by Opie, representing this active and energetic officer, is suspended in the Court house. It is a picture, remarkable as well for its drawing as its colouring; evidently true to nature, and rendering, without flattery, the higher qualities of the intellect; and this in a manner rarely seen in English art.

Outside the town, and in the open country, away from the cliff, there is not much in Alderney that is interesting to the general tourist. The geologist will find some remarks that may be worth attention, in the chapter devoted to that subject; and, the antiquarian, if also a geologist, may study to advantage a number of supposed cromlechs, which, in comparatively recent times, seem to have been far more perfect than they now are.

In one part of the island, near Fort Touraille l[ater to be re-named Fort Albert following the death of the Prince Consort] , called les Rockers, a common is strewn with a vast multitude of round blocks of granite. These have not really been water-worn, as might besupposed. Similar blocks exist in great abundance, just below the surface. Those standing alone on the surface are probably in situ; but, where several are near together, especially if arranged in any order or heaped one upon another, they have, perhaps, been removed a short distance.

There are few trees in Alderney, except in the two or three small valleys opening to the sea, on the side facing the Channel. Over the whole of the plateau, the land is naked, and divided into long, narrow strips by a few boundary marks; or, at the most, by low stone fences. Near the edge, the ground is usually uncultivated, and is often not very easy to walk upon, as it slopes rapidly, and terminates abruptly in steep and dangerous cliffs.

Alderney is amply supplied with water, obtained from wells in most parts of the island, and from a few small running streams. The water is of good quality.

From Alderney, towards the west, there extend several groups of islands and rocks, with two intervening channels of moderate width and small depth. About a mile from the south-western part of Alderney, but leaving a safe passage of not more than a few hundred yards, extends a large shoal, from which rise several islands and rocks. This shoal is about two and a-half miles from north-east to south-west, and a mile and a-half wide.

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The nearest islands, called the Burhou Islands, are almost flat, and of considerable size. One of them is nearly half a mile in length. They are all uninhabited; but a house has been erected on the largest islet, to shelter fishermen and others, who may be driven to land there by stress of weather. The shape of this land is broken and rather picturesque; and a multitude of small rocks run out, at low water, making the length, at such times, nearly three times as great as at high water.



The passage between Alderney and the Burhou shoal, is called the "Passe au Singe," Anglicised into "the Swinge." It is always dangerous, and often unapproachable; and, in the narrowest part, there is barely ten fathoms of water. It is funnel shaped, widest towards the north-east. The width is least between the Burhou Islands and the rocky bay included in that part of Alderney extending from Mont Torgee to the Clonque.

A second similar range of low islets extends behind. Other rocks are continued, at intervals, until we reach the singular and picturesque islet, called Ortach. This rocky mass, well shown in the engraving at the end of this chapter, from a sketch taken about three miles to the south-east, is about sixty feet in height; and is a striking object from the south, being seen, in clear weather, at a distance of upwards of twelve miles. Towards the south, it goes down vertically into the sea to a depth of sixty or seventy feet; but, on the west side, a ledge of rock runs out from it, at a depth of fourteen feet below low water. Not far from it to the south-east, is a concealed rock, called the " Pierre au Vraic," over which the water dashes and foams incessantly, even in the calmest weather.

Between the Burhou islands and Ortach rock, and the rocks farther westward, there is a passage called the Passe d'Ortach, wider and deeper than the Swinge, but even more dangerous, owing to the peculiar set of the tides. This passage separates the shoal already described from the group of rocks terminating with the Casquets.

The latter rocks are very important, from their position in the Channel. They are nearly midway between England and France; and rise abruptly out of deep water, in the direct line of a ship's course advancing up channel, whether from the Atlantic, the Bay of Biscay, or St. George's Channel.

The Casquets group of rocks is about a mile and a-half in length, from west to east, and about half a mile across. The northern islet, which is of conical form, and bears the light towers, is about 100 feet above high water spring tide; the southern islet is much lower, and flat-topped. They both rise rom a mass of rock uncovered at low water, from which rise six other large rocks. To the east the mass extends for some distance, terminating abruply in a large rock, named Cottette Point.

The light-houses are three in number, each having a catoptric light of the first order, revolving, and eclipsed at intervals of twenty seconds. The height of the lights above high water is 113 feet. The lights are visible at sea to a distance of fifteen miles in clear weather. They are seen perfectly in ordinary weather from the high ground of Guernsey, at a distance of twenty miles. A bell is sounded in foggy weather.

The first effective lights at the Casquets were placed in 1790, preceding which date there had been for about eighty years a partial light, at first merely of burning coals, and afterwards oil lights, in a copper frame. Many wrecks are recorded to have taken place upon them before this time.

