Bygone Guernsey and its Coins

A view in St. Peter Port c late 1800's perhaps early 1900's looking up Market Steps to the Market Square / Place. Note the elegant Victorian attire of the crowd, most would be chatting in the local Guernsey Patois or even pure French. To the left of Market Square are the Market Halls or States Arcade, built in 1822 with huge lofty seperate areas. They sold Flowers, (I can still remember the fragrances), Fruit and Vegatables, Meats then the Fish Market, this area exits out into Fountain St. then Bordage and Mill St. On the right of Market Squars are the French Halles with the Assembly Rooms above, later to become the home of the Guilles-Alles Library. I think now (16/02/2018) it has all been changed into mini commercial units catering for locals and the many Island Visitors. In this scene of Guernsey life, notice on the right the Horse drawn Char-a-Bancs (Char-a-Bang). used to take people home. I can still remember that way back in the the late 1940's and early 1950's, there would be lines of six to ten, waiting at the White Rock berth to transfer passengers, locals and Visitors, from the Mailboats arriving daily from the U.K. after a night crossing. Later we now have a 'Chara Bang' as an excursion, day out or trip to the coast. The Ships brought in the Mail and Newspapers from England , but all this is now done by regular flights, here follows a list of Ships..

These were the Earl of Chesterfield 1794, Dasher 1827, Ibex 1891, Alberta 1900, Sarnia (1) 1910, torpedoed 1918, St. Julien 1925, Isle of Guernsey and Isle of Jersey 1930, Isle of Sark 1932, Brittany 1933, St.Patrick , St. David, Falaise all 1947, Caesarea 1960, Sarnia (2) 1961, Earl of Granville 1973. Havelet 1977. // A 'sample' from records researched as at 17th Oct 2018

Here follows a Montage of 'Bygone Guernsey' from views saved for 65 years, also Links to my book, 'Guernsey Coinage' in 1968 (50 yrs Aniv) a First on this subject and a Link to - First Guernsey Sea Scouts - a Thesis by Bill Hill / 2018

A similar view to my Title header but titled Market Place. From an early Moss Print