Guernsey Martyrs burned at the stake
This week in Guernsey
The Val des Terres was opened to traffic for the first time ever this week in 1935. The work, which had kicked off four years earlier, had been carried out by Guernsey’s long-term unemployed, and the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, came to cut the ribbon. The whole road was decorated for the event and seemingly everyone on Guernsey turned out to cheer the royal along the route.
The President Garcia, which had crashed in Saints Bay when it mistook a navigation light for a lighthouse was at last refloated this week in 1967. The ship was full of coconut kernel, which brought with it a plague of beetles that put the island’s tomato crop at risk.
Prince Charles and Camilla visited Guernsey this week in 2012 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. They toured the walled garden at Saumarez Park where Prince Charles tried plate spinning, then performed the official opening of Les Bourgs Hospice.
The Guernsey Martyrs were burned at the stake this week in 1556, after having been found guilty of being protestants. One of the women was heavily pregnant, and she gave birth to a boy while being burned. Although some of the spectators rushed to save it, the bailiff threw back into the flames to be burned alongside its mother.
The first radio connection between Guernsey and Alderney went live this week in 1927, making communication between the islands far easier. This was important, as Alderney’s large harbour arm was considered an important structure in the defence of Britain and its territories against possible attack from mainland Europe.
Sir John Leale, who had led Guernsey’s Controlling Committee during the occupation died this week in 1969. Born in Guernsey in 1892, he even appeared in The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, which described him as “a truly honourable man... he didn’t want us to hate anybody, not even the Germans: but he was like steel in his quiet way to get out of them all he thought was fair for them to let us have.”
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