THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES TA 2S<WUU o^^^tA^/ L&rWt? AN ACCOUNT OP THE ISLAND Or JERSEY; CONTAINING A COMPENDIUM OF ITS ECCLESIASTICAL, CIVIL, and MILITARY, HISTORY: A STATEMENT OP ITS POLITY, LAWS, PRIVILEGES, COMMERCE, POPULATION, and PRODUCE ; A SURVP.T OP THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS, ANTIQUITIES, AND NATURAL HISTORT: TOGETHER WITH SOME DETAIL RESPECTING THE MANNERS & CUSTOMS of the INHABITANTS. CmbtHiB^tn toiti) scacral tjtgtf? fim^tn Cnsrairings > AND A CORRECT MA» OF THE ISLAND, From a recent Survey, made exyrettlgfor thU W*rk. BtW. PLEES; Many Years Resident in Jersey. SOCTHAM PTON I MINTED BY T. BAKER, AVB SOLD BY I » FLBTCRER » •OLD ALSO IN LONDON, BV LONGMAN, HURST, REES, OlME, AND DROWN, PATERNOSTER ROW ; l>WR 1. HATCHARD, PtCCADIIXT > AN* RT ALL TBS ROOSUELLXRt IN JERSRT. 1817, Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/accountofislandoOOpleeiala DA £70 Cfcft. TO THEIR EXCELLENCIES GENERAL GEORGE DON, LuU Lieutenant Governor, and Commander in ChUf, of the I.landf AND LIEUTENANT GENERAL SIR TOMKYNS H1LGROVE TURNER, The present Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief; THIS ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND OF JERSEY IS, BY THEIR PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY THE AUTHOR. Jersey, March, 1816. PREFACE. At a time when regions, distantly situated, and un- connected with Great Britain, either by political or commercial affinity, are thought worthy of appearing in print, it seems natural to hope, that an island, in the vicinity of England, so long and so peculiarly at- tached to it as Jersey, will be considered as entitled to still greater attention. Jersey, though an ancient appendage to the En- glish crown, has hitherto been comparatively but little known. Extensive in foreign commerce, its mercantile connexion with the mother country is confined to a few ports in Great Britain and Ireland. It is now become a considerable military depot, and its former defences have recently been greatly strengthened and increased. Jersey, considered abstractedly, appears to be a very minute and uninteresting portion of the widely ex- tended British empire ; and were its importance to be estimated by this rule, a particular account of it would be a presumptuous claim to public notice: but if we turn our eyes from so contracted a medium, and view it with a proper reference to its locality, the small speck dilates,—and the apparently insignificant spot assumes an imposing attitude on the European theatre. Tins island might indeed demand respect, as part of a peculiar and veneiable heir loom of the English crown; but even lliis unique and honourable claim to regard, is strengthened by the advantages acquired by Great Britain from its situation. It is a rampart,—an advanced post, —a frontier ; —and, in these several rela- tions, it has withstood various fierce assaults, and hum- bled the pride of many a celebrated warriour. Placed within the very jaws of a mighty, a frequent, an invete- rate, and, sometimes, an insidious foe, it has constantly kept on the alert ; has nobly resisted the force, and in- dignantlv spurned the seductive promises, of a powerful neighbour, to whom possession of the islands in this quarter would prove an inestimable acquisition. Jersey is likewise highly valuable as a nursery for seamen : its mariners are generally employed in voyages of no long duration, and are therefore always, as it were, at hand, ready on any emergency. It is considered in war time as a proper military de- pot ; and it is then extremely useful in harrassing the opposite coast, when France happens to be the enemy with whom we contend. In a commercial light Jersey is eminently useful, as a regular market for various articles of British manufac- ture : these it is enabled to purchase for the consump- tion of its inhabitants, and for its foreign demands, not only by the produce of its soil, but also by its fo- reign commerce, the profits of which it pours into the lap of Britain. Jersey, though in extent but a very small portion of the empire, yet is the only part of its European pos- sessions or domains that has for ages maintained an intimate and. almost daily intercourse with the neigh- : ill bouring continent in times of peace, and where a foreign language has always been, and still is, the vernacular tongue,* being constantly employed in the pulpit, at the bar, and in all public documents : —it follows, neces- sarily, that the modes and habits of the natives, speaking generally, must, in several respects, differ from our own they cannot therefore fail to excite inquiry ; and it has been the author's study to have this natural and lau- dable spirit duly gratified. Jersey exhibits, in its edifices for public worship, that style of Norman architecture, which prevailed from the commencement of the twelfth century to the middle of the fourteenth. Most