In spite of the remarkable and distinctive character of the triple light, a Russian man-of-war was lost on the rocks in the beginning of the present century. The circumstances of the wreck are worthy of note. It is supposed that the ship first made the Casquets in coming up channel, so as to keep two in one, retaining this position till she came abreast of the rock. On then opening the third light the pilot discovered his error, and endeavouring to extricate the ship, actually fell into the destruction that had by accident been avoided.

Several banks, some rocks that occasionally appear above water, and some banks of sunken rocks, rising out of deep water to within a few fathoms of the surface, surround the Casquets. These produce a swell and disturbance of the sea at all times, which render the whole group very difficult and dangerous to approach. A little to the north-east of the eastern rocks are the "Pommier" banks, covered with only three or four fathoms water.

There are two landing-places for boats on the Casquets; but there is rarely a possibility of using them, owing to the incessant swell and frequent breaking of large waves. The two landing-places are hardly ever accessible at the same time. The provisions and oil are supplied monthly from Guernsey; but it is always thought right that three months' provision should be kept on the rock. Fish and lobsters are caught around and on the rocks. Water is saved from the rain in cisterns, and there is or was a small spring.*

About a mile and a-half from the Casquets to the S.S.W., is a singular bank of coarse sand, nearly three and a-half miles in length, by half a mile wide, the top of which is more than ten fathoms below the surface, but is a steep ridge, narrow at the top, and bearing about S.S.E. This is generally described as the Casquets' middle or S.S.W. bank, and there is reason to suppose that this direction may have applied to it at the time of Admiral White's survey, although it is now not only very much smaller in extent, but altogether different in position. This ridge is probably one of the results of the peculiar course of the tides, part of the tidal wave sweeping between Jersey and Guernsey, and so through the Swinge and Ortach passage, while another part coasts the island of Guernsey, passing outside the Casquets.

About five miles due south of the island of Alderney, is a very extensive bank and shoal, measuring about seven miles by two, and covered by only ten feet water at the lowest tides. It lies in a direct line between the Race of Alderney, and the entrance to the great Russel. This is the Banc du Schole. It is shifting and very dangerous, as the sea breaks on all parts of it. It is composed of sand, gravel, and shells. It appears to be broadening.

The projecting line of rock extending from the coast of France, near Cherbourg, to the Casquets, may therefore be regarded as a kind of natural gigantic breakwater, forming the northern arm of the great hay in which the main groups of the Channel Islands are contained.

If the sea-bottom, which is in very few parts so much as twenty fathoms deep, were elevated a hundred and twenty feet, the island of Alderney, the Burhou and Ortach group, and the Casquets, would be connected by low land, and form a narrow island about twelve miles long. The eastern extremity of this island would approach within a few miles the coast of France, and it would range nearly parallel to the south coast of England, between Weymouth and the Isle of Wight. Each extremity would rise three or four hundred feet above the sea level, and a hill of similar elevation would be seen about midway, but with these exceptions the land would be low, irregular, and rocky, not unlike the northern parts of Guernsey and Alderney.

Taking, however, the land at the level at which we now find it, this large island is reduced to a multitude of rocks and a few small islands, the fragments of a more extensive district.

The Geography of Alderney – Part 1

My post today is a selection from "The Channel Islands" by David Thomas Ansted and Robert Gordon Latham, published in 1865. Most travel guides look at the population, the sights to visit, something of the history, but this is an exception. It begins by looking at the geography of the Islands, and then considers how it his has shaped their subsequent history, so it is a bit different from the general guidebook.

It is perhaps especially pertinent, as Alderney residents have made the news recently, as they voiced their anger about controversial plans to run a nuclear power cable through the island at the September States Meeting. The FAB electricity project will use Alderney as a connection point to pump electricity across Channel.

While bringing much needed income, the Alderney Debate Group commented on adverse effects:

"The FAB Link project is planned to dig interconnector power and fibre optic cables through our prime beaches and the environmentally and culturally sensitive Longis Common. The interconnector cables are important to France and Britain, but for the island they will bring minimal benefits."

Here is a look at those beaches, and the geographical and geological nature of Alderney.

The Geography of Alderney – Part 1
by David Thomas Ansted and Robert Gordon Latham

A formidable mass of hard rock, forming the north-western extremity of the Cotentin and terminated by Cape la Hague, serves as a buttress protecting that part of Normandy which ranges northwards from Mont St. Michel.

