it has a depth of thirty feet. A drive across the sands, or by the road already noticed, will conduct to St. Helier.

To the reader who may come to Jersey for the sake of its genial climate, and for the improvement of his health, a few remarks on the advantages of the different parts of the Island, will not be unacceptable: they are selected from Dr. Hooper's work, already quoted. Above all others he recommends to the attention of the invalid the three districts of St. Clement, Grouville, and St. Catherine's bay, possessing advantages peculiar to each, over any other part of the Island. Those of St. Clement have already been noticed-its proximity to the town causing it to be a place of very common resort. Grouville he considers to be the most healthy part of the Island, being protected from those influences which detract from its general salubrity; St. Catherine's bay he describes as "a lovely sequestered little cove, and behind which a dry rocky, but fertile ground, whose declivity is moderate, displays all the luxuriency of inland scenery." He further observes :—

"In no part of it is it altogether without sun or shade; and therefore at all hours it offers some delightful resting places; where the visitor, breathing the purest air, may view in tranquil enjoyment, the splendid marine prospect before him.”—“ I know of few retreats where, in the summer season, the middle hours of a fine day-devoting them to bathing, a light repast, and moderate exercise on the surrounding cliffs, or in the shade of an adjacent dell-might be passed with greater advantage by a numerous class of invalids.

195

ANTIQUITIES.

CHAPTER XIV.

Ancient Name; Druid Temples; Roman Works; Early Christian Edifices.

NAME.

In entering on the subject of the Antiquities of Jersey, it will be expected to revert to the Name by which it was originally known; and to be somewhat more particular than was deemed necessary in the general description of the Island. It has been contended that it was known by the name of Augia, previously to its occupation by the Romans, and that this was changed to Cæsarea by that people. It certainly appears in the "Itinerary of Antoninus" by the latter name: and it is equally certain that it was granted by Childebert, King of France, to Sampson, Archbishop of Dol, about the year 550, by the name of Augia. Supposing both these statements to be true, and that its original name was Augia, the only probable solution is, that although it was called Cæsarea by the Romans, who probably had little more than military possession of the Island, this name was not generally adopted by the inhabitants, who retained its more ancient one in all their private transactions; and it may be supposed that they readily returned to its general

R

use after the Romans had left them. It has also been asserted that Augia was the name first given by the Franks, and it has been supposed to have originated from Auge, which, in old French, means a trough, and was therefore applied to Jersey, on account of the number of its valleys giving it that appearance. In the writings of Vaice, or Wace as his name is now written, who was himself a native of the Island, and who wrote during the reign of Henry II., it is spelled Gersui: he thus writes:

"Ie di et diray que ie suis,

Vaice de l'isle de Gersui."

Hence it is certain that it was written Gersui in the 13th century, and it is more than probable that the change to this latter name, was occasioned by some circumstance of a more sudden character than is generally supposed; for it does not seem to be a very easy transition,* whatever others may suppose, either from Cæsarea or Augia to Gersui, although from this latter to Jeresey, as it is spelled in the early English records, may have easily obtained, from which a very natural abbreviation would bring it to its present name of Jersey.

If there be any truth in the conjecture that some circumstance occasioned a sudden change to be made in the name, probably it was at the time of the irruption of the northern nations, Ege or eye in the Saxon language meant an island: thus Shep-ege, or Sheppey, in Kent; and

* Mr. Bulkeley, whose work has been already quoted, is of the same opinion; he would, however, still derive Jersey from Cæsarea, although through another medium; he says, "Cæsarea is the name given by the Romans to the island of Jersey. It would appear hence that the Italian pronunciation of Cæsar is consonant with the orthoepy of the Latin, since we can easily discover Jersey, or as more anciently written Jersary, from Cæsarea, pronounced Tshesarea; but with difficulty from Cæsarea, as articulated by us."-La Hogue Bie, note 18

Angle-sey, or the isle of the Angles: and thus abbreviating Augia, and adding the Saxon eye, brings it very near in sound to its present name; and the very unsettled state of orthography until within a very few years of the present time, easily explains the different ways in which it was spelled, as they were all adapted to the same sound, whether Gersui, or Gearsey, Jarsary, or Jeresey.*

It has also been stated that Barsa was the name by which Jersey was known previously to its occupation by the Romans; but this opinion can be traced to no authority. The earliest name known at the present time was certainly Cæsarea-all else is doubt and conjecture.

DRUID TEMPLES.

THERE are not many remains of Antiquity at present existing in Jersey; but the few that do remain must have existed at a very remote period: they are mostly religious edifices, either in the form of Druid Temples, and which were devoted to pagan idolatry, or buildings for Christian worship. Both were very numerous, and it may therefore be inferred that the Island always bore a religious character, either in the rites of pagan superstition, or as professing the holy and influential doctrines of the gospel.

Some of the most antient monuments of antiquity that have been known in Jersey, have existed within the memory of many of the present generation: these are the Temples

A learned correspondent in Jersey has suggested that the name Augia may have been derived from the German word hoche, or French hant; he observes, “that all depends on the g not being pronounced, as in height, though, bough, &c. and that a foreigner would easily make high into Augia, that is, the high Island.

In some ancient maps there appears on the coast of France, some miles to the south-west of Jersey, an island called Barsa, which may have led Dr. Ubele, of Alderney, (who held the opinion that Barsa was the original name of Jersey,) into the error.

of the Druids, some few remains of which are still to be seen, though of small proportions compared with those of former times. From the great number of these temples that were in Jersey, it must have been a most important station of those religionists, perhaps scarcely less so than the Isle of Anglesey, which was the chief residence of the Druids.

The different kinds of temples, or, as it is sometimes the case, the different parts of the same temple, known in England by the term Cromlech or Cairn, are in Jersey expressed by one general name—all are called Poquelayes, of whatever character or dimensions. Neither Mr. Falle, nor any other author who has written on the Island, has even hazarded a conjecture why they were so called, and the French word Dolmen does not bear any affinity to the name: it must therefore be left in its native obscurity. It may however be observed, that the termination of the word is the same as the English Cromlech; lech, leh, or lee in Celtic, meant a stone-so doubtless laye in Poquelaye has the same meaning; as, likewise, Carnlêh in Scotland, and Cromlêh in Ireland.*

As it was the custom of the Druids not to commit anything to writing, but to communicate all instruction orally, that the knowledge of their rites and observances should be confined to themselves, it is no wonder that so little

*The following interpretation has, however, been suggested; "This seems to be a British compound word; for, in Cornwall, we still call a heap a pook, as a pook of hay, a hay-cock; and laye is nothing but leh in Amoric and Cornish, signifying a flat stone, so that Pook-leh, (Gallic Poquelaye) means a heap of stones."-Borlase's Antiquities of Cornwall. As we should, however, look for its derivation rather from a Gallic than a British source; it may, with more probability, come from Pouqua or Pouqui, which in old French means a fairy: and as, since the times of the Druids, their temples have been supposed to be visited by these elfs, Pequelayes may mean, the resort of fairies.