The house at Geoffrey's Leap
That Was Jersey |
Local history for everyone |
CHANNEL ISLANDS |
Customs and folklore are things passed down from generation to generation. Sometimes there will be several versions of a tale, as the story has passed between families over the years.
Some customs relate to food. Jersey bean crock is a traditional dish, and many Jersey homes will have an earthenware pot (or crock). Beans used to be dried ready for winter, and the meal would be left to cook in the crock for the whole day in the oven.
November is traditionally the month for black butter. Making black butter was a community-wide activity. The women would get together to peel and cut up the apples (700 pounds of them). The men and children would collect wood for the fire; the process took two days, so a good fire was essential. Other ingredients included 10 gallons of cider, some liquorice, two dozen lemons, sugar and spices. The mixture needed stirring much of the time, and all those not on stirring or fire-stoking duty would be dancing and singing, chatting and eating as part of the celebration. These days, not many groups make black butter, but it is still available for purchase.
Other edible traditions include Jersey wonders, cabbage loaf and ormers. For recipe books, see Useful Resources.
The story is told of the building of St Brelade's parish church. The builders collected together all the building materials they needed in preparation, but the next day there was no sign of anything. They eventually found everything had been moved almost a mile away, near the sea. The workmen moved everything back again, only to find the same thing happened on the next day. They accepted this as the will of God, and built the church where it is today. There were several possible explanations for this change of site. Some say that the site chosen by the builders was near a pagan shrine and the fairies didn’t want a church on their doorstep. Others say the devil was pleased to get the church built so far from the homes of most of the parishioners. Or was it that God wanted the church walls to be washed by the sea and chose the lovely location where the church still stands?
The people of St Clement lived in fear of a huge bull that roared, especially at very low tides. The noise was frightening, and tales grew of how large the bull must be. Fishermen became almost too scared to fish. But there was one man who decided there must be a rational explanation. He was sand-eeling with friends one day when he tested out his theory; there was the most awful roaring noise and his friends were startled. There was a formation in the rocks which acted as a waste pipe when the water from the pool above poured into it. The rocks around magnified the sound so that it could be heard all along the St Clement coast on a quiet day. The sand-eelers decided to fill in the pipe with rocks, and the “bull” was silenced.
In 1551 an order was issued to dismantle and sell the bells of the parish churches across the Island. The story goes on to tell of the loss of the ship which was carrying the bells across to France. Now it is said that anyone who hears the bells between St Helier and the Minquiers will not return safely to land. A variation on the story gives the bells being sunk and lives lost at the entrance to St Malo harbour; when a strong wind from the east blows there, people say it’s the bells of Jersey ringing out for their dead. The Minquiers are part of the parish of Grouville.
To the north of St Helier lies the area known as La Pouquelaye, an ancient menhir known as a fairy stone. Some of the ancient sites are linked with tales of fairies, while others are linked in to people living here. Across the Island there are place names including the word Dame. Where the phrase used is La Dame, the reference is to the fairies; where the phrase is Notre dame, the reference is to Our Lady, the Virgin Mary.
In St John’s parish near Sorel Point, Le Lavoir des Dames refers to the fairies who bathed there. Anyone who saw them would be struck blind, according to folklore. The area also abounds in tales of ghosts, but there is no report of anyone actually seeing one; noises are heard, but nothing is seen.
There are scary ghost stories in various parts of the Island. In Waterworks Valley in St Lawrence, there is a sad story told of a bride who went to the church for her wedding, but her bridegroom failed to appear. She was so sad that she went home and killed herself. The ghost story says that once a year at midnight a carriage drawn by phantom horses is driven by a coachman along the Valley. Inside is a bride in white, but under her veil there is no face, just a skull.
Between Gorey Castle and Anne Port (in St Martin) lies Geoffrey’s leap (although the spelling of Geoffrey may vary). His crime is not known, but his punishment was to be thrown from the cliff into the sea to drown. As was the custom, crowds gathered to watch the event. Geoffrey was thrown into the sea by the executioner, but he swam back to shore. The crowd was divided. Some wanted the punishment to be done properly, and insisted he should be thrown off again. Others felt his escape was a divine rescue, and he should be allowed to go free. To settle the matter Geoffrey jumped from the cliff again. This time he was not so fortunate; his head hit a rock and he was killed.
Devil’s Hole in St Mary is said to refer to the eerie noises of the sea being sucked in and blown out by the rock formation. The devil sculpture may perhaps have come from a wrecked ship, but there is no certainty about this.
The Island was occupied by the French for a few years in the 1460s. During this time, the French were trying to kill Philippe de Carteret. He was out one day fishing in his pond, when the French forces came up behind him. He immediately mounted his horse and sped off towards home, at St Ouen’s Manor. His way became blocked by more French soldiers, so his only option was to ride cross country, crossing a sunken lane. He made the horse jump the lane, twenty-two feet wide, but as he neared home the horse fell dead under him. He was so grateful to the horse for helping him escape the enemy, that he had it buried in his own garden.
Henry VII (who reigned 1485 - 1509) granted leave for a school for poor boys in Jersey. The school was in St Peter’s parish and was known as St Anastase from the neighbouring chapel. The school day was long, from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm, and the subject taught was Latin. The school passed through good times and bad, until eventually the school buildings started to fall down. The money was then passed to Victoria College for boys to study there. The school is remembered in St Peter by the name Mont de l’Ecole, and the nearby Mont d’Anastase.
The parish church of St Saviour is one of the larger parish churches. However, it grew out of four small separate chapels, each owned by a different family. Gradually these chapels were made into the one parish church. At the foot of La Rue á la Dame was an ancient fairy site from which the hill takes its name.
The Black Dog of Bouley Bay is famous, yet its origin is uncertain. One story explains the dog as fictitious; the story was put around by smugglers to keep the curious away. An alternative explanation is that "le tchan" (Jersey Norman French) is a corruption of "le Chouan" (the French royalist). Many French royalists took refuge in Jersey during the Revolution (at the end of the eighteenth century), and they enjoyed playing practical jokes on the local population. One certainty in all this, so it is said, is that if you see the Black Dog, there will be a storm.