The History Islands

Welcome to Series 3 of the History Islands. In my new book, Illustrated Tales of Jersey, I have shared some of the myths and legends that shaped our Island. There are many more yet to be told.  This is one of them - the story of the Ghost Bride of the Watermills.  It is one of Jersey's most haunting and poignant legends.  __________________ Links to Paul's books Illustrated Tales of Jersey (Amberley Publishing, 2025) Jersey: Secrets of the Sea (Seaflower Books, 2019) Jersey: The Hidden Histories (Seaflower Books, 2015) (c) Paul Darroch 2025 Music credits - Chariots by Gavin Luke, courtesy of Epidemic Sound

I'm Paul Darroch, and welcome to a feature-length episode of the History Islands. This is the true story of Louisa Journeaux, and it's taken from my second book, Jersey: Secrets of the Sea. It is the Spring of 1886 when the tragic story of an ordinary Jersey girl grips the imagination of Jersey press and people alike. This unsettling series of events fulfilled so many of the sensibilities of any Victorian narrative, offering original sin, a damsel in distress, a dramatic court trial, a terrible ordeal and a surprising deus ex machina resolution. Yet this quintessentially Victorian tale belongs in no penny dreadful or Dickens periodical. It is the astonishing true story of Miss Louisa Journeaux, a guileless young lady from St Clement.   (c) Paul Darroch 2025 Music: Chariots by Gavin Luke, courtesy of Epidemic Sound.  

Have you heard of Prince's Tower, one of Jersey's lost landmarks? Let us turn east to the ancient site of La Hougue Bie, where in 1913, one of Jersey's greatest monuments still stood, albeit in an advanced state of decay. Its story begins with Philippe Dauvergne – an astonishingly charismatic and restless young man, born in 1754. He travels to the ends of the earth. He heads into the icy death zone of the Arctic, fighting polar bears, travelling with Horatio Nelson. As a young naval officer visiting Russia, Empress Catherine the Great tries to seduce him. In the American Revolution, he leads an attack on Long Island. He is present at the Battle of Bunker Hill, as the United States is born. Yet the surreal tragedy of his life is just about to begin.   Discover the full story of Philippe d'Auvergne in Jersey: The Hidden Histories  Music: Gavin Luke, Chariots, courtesy of Epidemic Sound

Welcome to another episode of The History Islands. This week, we begin a new series on Jersey's lost landmarks - starting with the story of St Matthew's, a vanished school in Millbrook. This is the tale of a ragged school in a poor rural community, struggling to survive in the harsh land where the sand dunes met the potato fields. Long before Lalique's creative vision made the Glass Church famous, the Victorian school at St Matthew's struggled to educate the sons and daughters of the parish. Through the lens of the headmaster's log-book, we can catch a glimpse of a lost world.    Map courtesy of the National Library of Scotland (NLS). Music - Chariots by Gavin Luke courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Today we meet Jersey's Colonel John Le Couteur, who is attending the opening of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London, in 1851. The Channel Islands occupy a prominent place at the event. The world is changing. Prince Albert, the scion of the Victorian age, puts it best – "the unity of mankind is within reach". Technology drives his optimism. "The distances which separate the different nations and parts of the globe", he declares, "are rapidly vanishing and we can traverse them with incredible ease; thought is communicated with the rapidity, and even the power, of lightning". The telegraph, the penny post and the maritime arteries of empire are binding the world together, and Jersey is deeply enmeshed in the web. Indeed, the first pillar boxes in the British Isles will open in St Helier in 1852. To celebrate the new era of global seaborne trade, the Prince Consort has called upon the world to showcase its greatest treasures in London. They call it the "Great Exhibition". Music: Chariots by Gavin Luke courtesy of Epidemic Sound. Image: The Crystal Fountain, F. & C. Osler of London and Birmingham. Created for display at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Public Domain - Wikimedia Commons.

In this episode, we complete the story of Jersey's Elinor Glyn, who achieved international celebrity and reached the pinnacle of Hollywood in the Roaring Twenties. She had gained earthly fame, yet at what cost? This extract is taken from Jersey: Secrets of the Sea, available on Amazon and in all good Jersey bookstores. The music is Chariots by Gavin Luke, courtesy of Epidemic Sound.  

Welcome to another episode of The History Islands. Elinor Glyn has now arrived in Hollywood, at the dawn of its Golden Age. It was a long way from St Saviour, Jersey to Beverly Hills. This is the story of how Elinor reinvented herself on the West Coast and ended up as a friend of Charlie Chaplin and working with Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino and Clara Bow. This is an extract from my second book, Jersey: Secrets of the Sea. Elinor Glyn's story will conclude in the next episode.      Artwork courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Library of Congress/ Public Domain). Music Chariots by Gavin Luke courtesy of Epidemic Sound. 

