How Has The Bayeux Tapestry Survived for So Long ?
Feb04

How Has The Bayeux Tapestry Survived for So Long ?

The Bayeux Tapestry tells one of the most famous stories in British history. It has survived revolution, war, clumsy restorations and even ‘kidnapping’ and has been threatened with destruction at every turn of these events. So how has it survived for nearly 1,000 years?

Read More
Saint Sampson – A Superstar of his Time
Dec03

Saint Sampson – A Superstar of his Time

It is St Sampson who is credited with bringing the Christian Gospel, to not only Guernsey, but the whole of the Channel Islands. He wasn’t just a local phenomenon but would have been regarded as something of a celebrity, a “rock star of his time”. We look at the the life and times of this remarkable man in this article.

Read More
The Day the English Civil War Arrived in Sark
Jan08

The Day the English Civil War Arrived in Sark

Even sleepy little Sark couldn’t evade the ravages of the English Civil War. In this article Sark diarist Elie Brevint takes up the story as recorded in his diary entry for the 27th May 1644.

Read More
Sark’s Lancaster Bomber
Aug14

Sark’s Lancaster Bomber

On the evening of 22nd November 1942, 21 year old Flight Sergeant Eric Singleton sat in the cockpit of his Lancaster bomber, W4107 at RAF Scampton. By 4am the next morning this beautiful machine lay wrecked in a field on Sark. So what is the story of this bomber, its crew and how it ended up on Sark?

Read More
Why Did the Normans have such Odd Haircuts?
Jul31

Why Did the Normans have such Odd Haircuts?

Maybe you didn’t even know they had “odd” haircuts – but even by today’s liberal standards they were decidedly “odd”. In this article we look at the (probable) reasons why.

Read More
Who Made the Bayeux Tapestry ?
Feb01

Who Made the Bayeux Tapestry ?

The Bayeux Tapestry tells one of the most famous stories in British history – that of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, particularly the battle of Hastings, which took place on 14 October 1066. But who made the tapestry and how long did it take?

Read More
The One Man Invasion of Sark
Dec21

The One Man Invasion of Sark

Not a lot happens on the island of Sark, that was until August 1990, when it was the centre of a bizarre invasion and attempted coup. What is more, the manner of the ‘official response’ to this armed incursion was equally extraordinary.   Invasion! Frenchman Andre Gardes, an unemployed nuclear physicist, having convinced himself that he was the rightful heir and “Seigneur” of Sark, resolved to take action....

Read More
The Black Death in the Channel Islands
Oct06

The Black Death in the Channel Islands

Not the most pleasant of subjects but when the ‘great mortality’ as it was called struck the Channel Islands it left in its’ wake a scarred population, decimated in numbers and traumatised in the minds and bodies of all islanders.

Read More
The Normans – A Timeline
Aug04

The Normans – A Timeline

Guernsey and the Channel Islands were very much at the heart of the old Duchy of Normandy and then in 1066 we were propelled into the wider world when our Duke, William the Bastard defeated the English King Harold at Hastings. In this artilcle we outline some of the defining moments in the history of the Norman dynasty.

Read More
Secrets of The Bayeux Tapestry : Hidden Meanings & Gestures
Apr18

Secrets of The Bayeux Tapestry : Hidden Meanings & Gestures

The Bayeux Tapestry is an historical artifact that never fails to impress depicting as it does such a pivotal moment in British and Channel Island history, that of the invasion & conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066. But look closely and you will come across oddities that are hard to explain, mysterious characters, some named, some not, appear in the main body and borders. Add to that some of the cuirious rather theatrical gestures they appear to be making and there emerges a sense of mystery.

Read More
Why didn’t Napoleon Ever Invade the Channel Islands?
Mar31

Why didn’t Napoleon Ever Invade the Channel Islands?

Given that Britain and France were at war almost permanently between 1792 and 1814, it does seem strange that Napoleon Bonaparte made no effort to occupy what were almost exclusively French-speaking islands just a few miles off the French coast.

Read More
The Day King John Commited Murder and the Channel Islands lost a potential Duke
Oct28

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.

Read More
1066 and all that … the day the Channel Islands became part of England
Oct14

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.

Read More
The Origins of Guernsey French and Other Channel Island Languages
Sep16

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’.

Read More
The Silver Mines of Sark – A Short History
Jun24

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.

Read More

Pin It on Pinterest