Since March 2020 I have criss-crossed the United Kingdom, examining its history through the eyes of Current Archaeology. I have now visited every county in every country, but I have just a few geographical loose ends to tie off, including, this month, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
Jersey
Jersey has provided the bulk of Current Archaeology’s Channel Islands coverage. It is the most visited of the archipelago’s eight inhabited islands, and has in the Société Jersiaise an active archaeological presence (see ‘Odd Socs’ in CA 339). CA 9 (July 1968) first visited in a mini-special on the island, including arguably the most important site in all the Channel Islands: La Cotte de St Brelade, to which I will return later.
However, it was a site also named after St Brelade that next drew Current Archaeology’s attention, when CA 107 (December 1987) visited the medieval chapel in the bay of the same name on the island’s south-west coast (prehistoric La Cotte de St Brelade is on the opposite headland to the east). This medieval theme continued in CA 137 (February 1994), with a visit to the priory on the islands of Les Écréhous, 10km (6.2 miles) north-east of Jersey, and again in CA 280 (July 2013), exploring St Clement’s priory in the island’s south-eastern corner.
Star Carr: Excavating the CA archive