In September, the Société Jersiaise and the Lord Coutanche Library, in partnership with Jersey Heritage, were delighted to welcome a delegation from La Fabrique de Patrimoines en Normandie and representatives from several Norman museums and heritage organisations for a special visit to Jersey. The visit offered an excellent opportunity to celebrate Jersey’s historic ties with Normandy and strengthen existing connections
The delegation included museum directors, educators, ethnologists and specialists in the Norman language and intangible cultural heritage from institutions across Normandy, including Caen, Le Havre, Vire and Falaise, accompanied by the Director of Maison de la Normandie et de la Manche and the Assistant to the French and European Cultural Affairs from the Government of Jersey. For several visitors, it was their first opportunity to discover the collections of the Lord Coutanche Library and learn more about the work of the Société Jersiaise.
Visitors were invited to explore a selection of rare books, historic maps, newspapers, drawings and watercolours illustrating the rich historical, cultural and linguistic ties between Jersey and Normandy. Among the highlights were an early edition of the Grand Coustumier du Pays et Duché de Normandie dating from 1510, Guillaume Terrien’s commentary on Norman law published in 1574, and a number of beautiful maps depicting the Duchy of Normandy and the Channel Islands from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Visitors also enjoyed viewing drawings and watercolours of Normandy by Philip John Ouless, including views of Bricquebec and Granville. Equally fascinating was the 1689 map of the Diocese of Coutances, which shows Jersey and the other Channel Islands as part of the historic ecclesiastical landscape of Normandy and provides a striking reminder of our shared past.
The display also included works celebrating Normandy’s landscapes, architecture and history, such as Roman de Rou et des Ducs de Normandie by Wace, one of the most celebrated Norman poets, together with travel accounts describing journeys through Normandy and Jersey in the nineteenth century. Visitors were also able to view Specimens of Mediaeval Architecture, Chiefly Selected from Examples of the 12th and 13th Centuries in France and Italy (1862), drawn by W. Eden Nesfield, alongside Andrew Coltee Ducarel’s Anglo-Norman Antiquities Considered in a Tour Through Part of Normandy (1767), two works highlighting Normandy’s rich architectural and historical heritage.
The visit built upon relationships established during a previous heritage exchange in 2024, when representatives from La Fabrique de Patrimoines en Normandie and several Norman museums visited Jersey to explore sites including Jersey Museum, La Hougue Bie, Hamptonne Country Life Museum, Jersey Archive, the Société Jersiaise and the Lord Coutanche Library. That earlier visit laid the foundations for continuing collaboration, friendship and the sharing of ideas between our organisations.
We were delighted to welcome our guests and greatly enjoyed the opportunity to exchange ideas, experiences and insights. These exchanges help strengthen the historic and cultural links that have connected Jersey and Normandy for centuries, and we look forward to building on these connections and welcoming our Norman colleagues again in the future.
