GUERNSEY, the second in size of the Channel Islands, is situated between 49° 25' and 49° 31' N. lat. and between 2° 30' and 2° 41' W. long., 30 miles W. of Normandy, and 81 miles S. of Portsmouth. The total area at low water is estimated at 15,560 acres, or rather more than 24 square miles, and of this about 10,000 acres are under cultivation. Gradually rising from the north to the south, the island attains its maximum elevation of 349 feet above mean tide at Haut Nez, above Point Icart. According to J. A. Bird’s “Geology of the Channel Islands” in The Geological Magazine, London, 1878, it consists geologically of three very unequal portions, one characterized by a very felspathic syenite and gneiss, another by a hornblendic “granital,” and a third by a micaceous syenite. The felspathic portion yields magnificent crystals of felspar, surpassing those of the porphyritic granites of Cornwall or Cumberland; and the hornblendic portion occasionally affords crystals of black hornblende in similar perfection. No Secondary or Tertiary rocks are found in position, but postTertiary clays containing flints are found all round the island and even on its summit, and Mr Bird is disposed to assign them to the interglacial period of submergence. The soil of Guernsey is generally a light sandy loam, and the subsoil consists for the most part of angular gravel, except in certain places occupied by a curious clay, chiefly composed of a silicate of alumina, which proves destructive to vegetable life. While the island does not grow sufficient grain for its own consumption, it has a large export of fruits and other garden produce. Parsnips were formerly one of the principal items, but they are now less extensively cultivated, having been supplanted by potatoes and turnips. ...Grapes, which were exported to the amount of 50 tons in 1873, are the source of an increasing trade. Granite is largely shipped at St Sampson.
For administrative purposes Guernsey is united with Alderney, Sark, Herrn, and the adjacent islands in the bailiwick of Guernsey. The island proper is divided into the ten parishes of St Peter Port, St Sampson, Vale, Câtel, St Saviour, St Andrew, St Martin, Forest, St Peter du Bois, and Torteval. The administration is under the supervision of a lieutenant-governor appointed by the crown; and the parliamentary assembly consists of a bailiff, twelve jurats, a procureur or attorney-general, the beneficed clergy, and twelve delegates elected by the people. Taxation is very light, and the annual revenue amounts to about £10,000. Ecclesiastically the island is a deanery of the Winchester diocese of the Church of England.
The only town of any great importance is St Peter Port on the eastern coast. In 1861 it had a population of 16,388 (6968 males and 9420 females), and in 1871, 16,166 (6731 males and 9435 females). The sea frontage of the town extends for about a mile, and is protected in nearly all its length by a wall with an esplanade. On the improvement of the harbour, which was begun in the 13th century by order of King Edward I., a sum of £285,000 has been expended since 1854. It is formed by two piers, which enclose an area of 73 acres, the southernmost of the two running out to Castle Cornet and then sending out a breakwater for about 3000 yards. The whole of the works are of the most massive description. Among the principal buildings of the town, which has been greatly improved by the formation of a new street from the harbour up to the hill, are the Government house, the court-house, Elizabeth college, the town hospital, St Stephen’s church built in 1866, the Roman Catholic church designed by Pugin, and the new vegetable market constructed at a cost of £16,000. On the higher ground above the town is a monument in memory of the Queen’s visit to the island in 1846, and on the pier there was erected in 1863 a monument to the Prince Consort by Mr Durham, a copy of the monument in the gardens of the Horticultural Society at South Kensington. St Sampson, which is the only port besides St Peter Port, is situated at the eastern end of the Braye du Vai, a depression which at no distant date used to form an arm of the sea at high tides, cutting the island into two unequal parts. The harbour accommodation has been improved at St Sampson contemporaneously with that of St Peter Port. To the south of the latter is the strong fort of St George’s with barracks for 5000 men, and smaller forts, batteries, and martello towers are to be found on suitable points all round the coast.
By the old Guernsey laws, all the male population from sixteen to sixty are obliged to serve in the militia; but the custom of paying exemption fines has gradually become so common that the real force is very far below its nominal limit. Guernsey is both populous and wealthy, and the wealth is very evenly distributed among the people. In 1873 the assessment value of the town parish was £3,564,750, or £2262 per head, and that of the rural parishes £1,831,620, or £1233 per head. Like the neighbouring part of France, Guernsey still possesses numerous traces of its early inhabitants, in the form of sepulchral caves, dolmens, and maenhirs. The most remarkable group of the second class is in the north at Ancresse. Details will be found in Mr Lukis’s paper in vol. i. of the Archaeological Journal, and in vols. i. and viii. of the Journal of the Archoeological Association, as well as in the special chapter in Dr Ansted’s Channel Islands. The island is usually identified with the Sarnia of the latter Roman writers. Its present name would appear to be a corruption of the Norse for Green Isle. For details on its history see Channel Islands. An account of a number of its more eminent natives, many of whom have served with high distinction in the British army, will be found in Sarnia, or brief Memorials of many of her Sons, Guernsey, 1862. Among the better known families are the Sau-marezes, the Tuppers, and the Careys.
Besides the works referred to under Channel Islands, see Documents relatifs à file de Guernsey, Guernsey, 1814; Views of Guernsey, with descriptive letterpress, Edinburgh, 1867; John Jacob, Annals of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, London, 1830; Le Marchant, Laws and Customs of Normando as used in Royal Court of Guernsey.
[1,101 words — estimated reading time: 7 minutes]