This headland is separated by a narrow channel of no great depth from the northernmost of the three principal groups of the Channel Islands; and, through this channel, the sea, at high spring tides, sweeps at the rate of eight miles an hour, in a steady current. From the rocks beyond Cape la Hague, to those that fringe Alderney (the nearest land), there is a distance of only six miles, of which little more than two miles exceeds twenty fathoms in depth. This passage is called the Race (or Ras) of Alderney. The extreme distance from the Cape la Hague to the nearest land of Alderney, is about eight and a-half miles, the direction being nearly due west.

Alderney is the largest and principal island of the northern group; and, as a military position, it may be regarded as the Ehrenbreitstein of the English Channel. It is oblong, or long oval, in form, lying north-east and south-west. It lies between 39° 42- and 39° 44- north latitude; and between 2° 9 1/2- and 2° 14- west longitude.

One half of the island, divided by a line running east and west from the Braye to Longy, is high; the extreme height being about 280 feet. The length of the island from north-east to south-west, is about three and a-half miles, and its width about one mile. The greater part of the island is a flat table land, more or less cultivated. The land continues flat to the edge of the south-eastern and southern cliffs, which are wonderfully grand, and there descends almost vertically into the sea, presenting to the lover of fine scenery, a succession of magnificent examples of broken and perpendicular walls of rock. On the north side of the island, the ground slopes gradually towards a succession of bays, more or less tame.

It will now be desirable to communicate to the reader some idea of the island, by a survey of the coast. Approaching from Guernsey, the exceedingly lofty and abrupt cliffs of Alderney are somewhat masked by a number of detached rocks or islets, lying a short distance from the south-western extremity of the land.

A still nearer approach separates them, and shows something of their magnitude and importance. This coast terminates at a small battery or rock fortress, standing out about a furlong from the land, with which it connects by a causeway.

The Clonque, as this fortress is named, is the first of an important series of defences which run round nearly five miles of coast, reaching from the Clonque to Fort Essex. The Clonque is situated near the south-western extremity of the island, and the part of the coast requiring defence includes not only the whole of the side of the island facing the north-west, but the whole northern extremity, and about a mile of the side facing southeast. The rest of the south-eastern side and the southern extremity, are naturally defended, and may safely be left to take care of themselves.

The form of Alderney has been mentioned. The ground rises from the sea, on the north-western side, in some places by a gradual slope, and in others by a succession of terraces, to a plateau about 250 feet above the sea level. The whole of the coast is rocky; on one side (the west) there is a cliff of irregular angular blocks of granite, fallen away from above, and deposited as a natural talus, reaching about half way up the ancient cliff*. On the other side, is a bluff precipice of rock, reaching to the sea, and defended by an outer barrier, or fringe of granite islands. Beyond the heap of detritus on the west side, there is also a fringe of unbroken portions of the granite rising out of the sea.

The talus, just described, extends from the Clonque towards the north-east to the commencement of the new harbour, and renders it impossible to strengthen this part of the island except by coast forts adapted to resist a landing on the dangerous shores of the bays that exist between the Clonque and Touraille forts.

Of these bays there are three; the westernmost, Clonque Bay, is between the Clonque and Fort Torgee. It is very rocky, and not deeply indented; nor is the land very approachable from it. The next is the Plat Saline, extending to Fort Doyle, between which and Grosnez is a small bay, called Crabbic. There are sands at low water in these two bays. At Grosnez, the pier commences. On the side of the Plat Saline, nearest Fort Torgee, is a pretty opening communicating with a valley, giving easy access to the interior of the island, and connecting with other valleys opening in the opposite direction, at a point called Tres Vaux, or Three Valleys.

These valleys terminate abruptly at a lofty, vertical cliff. The part of the rock out of which these valleys are scooped is an exceedingly rotten granitic vein, readily acted on by the weather. A small stream of water comes down to the western coast, and has been made use of to turn a wheel. Roads communicate from the Plat Saline to the town, which lies above, on the plateau, at a short distance.

A neck of land, near Cape Grosnez, is called the Braye, and gives its name to the next bay—the largest and most important of all, and the one selected for the new harbour.

From the extremity of this headland, on which is a strong fort, the long arm of the western pier or breakwater takes its origin. The distance of this point from the opposite land of the bay, is about 1,200 yards, this being therefore the effective width of the natural bay. The curve is nearly semicircular, but the bottom is rocky and at present shallow. Much blasting and clearing out will therefore be necessary; and owing to the direction taken by the west breakwater, the harbour must always be inconvenient.

The harbour originally projected required the construction of two small breakwaters: one, 900 yards to the east from Cape Grosnez; and another, north-west from Roselle Point, running out 400 yards. These would have enclosed the natural bay.

