Recipes of Bygone Days – Stewed Ormers; Pickled Ormers & Dressed Ormers
Ormers are ‘quintessentially Guensey’ and have been eaten by the natives of these islands for centuries. Naturally enough therefore there are many ways to prepare and eat them. In this article we’ve resurrected a few of the more ancient recipes from bygone days.
How to make a living ‘Guernsey Style’ – The Age of Guernsey Privateering
For nearly 150 years making a living, quite a good living actually, in Guernsey took a pecular turn. It was possible to become very rich via the dubiously ‘legal’ practices of Privateering and the less than legal smuggling trade.
The Day King John Commited Murder and the Channel Islands lost a potential Duke
History can often turn on the actions of a single individual. April the 3rd 1203 was such a day when King John committed murder. If he hadn’t committed this heinous crime then the whole history of Guernsey and the Channels Island could have been radically different.
1066 and all that … the day the Channel Islands became part of England
On Sunday the 14th October 1066 ‘William the Bastard’, Duke of Normandy (andthe Channel Islands), invaded and defeated the Anglo Saxon king of England, so that henceforth the Bastard was to be forever known as William the Conqueror. In this article we look how at how he won at Hastings.
The Origins of Guernsey French and Other Channel Island Languages
Guernésiais, Auregnais, Jèrriais and Sercquiais – the local names for the French spoken in the respective islands – are direct descendants from the Norman French spoken at the time of the Conqueror. In this article we look at their ‘family tree’.
The Boreas Disaster
On the night of 28 November 1807 as a terrible storm lashed the west coast of Guernsey the warship H.M.S. Boreas, with one hundred and ninety-five officers and sailors on-board, found herself powerless to change course as she headed for the Hanois reef.
Peter Le Lievre – Unsung Local Artist
Nestled at the bottom of lower Hauteville you wil find a rather unassuming blue plaque dedicated to local artist Peter Le Lievre. He was one of Guernsey’s best artist and probably one of the most unknown outside of his native island of Guernsey.
Hugoids – Some Victor Hugo Factoids
Victor Hugo is well known locally as a world renowned literaty genuis and for his exile from his beloved France spent in his second home, Guernsey. However we’ve gathered together some rather less known factoids – or Hugoids as we like to call them.
The Silver Mines of Sark – A Short History
OVER the generations Sark has received her fair share of invaders. In 1834 250 Cornish miners ‘invaded’, brought over to open new Silver Mine shafts.
Jersey Legends & Folklore
Both Guernsey and Jersey folklore is full of stories of witches and ghosts. But in Jersey in the 18th and 19th century’s ‘witch balls’ entered the popular folklore of the time.
George Métivier – Guernsey’s national poet
Have you ever heard of Guernseyman George Métivier? Well if you haven’t then you might like to know that he’s been described as “Guernsey’s Robert Burns” by no less than Victor Hugo himself, and even considered the island’s national poet!
Beating the Bankers at their Own Game – the Guernsey Way
In 1815 Guernsey was a desperate place. Impoverished and poor. BUT she had at that time among their leaders some honest men of keen intellect, who were willing to put forward some revolutionary suggestions and to embark upon a monetary experiment that transformed the community into an active prosperous and happy place to be in a very short time.
Guernsey Legends – The Devil and the Schoolmaster
One of Guernsey’s more intriguing legends because it is about the appearance of the Devil to, of all people, a schoolmaster.
Guernsey on the Map – The First and Oldest Post Box in the British Isles
Guernsey is a major landmark on the philatelic map – The Island has one of the first and certainly the oldest post box in all the British Isles
The Meaning of Some Guernsey Surnames
There’s a rich variety of traditional Guernsey surnames. Surnames that have been in the island for generations and with which we are all very familiar but may never have given any thought as to what they might actually mean. In this article we look st some of them.
