The first settlers
250,000 years ago, the first people appeared on Jersey. They were nomadic hunters, and used the caves at St. Brelade as a base whilst hunting mammoth. The island was used on and off for 200,000 years until the first ice age ended and Jersey again became an island. The island was unoccupied for 120,000 years until the end of the second ice age. Permanent settlements
At the end of the second ice age, settlements appeared around Jersey, on the coastal plains. Permanent settlements were not established on Jersey itself until 4500 BC. These neolithic settlers established trading links with Brittany and with the south coast of England. Very little else is known about the island from here until about 930 AD. There is evidence of the Gauls and the Romans in the island, but it does not seem that they were permanent settlers. In 511 Jersey became part of the kingdom of Neustria. It was around this time that the first Christian missionaries arrived in Jersey - St Magloire and St Samson.
For the next 200 years, Jersey's history is almost a blank. So let's fast forward through to 800 AD, when the Vikings arrived...
|
