'More of Peter Girard's Guernsey'
29th November 2023A second miscellany of Guernsey's history and its people. Published in 1990 by the Guernsey Press Company Ltd. A list of contents and photographs for reference.
Contents
1. Changes through the ages in the system of land holding in Guernsey
2. A hill that captured the imagination of the people (Castel Church) (menhir) (butts) (archery) (militia) (Fair Field)
3. Sand along our coasts
4. La Mare de Carteret
5. Farmers and cattle (préciput) (dairy)
6. 'The Song of the Landsman' 'La Chanson du Terrien' (Le Chant de Fontaines) (poem in Guernsey French transated in to English, written by T Lenfestey)
7. Le Moulin de Haut: one of three mills for grinding corn (Le Moulin Susain) (King's Mills) (smuggling) (ghosts)
8. Lihou island
9. The Magic Well (Holy Well of St George)
10. Mysterious wrecking led to free drink! - the wreck of the Briseis
11. Le Grand Havre - Le Braye du Valle: fishing boats, wrecks and a whale (the Ravensdale, the Emperor's Queen, the Channel Queen) (Hedley Bewey) (Gaudion)
12. The privateering era (Dennis Le Pelley)
13. A close shave (adapted from an old story) (customs men) (coastguard) (Creux des Faies) (smuggling)
14. The Vazon storyteller (les diseux de rislaie) (Helier Le Noury) (Occupation) (peat)
15. Horsy tales
16. My Aunt (portions of poems written in Guernsey French by Georges Metivier)
17. For pions a kiss for every girl they meet
18. More reminiscences of R O Falla, OBE (Occupation)
19. Admiral the Rt Hon James Lord de Saumarez GCB, KS, General of Marines 1757-1836
20. Lieutenant-General Sir John Doyle, Baronet, CGB, KC
21. Major-General SIr Isaac Brock, KB
22. Lieutenant George Edward Nurse, VC. A valiant resident of he Castel parish
23. Lavoirs still used by French women
24. Castle Cornet at war. Escape in the nick of time
25. The Church in Guernsey at the Reformation
26. The Castel School
27. Guernsey families take refuge in America (Cambridge, Guernsey County) (Sarchet)
28. St Germain Quarry (golden gravel as used by the gentry) (Ernest Falla) (Le Mont Plaisant) (Chapel and spring of St Germain)
29. Stories of the little people told around the terpi
30. Cobo Soup Kitchen
31. The fate of our old batteries
32. Problems of a couple in the autumn of their lives (Le Carrefour) (delaissance) (Le Bourg Hospice)
33. National Trust Property at Talbot Valley
34. A place for marvelling at Cobo sunsets (Le Guet)
35. Christmas festivities during the Occupation
36. We will go no more to sea (poem written in Guernsey French by Georges Metivier, tranlstated into English)
37. Local terminology involving land and local administration
Photographs
Strip Farming at Pleinmont
Castel from the air showing small fields often of irregular shapes
Ploughing contest at Vimeira. Two shires pulling a modern plough
Old-fashioned churn
Fair Field (Castel), bought by the States in mid-18th century. In the centre is a memorial to Nicolas Le Beir for decoted service to the Royal Guernsey Agricultural and Horticultural Society
Clearing sand from the coast road
Excavating sand at Albecq during the preparationfor house building
Sand excavated at Albecq during preparation for house building
Portrait of Gladys Saumarez by Hon. Marion Saumarez
Bridge across Carteret road (Saumarez)
A painting showing black-and-white cows among those of normal colour
Maple Leaf Cora's Connie, property of Mr H F Gaudion
Pedro May Rose of La Masse - champion at a Royal Show
Le Moulin de Haut: wheels were fitted on a gable, and ponds were at the rear of the mill
Arms of the LeFebvres over the front door at La Maison du Moulin de Haut (pebble decoration)
Some of the beautiful trees on the Castel side of the valley
Map of Lihou Island
Venus Pool (Lihou)
Holy Well
The wreck of the Briseis
Fishermen row around the remians of the Briseis, hoping that more barrels of wine will float back to the surface
Mr Ted Foster, pictured with the salvaged bell of the Briseis
Mr Basil Gaudion abd his father in a boat built by Mr James de Garis some hundred years ago
Basil H Gaudion
The Ravensdale
Channel Queen wrecked, not at Port Soif but outside
Whale ready to be buried in the sand
Map of the Braye du Valle in 1800 (S Carey Curtis)
A letter of marque (George III)
Seal at bottom of letter of marque. Great Seal of the High Court of Admiralty of England
Helier Le Noury, once the well-known 'storyteller' of Vazon
Daughter (Girard) on pony
P J Girard on a horse
La Table de Pions
P J Girard at Chevauchée
Pion circa 1768 (modern drawing)
Members of Chevauchée at La Table de Pions
Raymond Ogier Falla, OBE
Portrait of Admiral James Saumarez
HMS St Vincent at Portsmouth
Action off the west coast of Guernsey 8 June 1794. HMS Crescent, Druid and Eurydice, Jean Breton, pilot.
Route of Saumarez's action off the west coast of Guernsey.
Lord Saumarez's monument at Delacey Park.
Lieutenant-General Sir John Doyle, Baronet.
Original monument to Sir John Doyle, erected at Jerbourg.
Memorial to Sir Isaac Brock at Queenston Heights.
Plaque on Queenston Heights memorial.
Memorial at Brockville.
Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, KB.
Lieutenant Nurse wearing VC.
Guns at Colenso.
Cobo Inn.
Washerwomen at lavoir.
Washerwoman with clothes on a barrow.
Washerwoman at Pont Renier.
The escape from Castle Cornet (1643) (drawing)
The Church of Ste Marie du Castel.
Southern end of building of Castel School once used for boys and girls.
Southern side of new building.
Southern side of Castel School, built in 1910 to accommodate boys only.
Western side of building showing boys' school and three temporary classrooms used when school was overcrowded, with part of swimming pool visible.
Thomas Ferbrache, born in Guernsey 1796, arrived in Guernsey County 1879.
Pool of water at end of St Germain quarry before dumping commenced.
St Germain quarry west.
Illustration of crasset in use, from the Folk Museum.
A crasset, photographed at the Folk Museum.
Creux des Fées - Fairies Cave at Vazon.
Inlet from sea to Le Creux des Fées.
'Copper' as used at soup kitchen.
Coppers built and used when gas supplies were no longer available.
A real heroine -Miss Doris Le Tissier.
Committee and helpers of the Cobo Soup Kitchen 1943-1945.
'Martello Tower' at Houmet, Vazon.
Additions to fortifications at Vazon.
Fort Le Crocq.
Le Carrefour Farm.
Le Carrefour transformed into 'Le Bourg'.
Castel schoolchildren planting trees at the Ron Short Walk.
Castel schoolchildren planting trees on National Trust land at Talbot Valley.
View of Talbot Valley from National Trust property.
Le Guet without trees, Cobo Hotel.
Old photograph showing path of Cobo coast road following the sea wall.
Footpath contructed through Guet property in 1782.
Disused quarry 'The Chimney' at base of watch-house.
Cooking a meal in a furze oven.
Hautgard with pilotins.
Menhir at Le Crocq, St Saviour's.
Seal of the Fief of St Michel.
Officals of Fief Beuval.