To enlarge this design (which was originally either too much or too little), it was determined to alter the direction of the west breakwater to east north-east. This has involved a large quantity of work done in water upwards of twenty fathoms deep, and has completely cut across the excellent anchorage that might have been secured by carrying the breakwater from rock to rock.

Had this latter work been decided on, a magnificent harbour would have been secured at a comparatively small expense. Nearly a million sterling has now been expended on the 1200 yards of the west breakwater at present carried out. The east breakwater is not yet commenced.

The effect of the breakwater hitherto has been to shelter a considerable part of the anchorage from west and south-west gales. There were originally several rocks within the space enclosed, but most of these have been lowered to a sufficient depth to render the harbour safe even for large vessels.

The annexed plan represents the present state of the works, and the two methods suggested for completing the harbour are indicated by broken lines.

Great as the error has been in the construction of this harbour, and although, beyond doubt, the accommodation, when completed, will be far less and far worse than it ought to have been, no policy could be more absurd or suicidal than to stop or check the works in their present state.

The shelter that will be afforded when the works are completed is an object of great importance. To obtain this, vast sums have been expended in constructing a long series of forts, to command efficiently some five miles of coast. It is in this harbour that our merchant ships would look for safety in the event of war. It is here that gun boats and other ships of war would collect;—to this place they would repair for coal and stores;—here they might refit, and hence they might issue to cut off and destroy an enemy stationed at Cherbourg.

If the Channel Islands are to be preserved—and that the possession of these islands means the possession of the Channel, is more than ever the case now—it can only be by rendering Alderney useful as well as strong; and much of this usefulness consists in there being a harbour of refuge. It is not now the time to consider what might have been done better; but it is a very serious question indeed, what can be done best with the materials still at our command.

On the northern side of the harbour is a hill of no great height, but of an exceedingly hard porphyritic rock, which has been strengthened, and on which is constructed the principal defence of the island. This is Fort Touraille. Beyond it is another, much smaller, but also important work—the Chateau d'Etoc. Between the two forts is another rocky little bay.

At the foot of a small hill near Fort Touraille is the first of a series of extensive quarries, opened and worked for the purposes of the harbour. The stone here is a grit-stone, partly fine and partly coarse-grained; moderately hard, compact, and capable of being worked in blocks of considerable size.*

This kind of sand-stone rock forms the whole of a small, low promontory at the north-easternmost extremity of the island. In a military sense, this extremity is the weakest point of the island. The coast is low, and though certainly very rocky, and with a considerable current generally driving past, it might, in favourable weather, be made use of for landing men and artillery.

To strengthen as much as possible this part of the island, no less than six forts and batteries have been constructed, the total length of coast-line being only about two miles; but it still remains weak, should an attack be made with mail-clad ships able to silence the batteries. There would be no difficulty in constructing a deep and wide canal, detaching this weak part of Alderney altogether, reducing the number of men and guns required for the defence of the place, and greatly strengthening the remaining defences, by rendering the landing of artillery almost impossible, except in Braye Harbour or the Plat Saline.

This little promontory of sand-stone has several small rocky bays, the last and largest of which, and that which cuts deepest into the shore, is called Longy Bay. Sand partly covers the rocks in all these bays; but the grit-stone rises in small jagged ledges and angular blocks, often extremely picturesque, and giving a curious appearance to the shore at low water.

A small island of sand-stone is connected by a causeway with the northern side of Longy Bay. It is called the 'Isle du Ras'—the island of the Race (of Alderney)—a name corrupted into Rat Island. On it is a fort of some importance. Similar islands, occupied by forts and communicating by causeways, may be seen to the east and west of the northernmost point of Alderney, completing, as far as possible, the defences of those parts of the coast regarded as assailable.

The scenery of the coast, from the Clonque round to Longy, is not either grand or very picturesque. There are some small valleys with a few trees; but for the most part, the aspect of the land is naked and tame. Fort Touraille is an exception; and, from its severe simplicity of outline, it impresses one more with an idea of strength than any other part of the island. It is well placed, the approaches are few, and the intensely hard porphyritic rock on which it is built has been made available on all sides.

From Longy Bay the rest of the south-eastern part of the island, a distance of nearly five miles, offers succession of grand and beautiful examples of cliff scenery. These, however, are only approachable with some little difficulty, by following the line of the cliff and descending from place to place where the ground admits.

There is hardly a single point along this whole coast at which it is possible to reach the sea without incurring greater trouble and risk than the occasion altogether warrants; but, without this, enough may be done to satisfy the lover of the picturesque, however severe and critical his taste may be.

