A bit about Guernsey

Hi!

Seeing as most of the world don't even know that Guernsey exists I figured that I should write a post about its history etc.

Guernsey is located in the bay of St Malo in the English Channel


Guernsey is the second largest of the Channel Islands which include Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm etc. Sark and Herm belong to Guernsey. Guernsey is a crown dependancy of Great Britain. We have our own government called the states and so do Jersey. Sark and Herm belong to the bailiwick of Guernsey. Guernsey is represented internationally by the UK. Guernsey does not belong to the EU. We use the pound sterling but it's like the Scottish pound in that it is worth the same as the English pound but looks different and is not accepted on the 'mainland'. Jersey is the same. English money is accepted here and I've seen quite a few shops which accept euros too.
A Guernsey pound note:

Guernsey is seen as a tax haven by many in Britain and they have recently been clamping down on companies which are registered here in order to avoid British taxes etc. There is no VAT which is awesome. I guess that compared to some countries (cough Sweden cough) Guernsey is a tax haven but the cost of living is pretty high.

It may seem strange that Guernsey belongs to Great Britain. It certainly did to me the first time that I saw a map of the English Channel. In fact Guernsey used to belong to Normandy. Which means that technically Guernsey invaded England in 1066 but that's just a technicality. I think it's 1204 that King John (?) lost Normandy or something and Guernsey decided to belong to England. I remember writing in my history book in year six that this made the French 'boiling mad'! As I'm sure you know England and France were not exactly friends until a few decades before the First World War. Guernsey was often caught in the middle of these wars. The coast is still littered with the Martello towers that were supposed to defend the island in the event of a French invasion.


I remember my year six teacher saying something about the French invading Guernsey at some point but they were kicked out.
The English Civil War of the mid 1600s divided England. Jersey was Royalist whereas Guernsey was Parliamentarian. The most interesting part, in my opinion, was that Castle Cornet which defends Guernsey's harbour was Royalist. At that point the breakwater wasn't built yet so Castle Cornet was on a separate island.

 

 

Fast forward to the Second World War. The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles to be occupied by the Germans. The islands are covered in concrete bunkers and towers which form part of Hitler's 'Atlantic Wall'. Some of the Martello Towers had concrete additions during the war.

 

 

Guernsey celebrates Liberation day on the 9th of May, after being liberated in 1945 by British forces.

Since then Guernsey has become a financial hub which is reflected by the new buildings along the seafront.

Guernsey also has a thriving harbour which is reflected by the old buildings in town.

If you haven't been here yet then you shoud definetly consider going for a few days. Just like any other place it gets frustrating to live here for too long but it certainly is a great place for a weekend getaway.

Bye banan!