of those structures, if not all of them, have received considerable additions, and under- gone various alterations; yet the original form is still visible. Chapels, evidently anteriour to the present churches, still remain, as lasting monuments of simpli- city in design, and solidity in construction. The intended object of publication was, to produce a series of original designs, drawn expressly fof the pro- posed work, comprising picturesque and romantic pros- pects in Jersey, together with near views of several pub- lic buildings, both ancient and modern; all in highly finished engravings : and to render the plates still more interesting, they were to be accompanied with appro- priate descriptions; and a copious introduction was also to be prefixed. Such was the intention ; — but in the course of collecting materials for this purpose, they accumulated so much beyond the author's expectation, and he received so many valuable communications from different friends, that he was induced to extend his plan, * Manx is not properly a foreign but a local language ; nor is it <n so general uie fn the Me of Man, as French is in Jersey. m : IV and attempt a more enlarged undertaking. In confor- mity with this alteration he now proposes to publish two works, so distinct that each will be complete in itself; and yet be so connected, that they may mutually refer to each other. The present volume contains a general account of Jersey; in which the natural, political, and commercial, •importance of the island is displayed, a summary of its ]aws produced, its geological character adverted to, its antiquities noticed, and the most striking circumstances and events, whether physical, historical, or accidental, are recorded. But though a more ample statement is now given than was at first intended, yet to call the work a regular history of Jersey, or to pretend that it contains a com- plete statistical account of the island, would be pre- sumption: it will however be found to comprise a great variety of useful and interesting subjects, particularized in a manner suited to their general or local importance it is enriched with four engravings, as specimens of the style and execution of those that are to follow, and a correct map of the island, from a recent survey, under- taken expressly for the present work. The publication of the proposed subsequent work will depend on the reception which the present volume may receive from the public. Should the author's assiduity in this attempt be successful, it is intended that the views, which are already drawn, and their several de- scriptions, shall be published by subscription ; particulars of which will be stated in a prospectus at the end of the present volume. They will then constitute a sceno- graphical and topographical supplement; and having the same type and dimensions, may be bound up with the present work : but as the engraving of thirty views, and a number of vignettes, must necessarily involve a considerable expense, the author cannot venture to incur the risk, without public encouragement: this encourage* ment he hopes to receive, that he may be enabled to continue and complete his plan. That no information however may be withheld, in consequence of not immediately publishing the views, a tour round and through the island is annexed to the present volume : thus an ample description of the coun- try at large is given, without depriving the views of that immediate local interest, which will be necessary to identify the several objects they exhibit, or the scenery they delineate. Though the present publication is on a different plan from an) other respecting Jersey, yet in writing the ac- count of any civilized country, much must of course be drawn from the labours of preceding authors, unless where no such previous work has appeared. This spe- cies of plagiarism is absolutely indispensable, and it is not the author's design or wish to depreciate any former writer on the subject: but though he readily acknow- ledges any assistance he may have derived from former publications, it extends to only a very inconsiderable portion of the work : the far greater part is completely new. The original historian of the island was Phillipot Payn, Seigneur de Samarts, who wrote Lcs Chroniques de Jersey: these end in A. D. 1585, and were never published. From the M. S. of that gentleman, the Rev. Mr. Falle, who is in general the oracle to which all his- torical appeals are made, copied the earl» i < rtion of his histor>. He was likewise supplied with some physical VI and other remarks from Mr. Poindextre,* one of the ju- rats of the royal court. The last edition of Mr. FahVs own hook deseends only to A. D. 1734. The author of the present work has availed himself of his reverend precursor's assistance; has occasionally, though very rarely, copied from him, and has also drawn much in- formation, in several respects, from other sources.