Commencing at Longy, one can ascend the steep cliff to the south by a good road, which continues as far as Fort Essex, where is a very curious little tower, said to be of great antiquity. From this, a rough climb conducts to the Roche Pendante, one of the most magnificent isolated masses of sand-stone rock to be seen. This grand pinnacle rises from a heap of broken fragments of sand-stone, but is itself a part of the cliff. The separation is a narrow gorge, whose walls are absolutely vertical. The rock, having a stratification parallel with that of the cliff, stands—a huge, square block of stone—on a base, whose area is some two or three thousand square feet. It is at least thirty, perhaps forty, feet in height, and there is another similar but smaller block a little below, which again connects with a succession of rocky eminences extending out into the sea.

A noble view is obtained from the rocks at the foot of the Roche Pendante, the sand-stone being seen in a succession of stratified plates, dipping away into the sea, and covering the cliffs as far as the cliffs can be seen. Many inlets occur, and each of them presents peculiar and beautiful features, produced by numerous thinly-bedded grey rocks, coated with lichens, projecting beyond the soil.

Passing on along the slope of the cliff, the grit-stone may be walked on for more than a mile. It then ceases, and is succeeded by deep hollows, alternating with bold, narrow ridges of hard granitic rock, several of the granitic masses extending out to sea, and forming detached islands.

The cliffs are here, without exception, far too steep to render a descent possible; but one can generally perceive the nature of the coast, by going some distance down on the deeply shelving slope, overgrown with broom, heather and grass. At one place a huge arched rock is seen, the light piercing through from the further side. In another, is a small beach, covered with black sand, mixed up with numerous large rounded blocks of granite. Here the rocks descend at once into a deep black pool; there the water is so clear that the rocky bottom is visible from the cliffs above, although their height is nearly 200 feet.

Continuing to work our way round the various inlets, we come again, after a time, to the sand-stone, of which there is a second small patch, quarried near the top of the cliff, and seen reaching the sea.* Afterwards there is nothing but naked and rough granite and porphyry. Wonderfully broken and precipitous are the cliffs thus formed.

Many of them are quite vertical, either to the sea or to very small bays, where the water is seen foaming and boiling in the most extraordinary manner. From one headland to another—round great hollow depressions, where the granite is soft and decomposing—along parts of the cliff where wide cracks at the surface show the possibility of the ground sinking under his feet, the visitor may pick his way, rewarded occasionally by bursts of unexpected grandeur and beauty. The cliffs are often so vertical, that one may look down to the sea rolling in at one's feet, and across a narrow inlet perceive clearly the geological structure of an opposite cliff. There is one spot in particular, where a wall of rock, a couple of hundred feet deep, displays a beautiful olive-coloured porphyry, crossed by great horizontal veins of flesh-coloured feldspar, succeeding one another at intervals down to the sea line.

The scenery of the cliffs varies a good deal, and much of it is almost peculiar to Alderney. In many places depressions of the surface are observable, and one is obliged either to make a wide circuit, or descend a deep hollow. Two or three such scoopings out of the surface are passed on the south-east coast. They correspond to the presence of a peculiarly decomposing rotten material, that alternates with the harder parts of the rock. As there are generally hard walls to these softer hollows, they are often in the highest degree picturesque, for the action of the sea having worn away a deep inlet, the wall of rock on each side allows of the inlet being approached pretty closely without inconvenience.

Up one such hollow the telegraph wire communicating from Portland, through Alderney, to Guernsey and Jersey, has been brought. It is now unfortunately useless, and must remain so, until by taking advantage of late surveys of the Channel, and making a cable adapted to the amount of wear it is likely to undergo, some rational plan is suggested for re-laying the whole line. Certainly, no one acquainted with the Channel, would have expected that the cable, as laid down, could long resist those numerous destructive agencies to which it was sure to be exposed between England and Alderney.

Towards the south-western extremity of the island there is a succession of very bold and grand cliffs, beyond which is a reef of picturesque rocks, some of them of large size. At length we come in sight of Clonque Battery, and the little island beyond, marking the termination of the bold liue of coast. The fragments of a magnificent Druidical monument may be traced on the cliff at this point.

It is the fashion, and has become almost a tradition, to speak of Alderney as a desolate station, offering no single object of interest, and nothing to occupy any rational person for many hours. But those who are capable of appreciating grand, rocky scenery, and who are able to look at it; persons who would regard Wales, Scotland and Switzerland, as worth visiting for themselves, for their wild beauty, and for the sublimity of their scenery, ought not to complain of this remarkable island. Such persons may, beyond a doubt, find along the coast we have been describing, quite as much grandeur and beauty as they have anywhere seen in a day's ramble.

