In Jersey we have our big historical set pieces; Mont Orgueil, Elizabeth Castle, the amazing Neolithic structure which is La Hougue Bie. Scattered around are the few dolmens that remain more or less intact. We have the world-renowned Paleolithic cave structure of La Cotte.
But within our 9 x 5 island there is so much more of historical and social interest everywhere, all around. Often you might not see or notice these bits and pieces. To be honest, they may not be of huge interest to everyone.
But here are a few example I’ve collected in the last couple of days with easy walking distance of where I live.
Milestone
I’ve been past this hundreds of times without noticing it. It reads ‘St.C 1’, meaning it’s in the parish of St Clement and it’s one mile from the Royal Square in St Helier. See how the later wall is carefully shaped around it. As you can see, there it is, marked on an 1849 map, to the right of the map.
Disused railway platform
Moving on to the FB Fields, on land gifted to Jersey by Florence Boot née Rowe, a Jersey girl who married Jesse Boot, the founder of the chemist chain. Here is the back edge of the platform of the former Grève d’Azette railway station that ran alongside the fields until it ceased operations in 1929.
Changing rooms
And, just a little further along, what is grandly referred to as a ‘Pavilion’ on the 1935 map. Changing rooms serving the further reaches of the FB Fields. Let me tell you that cramming a team of cricketers and their gear into one of the small changing rooms within is mission impossible.
Concrete square
This is a curiosity that people walk by without a second glance. It looks suspiciously German, possible a gun mount, but I can’t find any reference to it. It’s a handy resting place anyway. [Edit: it’s a water tank previously used to water the fields.]
Main Pavilion
A lovely building, probably built in the 1920s. It’s given great service to generations of sportsmen and women.
Cricket nets
And finally (for now) our lovely cricket nets which I remember being opened by (I believe) Derek Randall and now in rack and ruin through lack of maintenance.
Back On The Rock 
Great post, Roy, Jesse Boot, son of the founder of Boots, John his father.
I used to play cricket for St Michael’s Preparatory school on the FB fields. I can picture it all now as if yesterday. We won the Trent Shield (Lord Trent ,Jesse Boot) I think ? twice. My finest cricketing achievement , under 13. I dropped cricket at public school for Tennis my no 1 sport. I was Canford School ,3rd pair for a season. Not good enough for singles, but my greatest sporting achievement!
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Hi Ned, yes you’re correct re Boots, but I’ll keep it simple 🙂
Yes I think Lady Trent used to present the Trent Shield after Jesse died. Cricket was my game for many years, to no great avail I’m afraid.
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I think I scored 2 or 3 runs, once or twice, as No 7 ish. Trouble was we had 3 rather good batsmen, Daubeney/Bailey/Symonds. I was the quick running/ boundary saving Derek Randle!!
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Ed, Mark and Nick? Yep, good cricketers all.
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Giles,Mark and Nick. Of course the Daubeney family are our most famous sporting family. Giles, Henry, Robert and Edmund. Especially in hockey. England players, Giles and Ed , I think. Their father Philip, also I think played for England. He was at Canford School with my late father, Philip,too.
Philip Daubeney was a huge man physically, and one of the most charming of men, as was Menna his first wife, the boys mother. I treasure our youthful time together.
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Love it. Jersey has squeezed so much history into such a small area for so long. Canada was mostly just trees for much of Jersey’s history!
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Hello Jane. I suppose Jersey is compact, so it’s inevitable. But yes, I often think that if one was to walk (say) 100 miles through (say) Arizona, how much history is there to see?
I guess Canada’s history is mainly to be found in its towns and cities. Though I’ve just been reading some startling history to do with the colonisation of Acadie and how the people were torn between rival powers and suffered badly. The Cajun people are descended from the expelled Acadians.
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Bravo for being one of the fer people outside the Maritime provinces who has taken any interest in Acadian history. I’ve written a few blogs about it. My province of New Brunswick is the only province that is officially bilingual (Canada is officially bilingual at the federal level) because we are 30+% Acadian. The expulsions were yet another example of the egregious actions taken by the British throughout history! Try this one: https://robbyrobinsjourney.wordpress.com/2019/08/15/evangeline-acadia-refugees-and-resilience/
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To my shame I missed or skipped that informative post. It was only on reading about the endless tensions and conflicts between Britain and France that I learnt about Acadie and its turbulent history. You clearly have a very good feel for your own local history. Presumably not everyone there, especially the younger ones, is as aware. Is that sort of relevant history taught in your schools?
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No shame, Roy! I actually grew up in a very different place (the outer suburbs of NYC), although we learned about the Acadian expulsions to Louisiana through Longfellow’s poem. But the schools in this region (New Brunswick and I am quite sure Nova Scotia and PEI) teach Acadian history along with United Empire Loyalist history. It’s part of who we are here. We celebrate National Acadia Day every Aug 6. Our provincial meetings are in both languages. We have schools that are French speaking, English speaking, and various forms of French immersion. We have dual healthcare systems so that people can be treated in their mother tongue. However, the rest of the country wouldn’t know this. Quebec has their own history, the Prairies certainly have their own history, etc. The one good thing about history is that you never run out of new things to learn, like the history of Jersey!
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Some interesting historic touches Roy. It’s amazing what there is to see on your doorstop but you wonder how long some of these things will be remembered for.
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Hopefully for ever. The castles will always be with us. The FB fields donated to the people of Jersey for sport recreation. Lady Boot, our greatest benefactor alongside Thomas Benjamin Davis. We are still receiving land donations,especially around our coastline continuing our Coastal National Park.
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Yes indeed Andrea, though it’s only in more recent years I’ve taken a real interest. We have many historians, expert and amateur here and not too much is overlooked. Of course new generations rediscover many things for themselves and thus keep social history fresh.
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Those cricket nets certainly are sad looking. It’s too bad they didn’t either keep them up or replace them with something equally as useful or something beautiful–like a garden.
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Indeed Kristine, though cricket is less popular these days and there seems to be little demand for practice facilities. Times are changing. Maybe future archaeologists will scratch their heads wondering what this strange site ever was 🙂
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Wouldn’t you love to hear the explanations? I bet some of them will be pretty funny.
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