THE

CHANNEL ISLANDS.

CHAPTER I.

THE ENGLISH CHANNEL AND THE CHANNEL ISLANDS.

THE entrance to the English Channel (la Manche), about a hundred miles wide between the Land's End in Cornwall and the island of Ushant, near Brest, retains that width, with a nearly easterly bearing, for a distance of 100 miles. From Start Point, in Devonshire, the coast of England recedes northwards; and from the opposite land, in Brittany, the French coast recedes southwards rather abruptly, so that the width of the Channel is increased to 150 miles.

At a distance of about fifty miles more to the east, near Mont St. Michel, in Normandy, the French coast abruptly bends round to the north, and continues in that direction for about eighty miles, terminating at Cape la Hague; while the English land, rounding to the south-east somewhat gradually, terminates in Portland Bill, almost exactly opposite. The distance between

France and England, or the width of the Channel between these two points of land, is thus narrowed to little more than fifty miles.

It is in this wide expanse of the Channel, and within the deep recess or elbow of land formed by part of the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, opposite West Bay on the south coast of England, that we find the remarkable group of islands, known collectively as the Channel Islands.

With one exception (the Chaussey Archipelago), all these islands now belong to England, having originally (as indeed the names of the principal islands and rocky groups clearly import) received visits from the northern navigators. When the Normans afterwards united with the Saxon and Danish tribes, who had already occupied England, these islands continued to be held by them. For a long time, this was the case rather by accident than design; but it is many centuries since their position has been felt to be too commanding and important to allow of their being other than English, so long as Great Britain retains its place among the maritime powers of Europe.

Geographically, no doubt, the Channel Islands belong to the continent and to France; and they must be looked upon as outlying possessions of England, although their communications are much more frequent and complete with England than with the continent.

It is not, however, altogether to political reasons that the greater communication with England is due. While on the opposite land, to the north, there are numerous natural harbours, and many important towns and maritime stations, there is not a harbour of the smallest importance along the whole enclosing land of Brittany or Normandy, between Héaux and La Hague, except that of St. Malo; and only two towns (St. Malo and Granville) larger than fishing stations. This part of the French coast of the Channel is only approachable by small vessels and at great risk. There are thus good physical reasons why these

POSITION IN THE CHANNEL.

5

lands should still remain English; and we need not be surprised that, although occasionally visited by the French of the neighbouring shores for business purposes, and sheltering from time to time political refugees,* they are not a common resort of French tourists.

The area of sea including the Channel Islands is thus defined: on the south, it is limited by about seventy miles of the coast of Brittany, from near Paimpoul to Mont St. Michel, in Normandy ; on the east, it is bounded by about eighty miles of the Normandy coast, running northwards from Mont St. Michel to Cape la Hague. From this Cape to the Casquets is a line running west about twenty-five miles, which forms the northern boundary of the group, and consists of a rocky ledge, very little of which is sunk twenty fathoms, and which rises at frequent intervals to form groups of rocks and rocky islets. From the Casquets rocks, a line of about sixty-five miles, clearing the rocks off the west coast of Guernsey, and passing outside the 'Roches Douvres,' reaches the coast of Brittany at 'Les Héaux' lighthouse,-completing a nearly regular trapezium, containing an area of about 3000 square miles.

Within this space, the groups of islands, rocks, and shoals, are as follows:-(1.) A northern group, including Alderney, Burhou, and the Casquets, together with several rocky ledges. (2.) A north-central group, including Guernsey, Herm, Sark, and a singular complication of rocks and islets. (3.) A south-central group, including Jersey, three groups of shoals and rocky islands connecting the north of Jersey with France, and some others, running out from the south-east of Jersey also towards France. (4) A southern group, including the Minquiers, the Chaussey Islands, and some outlying rocks to the far west.

Between these groups, and amongst the islands and rocks that

• The island of Guernsey has been honoured, for some years, as the residence of Victor Hugo, one of the most eminent of the modern French poets and litté rateurs. M. Hugo had previously resided for some time in Jersey.

compose them, are numerous narrow and a few wide channels; but, as will be seen by reference to the map at the end of the volume, and the annexed diagram, a large proportion of the sea between Jersey and Alderney and the whole of that between Jersey and France, is less than twenty fathoms deep.

SECTION ACROSS THE CHANNEL FROM PORTLAND TO ST. MALO Marking the relative position of the principal islands and rock-groups

Length of Section. 130 miles.-Scale of heights, 2000 feet-1 inch.

The sea-bottom around the Channel Islands, could we see it denuded of water, would present a singularly broken and jagged appearance. Pinnacles of granitic and porphyritic rock would be seen to rise out of large rounded masses of similar rock. Banks of sand, some of them extremely steep, would occupy intervals between the groups of pinnacles and the more important hummocks of hard, naked rock. A few comparatively deep valleys would mark the navigable passages, and a considerable degree of regularity would be observable in the width and direction of some of these. But, on the whole, the result of an elevation of thirty fathoms would be, to give a very large and well-defined tract, enclosing all the islands and rocks. This land would not be unlike the western part of Brittany, the valleys being already provided with abundance of sandy soil, the hills jagged and abrupt, and the coast terminated with a cliff going down at once into water of considerable depth.

When Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, are quoted as the Channel Islands, the expression must then be understood with