Victorian

The Lydia, 1853

17th September 2025
The 173-ton brig Lydia was built at Stonelake's Yard in St Sampson, to specialise in carrying passengers to Adelaide and Melbourne. It eventually found a home in Australia. From The Age, 1934. In 1853 it sailed from St Sampson's harbour for Australia in front of a cheering crowd of 2,000 people. It was a most unusual place of departure from Guernsey, but it was the home of the ship and of Stonelake's yard. Sixty berths were available, of which 42 were taken up at £24 per passenger. 'The majority were tradesmen' (Coysh, 1985).

Eliza Cook's Trip to Sark

30th May 2025
by Henry Brittan Willis, after John Watkins lithograph, 1840s-1850s NPG D34087
From Eliza Cook's Journal, Saturday, August 19, 1854. Eliza Cook was born in Southwark in 1818 as one of eleven children to a tinsmith. She began her career in poetry at a very young age, and had much success, her poems being published in newspapers and proving especially popular as songs when set to music. She was a Chartist, and her poems often deal with the "levelling-up" of the poor. From 1849-1854 she wrote, edited and published Eliza Cook's Journal for, she said, 'utility and amusement'. Despite her popularity, she is now largely overlooked. The portrait is by Henry Brittan Willis, after John Watkins:lithograph, 1840s-1850s, (c) National Portrait Gallery, NPG D34087

The Fort George Brickfield, St Peter Port

6th March 2024
The history of a rather controversial piece of agricultural land. Research by D Bott & G Lenfestey, 2024. Written by G Lenfestey.On the western side of the Fort Road, between the top of the Val de Terres and Morley Chapel, is a large field, formerly known as the Courtil Colin, divided 2/3 and 1/3, and the 1/3 is divided into equal halves.There is a story that the fields have an embargo on them regarding building accommodation for domestic use on them, and that the larger field has always been known as The Queen's Field. The origin of this embargo, and the name 'The Queen's Field', is not known, but it has always been like that.

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