And although there is certainly no extended line of this fine rocky cliff, owing to the smallness of the island, still even a distance of only five miles, where every hundred yards exhibits something worth pausing to admire, will occupy a good deal of time. A considerable drawback exists, owing to the great difficulty, often amounting to impossibility, of getting down safely to the water's edge, and rambling on from point to point, at low tide, as can be done in Sark.

To get to the small beaches a boat is necessary; and it is not often, even in weather apparently fine, that boatmen would be found willing to venture so near the shore as to enable one to visit the beaches, and examine closely the naked rocks and the caverns.

How Geography Shaped the Politics and Economy of the Channel Islands

My post today is a selection from "The Channel Islands" by David Thomas Ansted and Robert Gordon Latham, published in 1865. Most travel guides look at the population, the sights to visit, something of the history, but this is an exception. It begins by looking at the geography of the Islands, and then considers how this has shaped their subsequent history, so it is a bit different from the general guidebook.

How Geography Shaped the Politics and Economy of the Channel Islands
by David Thomas Ansted and Robert Gordon Latham

That the Channel Islands possess great importance as military stations, and are capable of affording refuge to shipping in time of war, is a fact that has always been felt, and from time to time acted on by Great Britain. Large sums of public money have been expended in fortifying them and commencing harbours. The harbours, however, at present available, have been constructed entirely at the expense of the islanders.

Perfect freedom from customs'-duties, and all other taxation for the benefit of England, an absence of interference with local laws, and even a permission to use in the public courts, and for public occasions, the French language, and to employ French coins in circulation, has been granted without question.

That a people so governed should be loyal, and should do all in their power to retain the customs and privileges under which they have so long flourished, is not surprising. That islanders should be hardy boatmen, and but indifferent agriculturists, might also be expected; and that a people so greatly favoured by nature in climate and fertile soil, and by political circumstances in their local governments, should be free and independent, jealous of interference, and rather proud of what they have already done, than careful to adopt new systems of which they have had no experience, is neither to be wondered at nor blamed.

In visiting these possessions, therefore, or while reading an account of them, the traveller in the one case, and the reader in the other, will do well to bear in mind, that both place and subject are neutral ground. The islands can neither be regarded properly from an English nor from a continental point of view. The people have customs, venerable from age and historical association,—customs, superseded in Normandy and England, but not, perhaps, the less adapted to small communities.

They have a language which, in its peculiarities, must be regarded as unformed rather than deformed. They are, in Guernsey especially, and in some respects also elsewhere, singularly tenacious of their family ties, and apt to narrow, rather than extend, their social circle. They are, in a word, islanders rather than English.

It must also be borne in mind, that hardly any Celtic element is recognisable in these islanders. They are not like the Manx men, the Welsh, or the Bretons. They are Normans, but Normans of the old school. Norman freemen, before there were Norman barons and vassals of the crown, retaining the northern love of independence, and not at all the Gallic tendency to depend on the fostering hand of a central government.

They thus offer curious points of character; and, till lately, the mass of the population in some of the islands had undergone marvellously little change.

But the time of change has come. Roads, steam-boats, and public works, have already so far altered the peculiar features of the larger islands and the national peculiarities of their inhabitants, that we must now seek for many quaint and interesting characteristics that, only a few years ago, openly presented themselves in the streets and market places.

The cultivation of the land is improving; legitimate trade has assumed large proportions; excellent roads, and noble piers, quays and harbours, have been constructed at vast expense; and to provide funds for these, the inhabitants have been contented to tax themselves very heavily. Prices of all kinds of food, house-rent, and other necessary items of expenditure, have become gradually higher and higher,—have approximated, in fact, more and more to the prices of similar articles in the great centres of population; so that now, the islands have almost ceased to tempt the possessors of small incomes and large families to migrate thither. In the place of these, of whom, however, many remain, there is a rapid increase in the number of tourists, who flock over by hundreds, in search of health, amusement and relaxation; and who will find their time well spent in examining the numerous objects of interest that here abound. It is desirable to clear the way for their benefit, and state briefly and what is distinctly remarkable and best worthy of notice in every part of our little channel archipelago; and in the history, antiquities, science, natural history and literature belonging to its various members.

To give the reader some idea of the very great number of islands, islets, rocks and shoals, forming the Channel Islands, a list is subjoined of the various groups, as named in charts; and to this is appended the proximate area, in square miles, of the space each group may be considered to occupy.

