puts them well and truly in the Golfe de St Malo off the Normandy coast of France, The French refer to them as Les Îles Anglo-Normandes, and that is the clue to their curious place in geography and history. They are the only remnants of the Duchy of Normandy to remain loyal to the Crown.
Jersey is the largest and southernmost of the islands, yet has an area of only 116km2 (45 square miles). No point on the island is more than 3.5km (2 miles) from the sea, yet it can take weeks to explore the place thoroughly.
Geology
In Britain virtually every major geological period is represented. Channel Islands geology is more closely related to structures in France. Rocks are either very ancient or relatively recent, with hundreds of millions of years missing from the middle of the geological timescale. Fossils are virtually absent and the amount of sedimentary rock is quite limited. Most of the area is made up of ancient sediments and igneous rocks which have been heated, warped, crushed, deformed, melted and metamorphosed. Further intrusions of igneous rocks cause further confusion for the beginner, but there is a basic succession that can be presented in a simplified form.
The most ancient bedrocks in the Channel Islands are metamorphic and metasediment rocks known as ‘Pentevrian’ – a term used in neighbouring France. Ancient gneisses, often containing xenoliths of other long-lost strata, feature in this early series. Dating rocks of this type is possible only by measuring radioisotopes in their mineral structures, which suggest dates of formation ranging from 2500 to 1000 million years ago. The oldest rocks occur in southern Guernsey, western Alderney and possibly on Sark.
The ‘Brioverian’ sedimentary series dates from 900 to 700 million years ago. It is represented by a broad band of mudstones, siltstones and conglomerates through Jersey. In Guernsey only a small area in the west contains these rocks, though in an altered state. One of the problems of dealing with these sediments is that even while they were being formed, they were being deformed by earthquakes, heat and pressure. Fossil remains are few, and in fact are represented only by a few worm burrows.
Following on from the formation of the Brioverian sediments, a series of igneous intrusions were squeezed into the rocks around 650 to 500 million years ago. Interestingly, both granites and gabbros were intruded, along with intermediate rock types. A host of minor sills, dykes and pipes were injected to further complicate matters. These tough, speckled, igneous rocks have been quarried all over the Channel Islands for local building and for export.
Events during the next 500 million years are conjectural, and based on geological happenings elsewhere in Britain and France. Rocks from this span of time are absent, though they are known from the surrounding sea bed. On dry land, sediments date only from the past couple of million years; as this was a time of ice ages, indications are that the climate varied from sub-tropical to sub-arctic. Sea levels fluctuated so that both raised beaches and sunken forests and peat bogs can be discerned. For much of the time, the Channel Islands were part of one landmass with Britain and France, but rising sea levels formed the English Channel and, one by one, each of the Channel Islands. Guernsey became an island around 14,000 years ago while Jersey became an island around 7000 years ago.
Jersey’s geology can be studied while walking around its rugged cliff coastline
Exhibits relating to the geology of Jersey can be studied at the Jersey Museum and La Hougue Bie. The British Geological Survey publishes detailed geological maps of the Channel Islands and there are a number of publications dealing with the subject.
Turbulent history
Little is known of the customs and traditions of nomadic Palaeolithic Man, but he hunted mammoth and woolly rhinoceros when Jersey was still part of the European mainland 200,000 years ago. Neolithic and Bronze Age people made many magnificent monuments which are dotted around the Channel Islands. Henges, mounds, tombs, and mysterious menhirs were raised by peoples whose origins are unclear and whose language is unknown. What is certain is that they had a reverence for their dead and were obviously living in well-ordered communities able to turn their hands to the construction of such mighty structures. The Romans knew of these islands, though whether they wholly colonised them or simply had an occupying presence and trading links is a matter of debate.
The Channel Islands Occupation Society preserves some military sites as visitor attractions
St Helier lived on a rocky islet, protecting Jersey by the power of prayer, until beheaded by pirates in the year 555. The basic parish structure of the Channel Islands, and most of the parish churches, date from around this period. No doubt the position of the Channel Islands made them a favourite spot for plundering by all and sundry on the open sea. The Norsemen were regular raiders in the 9th century, and by the 10th century they were well established in the territory of Normandy. It was from Normandy that Duke William I, ‘The Longsword’, claimed the islands as his own in the year 933, and they have been part of the Duchy of Normandy ever since.
St Ouen’s Church may stand on the site of a church founded in the 6th century (Walk 6)
Duke William II, ‘The Conqueror’, defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. When King John lost Normandy to France in 1204, the Channel Islands remained loyal and were granted special privileges and a measure of self-government that continues to this day. However, the islands were repeatedly attacked, invaded and partially occupied by French forces throughout the Hundred Years War. During the most turbulent times of strife, the Pope himself intervened and decreed in 1483 that the Channel Islands should be neutral in those conflicts. The islanders were able to turn the situation to their advantage, trading with both sides! Church control passed from the French Diocese of Coutances to the English Diocese of Winchester in 1568.
During the English Civil War in the 17th century, the islands were divided against themselves, with Jersey for the Crown and Guernsey for Parliament. The French invaded the islands for the last time in 1781; stout defensive structures were raised against any further threats, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars, and in fact well into the 19th century. Queen Victoria visited the Channel Islands three times to inspect military developments.
During the First World War the Channel Islands escaped virtually unscathed, though the local militia forces were disbanded, and many of those who joined the regular army were slaughtered elsewhere in Europe. In the Second World War, after the fall of France to the German army, the Channel Islands were declared indefensible and were demilitarised. Many islanders evacuated to England, particularly from Alderney, but others stayed behind and suffered for five years under the German Occupation. Massive fortifications made the Channel Islands the most heavily defended part of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall.
Gerry built! One of several prominent concrete structures built during the German Occupation
There were only token raids and reconnaissances by British forces, and the Channel Islands were completely by-passed during the D-Day landings in nearby Normandy. VE Day in Europe was 8th May 1945, but the Channel Islands weren’t liberated until 9th May, as it was unclear whether the German garrison would surrender without a fight. The Channel Islands Occupation Society, www.ciosjersey.org.uk, publishes a number of books and journals about the war years, including an annual review. Various military structures from the Occupation have been preserved as visitor attractions.
The modern development of the Channel Islands has been in