Welcome to another episode of the History Islands, continuing the true story of one of Jersey's most famous daughters. Elinor Sutherland has survived the ordeal of her Channel Islands shipwreck in 1875, and she now begins her ascent to the heights of Hollywood. This episode is adapted from my second book Jersey: Secrets of the Sea.  Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound (Chariots by Gavin Luke). Photo of Elinor Glyn from Wikimedia Commons / George Grantham Bain collection at the Library of Congress. 

Let me introduce you to Lucy and Elinor. They are two sisters growing up in St Helier, at the height of the Victorian age, in an unhappy home that reeked with the stench of gin. Through fierce determination, both girls would make their mark on the twentieth century. Their paths would take them from that dreary house on Colomberie to the glittering catwalks of New York and the sun-drenched boulevards of Hollywood respectively.  Yet their story almost ended before it had begun. Turn the clock back, and we meet two frightened little girls, on a black steamship, heading home to Jersey in the night. It has been an uneventful voyage so far, but history has other plans. Extract from my book Jersey: Secrets of the Sea by Paul Darroch. Music credit: Chariots by Gavin Luke Courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

The wind dropped like a stone. Then the fires of hell burst down over Grouville Bay. A dragon's flame seared across the sky, pointing the way to a glistening but fatal treasure.  This is a Jersey legend of unearthly signs and human greed. It is based on a morality tale first published by William Creed in 1595, at the height of the seafaring Elizabethan age.  The extract features in my book Jersey: Secrets of the Sea.

Welcome to Series Two of the History Islands. In this episode I tell the story of the SS Stella, a tragic Victorian shipwreck. As the ship sank fast on the razor reef of the Casquets, the heroism of stewardess Mary Ann Rogers would save many lives. You can discover a brace of maritime tales from Jersey's past in my second book, Jersey: Secrets of the Sea.  

We conclude our multi-part series on the life of Harry Vardon, one of the greatest golfers in history. We rejoin him in New York City in 1900, on the brink of global fame. The boy from Grouville in Jersey would go on to ignite a wave of enthusiasm for golf in America.  Vardon's life was a blend of professional triumph and heartbreaking personal tragedy. The world he knew has passed into history. Yet over a century since his six Open victories, his record stands unbroken. 

Harry Vardon was born in Jersey and went on to become one of the greatest golfers of all time. This episode continues his story of heartbreaking personal tragedy and breathtaking professional triumph. It opens in the mist-shrouded streets of St Helier and ends in the lavish opulence of the finest hotel in New York City.  [Sensitivity warning: contains themes of baby loss and bereavement].

Harry Vardon grew up in poverty, in a tiny cottage in rural Jersey. He would live to become a legendary sportsman and a household name. Today he is remembered worldwide as a founding father of the modern game of golf.  In the previous episode, we met him as a small boy, on the day that strangers came to seize the common land around his home. They created the Royal Jersey Golf Club before his eyes - and the young lad was entranced. In this episode, Vardon's story continues.

Harry Vardon grew up in poverty, in a tiny cottage in rural Jersey. He would become a founding father of the modern game of golf.  He singlehandedly revolutionised its play; his innovative Vardon grip became the global standard. When he toured America, the world beat a path to his door. His duel with Francis Ouimet lit the touchpaper for the golf mania that would consume the USA in the twentieth century. When Vardon took the radical step of sporting knickerbockers, the golfing world spun on a dime and embraced this novel fashion. With his obsessive practice regime, his consummate discipline, as much as his effortless style, Vardon was the shape of things to come. This is his story.

Beauport Bay is sublime. The golden sand, towering rock stack and shimmering sea form one of Jersey's most treasured landscapes. The Beauport headland, allowing exclusive access to the bay, was once given as a birthday gift to a very special Lady. That lady was born Florence Rowe, daughter of a St Helier bookseller, but we know her better as Florence Boot. Her creative vision helped to establish the success of a British household name. Her generosity continues to shape the Island we know today.   

This week's story tells of a shocking Victorian tragedy that unfolded in Grouville Bay, Jersey. An expedition to collect vraic, or seaweed, ended in disaster. I have re-imagined this actual historical event from the perspective of a watcher, surveying with a telescope from the shore.

The dragon that ruled the Island slept by the shores of St Lawrence, where the tides poured in across the bay. This story is based on one of Jersey's oldest and most enduring legends.

Today's episode is set in Jersey's distant past, in the 6th century, in a world where legend and history blend. This is the story of Saint Helier, who gave his life for the people of the town that bears his name. 

Welcome to another episode of the History Islands. In this episode, we complete the story of Sir Walter Raleigh, the former Governor of Jersey, on his final, doomed journey. This story is taken from Jersey: Secrets of the Sea by Paul Darroch.