It must be understood, that the area given is not that of the actual land. In some of the groups, the surface of rock exposed at high water is not more than a few square yards in area, for every square mile of dangerous surrounding sea; but, estimating the dimensions by the extent of dangerous water, a very fair idea will be formed of the relative importance of each group in navigation. It would, perhaps, have been interesting, had it been possible, to state the number of rocks beyond a certain size, visible at all times of tide; but no sufficient materials exist for this.

In this list, the names of all those islands that are regularly inhabited are indicated by a star (*). Several of the others are occasionally visited during summer, either for herbage or as fishing stations, and on them are huts or other buildings. The most important of them are the Burhou larger island, the 'Maitresse lie' of the Minquiers, some of the larger of the Ecrehou rocks, and some of the Chaussey islands. On the Ecrehou rocks are remains of buildings of great antiquity, said to be constructed of stone brought from the main land of France.

In addition to this long list of names, each of which represents a group, and often a very numerous group of rocks, there are many smaller groups, and a multitude, almost countless, of detached rocks, either visible at some time of tide, or dangerous to navigation from the sea breaking over them. Close to the French shore, both of Brittany and Normandy, but especially the former, the rocks and shoals are almost too numerous to be marked in any chart.

A very important chain of light-houses indicates, by a line of fire, the outlying points of the Channel Islands and the whole adjacent land.

From Cape la Hague, in Normandy, to Les Heaux, in Brittany, there are no less than thirteen lights, several of them of the first class, placed at intervals on the French coast. The Casquets light, and a light recently placed on the Hanois rocks, near Guernsey, mark the approach to the islands from the Channel; while various coast and harbour lights on all the principal islands assist in pointing out to the mariner the dangers that exist to navigation and the welcome refuge offered.

The subjoined cut represents the Chasse marie, a kind of French coasting vessel, characteristic of the Channel, and often seen in Guernsey seeking shelter from westerly gales. These craft are extremely picturesque, and were formerly common. Diminished smuggling and improved navigation have rendered their visits less frequent of late years.

The Channel Islands in 1865 - Part 2

My post today is a selection from "The Channel Islands" by David Thomas Ansted and Robert Gordon Latham, published in 1865. Most travel guides look at the population, the sights to visit, something of the history, but this is an exception. It begins by looking at the geography of the Islands, and then considers how this has shaped their subsequent history, so it is a bit different from the general guidebook.

Geography of the islands – Part 2

The course of the tidal wave through the waters that surround the Channel Islands, may be thus stated. The great wave coming in from the Atlantic, advances from the south-west, and is turned to the east. A part of it passes on to the north-east, north of the islands; but a part enters among them by various channels, and being first lifted by shoal water, and then thrown back by the coast of Normandy, it is both detained in its course, and is deflected to the north.

At Mont St. Michel, the magnitude of the wave is at its maximum. Owing to the vast extent of the shallow water, and the narrowness of the deeper passages throughout the great bay enclosing the islands, the wave remains extremely large, amounting in Jersey to nearly forty feet, in Guernsey to almost thirty, and in Alderney to about twenty feet at high spring tides; the difference between high water at spring and neap tides, being seventeen feet at the Minquiers and Jersey, eleven at Guernsey, and seven at Alderney, though sometimes very much greater on the occasion of great spring tides or equinoctial tides.

High water takes place at Jersey nearly half an hour before it reaches Guernsey, and three quarters of an hour before Alderney. The velocity of the tidal current, where not increased by narrow passages, is from two and a-half to three miles per hour.

Although the course of the tidal wave may thus be traced, the current by no means follows the same law. In this respect the complication is so great, that it would be quite impossible to describe it in detail in this place; but in a general way it may be stated, that the stream does not flow northwards with the advancing tide wave in the open channels, till the wave has been flowing three hours, and that when it has turned it continues in that direction not only till the flood has turned, but till the retiring wave has receded half its course. In other words, the stream flows from half flood to half ebb, and ebbs from half ebb to half flood. While, however, this is the case in certain channels, the direction of the stream is not only different, but often diametrically opposite, at no great distance, but somewhat nearer shore.

No wonder, then, that the rocks are jagged; no wonder the sand-banks are numerous and shifting; no wonder the ship heaves, and tosses, and groans, while forcing its way through these angry and powerful bodies of moving water. Bather is it wonderful that in all the islands the climate is so equable, and the weather generally so pleasant; that so little rain falls, so few fogs obscure the air, and so much comfort can be obtained at all seasons.

Owing to their geographical position, these islands are rich in certain departments of natural history. They are surrounded by shallow water, rocks, and sands, at a temperature very favourable for animal life. The water is always well aerated, there is abundant vegetation, and plenty of shelter in little caves and nooks. In this respect few parts of the coast of Europe, or its adjacent islands, are more rich. Zoophytes of almost all kinds, crustaceans, molluscs, and sponges, may be studied to perfection in natural rocky basins and caverns, and may be easily removed for study; while the sea-weeds and lichens are equally abundant, and equally available for natural-history investigation.

Owing to the climate, the vegetable productions of the land are equally remarkable. Having a more equable temperature than almost any part of the western shores of Europe, but not a larger rain-fall, there is every facility for cultivating whole classes of plants, elsewhere difficult to keep alive; and, though there is little intense heat in summer, still the absence of cold in winter is sufficiently marked to admit of the orange-tree bearing fruit, while the camellia is loaded with flowers in sheltered gardens, from December to March.

Placed close to Normandy, with whose early history they were intimately connected, the inhabitants of the Channel Islands have never lost the associations that were hence derived. In language and literature, and in laws and customs, they retain many early forms adapted for a young people, and thus they offer abundant material for useful study and comparison, to the ethnologist, the philologist, the student of history, and the lawyer. They have also abounded in antiquities referring to the earliest inhabitants of Western Europe, although such remains have disappeared rapidly of late years.

But chiefly are these little spots remarkable for exquisite and varied beauty of scenery. Each island has its own beauty, but all are remarkable. The artist may study for weeks the trees and ferns of a few acres of ground, or the rocks and lichens of some hundred yards of cliff; and the naturalist may wander for days over a space of a few square miles, without half exhausting its treasures.

That the Channel Islands are not known to the public generally cannot be said. But the knowledge concerning them is vague, and not at all in proportion to the interest they are calculated to afford. The islands are popularly little distinguished from each other, though essentially very different. Their magnitude and relative importance are scarcely ever appreciated by those who have not visited them; and those who do visit one, are frequently induced to pass over the others as of minor interest; although, in fact, there is hardly any resemblance in the characteristics of each, and all are worthy of a prolonged examination.

It must not be imagined that size is a criterion by which their relative interest can be guessed at, or that any of the islands can be understood by a rapid survey. There are difficulties in the way of really reaching the spots best worth seeing in all the islands, while the readily accessible views, and various points of view dwelt on in guide books, with the unction peculiar to that class of literature, cannot safely be accepted, either as those which will satisfy the true lover of the picturesque, or as in any way worthy of the exclusive notice they have been favoured with.

As in most small tracts of country where there are objects of special interest, some little time and trouble must, in fact, be devoted to their discovery. A carriage will doubtless place one near the spot where these things are to be looked for, and the roads are generally good; but a pair of legs, accustomed to convey their owner without complaint, and a steady head, not alarmed at a precipice, are necessary for any one who would do justice to nature, and seek her where she loves to linger, and where she pours forth her most valuable treasures.

As a place to visit during summer and autumn, but especially in the late autumn, up to November, it may safely be said that these islands are, beyond comparison, superior to any of the ordinary resorts of tourists, unable to reach the south of Europe. Much more varied in the style of beauty, though much smaller than the Isle of Wight, we have in most parts of Jersey and Guernsey, conditions only found in the most sheltered parts of the UnderclifF in the Isle of Wight.

The winds blow, and may be troublesome, but in the latter half of the year they are seldom cold, and never treacherous; there are then no fogs, and night frosts are extremely rare. The flowers continue to bloom, the fall of the leaf has more of softness and tenderness than of sternness, and the approach of winter is so quiet and gradual, that it is almost unheeded. There may be better summers on the Continent, though they are pleasant enough here, and the spring is ungenial in all northern latitudes; but for late autumn, there is no rival to the Channel Islands within several hundred miles.

In describing the islands, it will be best to proceed systematically, beginning with those that form the northern boundary of the tract of sea they are contained in. Those whose time is limited, cannot indeed follow this course in their travels; and many do little more than drive round Jersey and Guernsey, and spend a few hours in a fatiguing walk over the flat table land of Sark. To them this systematic course cannot fail to be useful; for though they no doubt fancy they have seen everything, they may thus discover that there remains material for another visit, when they will do well to devote time to each island in succession, and look out for the points before neglected. They may be assured, that they will find few places so small that take so long to see.

Those also who have not yet visited these outlying possessions, these ancient fiefs of our Queen, whose inhabitants regard themselves as independent of parliamentary jurisdiction, being governed by their own houses of assembly, and by officers appointed by the crown without reference to the laws of England, will be enabled thus to obtain beforehand a general glimpse of what is to be seen and studied, which may save much time and trouble when they do come.