Jersey Heritage Podcast: Recent Episodes
Jersey Heritage
Discover fascinating historic sites and collections with the new Jersey Heritage podcast. From the secrets of the Cold War Bunker to the treasures of the Archive, our expert guides will take you behind the scenes at Jersey Heritage and introduce you to intriguing stories from the past. The podcast is supported by Benest and Syvret
In today's episode, hosts, Mel and Perry are talking all things Jèrriais, exploring place names, practical uses of our native language, and how Jèrriais helps us discover our Island's history.
From La Corbière to Rouge Bouillon, what do these Jèrriais place names tell us about the language and its use?
Tracy Peters, Jèrriais Language Officer, will share some interesting facts about our 'gem of the sea' and what more we can do to continue its legacy.
Why did Jèrriais stop being spoken and where did the language go during the 18th century? What is being done now to encourage new speakers?
To support our work you can make a donation at www.jerseyheritage.org/support
In this episode, our hosts are joined by Director of Archives and Collections, Linda Romeril, who talks to us about Jersey's Royal Charters.
Taking us back to 1341 and and the first Charter issued to the people of Jersey by Edward II. Linda will explain what a Charter represents, and how they were used by the monarchy with the people of Jersey throughout our Island's history.
Further Charters from Richard II and Charles II are explored along with the story around them, what was happening at the time and why the Island's people were issued the various Charters.
You can visit an exhibition about the Royal Charters at Mont Orgueil Castle | Jersey Heritage. Or support Jersey Archive to conserve important documents my making a donation Fundraising | Jersey Heritage.
In today's episode, hosts Mel and Perry are joined by Rouen Ollivier, the museum registrar. Rouen shares some insight into our weird and wonderful collection and some of the stories that accompany the items. From the day to day elements of caring for over 750,000 items to the events which bring forward memories of times gone by.
Rouen talks about 'modern' items in the collection from Super Mario to Pokemon cards, to the 90 samplers in our textiles collection.
She also tells the story of one of the strangest items in the Jersey Heritage Collection, framed fragment of Philip Carteret's hair. Taken from his coffin in St. Ouen's Chruch in 1869. They also discuss more strange items dating from the 17th century called 'witches balls'.
Support our work caring for Jersey's collections by making a donation at Support | Jersey Heritage
Join hosts Mel and Perry for a 'Small Island's Big Stories Session' on all things conservation and restoration. Jersey Heritage Conservator, Harry Richards, talks about how the Conservation Team get involved in everything Jersey Heritage does, from working in the conservation lab, to preparing objects for exhibitions.
With a wide variety of work, Harry talks about some of his recent work, including restoration on a 150-year-old stuffed fox, a new object in the Jersey Heritage collection to objects owned by surrealist artist Claude Cahun.
Some of Harry's favourite moments include; carefully putting back together a 2,000 year-old amber bead which was in 40 pieces and rediscovering a glass jar full of dehydrated sea creatures. His work has also included working on a vandalised ancient standing stone, putting it back together piece by piece so it can be returned to the landscape.
Support our conservation work by making a donation on our website Fundraising | Jersey Heritage
In the latest 'Small Island Big Stories' episode, hosts Mel and Perry are digging into the story about Le Câtillon II - the world’s largest Celtic coin hoard.
Discovered in 2012 y by two local metal detectorists. This hoard surprised us all with its sheer size in contents.
Neil Mahrer, Jersey Heritage's Conservator, shares his experiences of working with the hoard and the artifacts found within.
If you've been inspired to find out more, then visit the exhibition, ‘Searching for Jersey’s Celts’ is a story about the Le Câtillon II – the world’s largest Celtic coin hoard. You’ll learn what might have led people to bury a hoard of 70,000 coins and jewellery in Jersey 2,000 years ago.
Or read more about this amazing story on our website. The Coin Hoard Comes Home | Jersey Heritage.
In today's episode hosts, Mel and Perry are joined by Dr. James Dilley, the founder of Ancient Craft.
James is going to be taking us on a journey of craftsmanship and living history with specific emphasis on pre-history.
They'll discuss the ancient landscape and how this entire landscape is hidden under the ground, and littered with fragments of people's lives from many thousands of years ago.
Dr. Dilley talks about his origin story and what got him interested in ancient crafts, and how his work now is dedicated towards educating and reconnecting people to their prehistoric heritage.
Find out more about Ancient Craft here.
Visit La Hougue Bie to find out more about the Neolithic passage grave.
Support our work by becoming a Member.
In today’s episode, The Small Island Big Stories host Mel, sits in on a fascinating conversation about Island life after Liberation between Jersey writer & researcher Mark Lamerton & Lucy Layton, Exhibitions Curator at Jersey Heritage.
Not much has been shared on what life was like for the Island of Jersey after Liberation on 9 May. Jersey had been Occupied for 5 years by German forces and Islanders had endured isolation, tensions between town and country, financial debts and fears of civil unrest. What did the road to recovery really looked like? Both Lucy and Mark share their research.
Tune into this episode to hear all about Jersey’s long road to recovery.
Want to find out more? Come to Jersey Museum and visit our FREE exhibition, Life After Liberation (until end December 2025). Life After Liberation | Jersey Heritage
Have you ever wondered who changed women's rights to stand for election in Jersey? In our latest episode of our ‘Small Island, Big Story Sessions’ podcast, we explore the life of Caroline Trachy, a pioneering campaigner in the quest for equality.
You can also discover more about Caroline Trachy on our website.
Come and visit our exhibition – ‘La Tèrr’rie d’Jèrri – d’s histouaithes dé not’ Île / Being Jersey – stories of our Island‘ at the Jersey Museum which tells the story of Jersey’s unique and complex history, including the story of women's rights – this exhibition really does have something for everyone. It’s free to visit and open all year round. You can also read about Caroline Trachy's life on our website.
Are you a Jersey heritage Member?
If not head to our website and sign up today. Your Membership unlocks the doors to all our sites, offers special discounts and benefits, but above all else it supports the important work that Jersey Heritage does to preserve and share our rich Island story.
In this episode, hosts Mel and Perry are joined by Dr. Mariana Pereira, who is a post-doctoral research associate at the University of York. Mariana conducts her studies at the Heritage for Global Challenges Research Centre, and during our conversation, we will be diving into the complexities of migration and how the movement of people shapes our community landscape and traditions.
Dr Pereira is a researcher with Abundant Futures, a project commissioned by ArtHouse Jersey which explores food justice by highlighting knowledge and experiences of migrant communities and native populations. She will conduct interviews with project participants, gathering their perspectives on what it means to belong in a place. Dr Perreira asks 'what it means to be local', and in order to integrate with the existing community and become part of Island life, you don't need to leave your cultural identity behind.
Follow Dr. Pereira’s work with Abundant Futures on ArtHouse Jersey’s website (https://www.arthousejersey.je/our-work/abundant-futures)
Take a closer look at the work of Jersey Heritage, a Jersey registered charity on our website.
A diaspora refers to a population that is scattered across regions separate from its geographic place of origin.
A diaspora refers to a population that is scattered across regions separate from its geographic place of origin
In this episode of the Small Island Big Story Sessions, we're exploring the life of 'the Jersey Lillie' born Emilie Charlotte Le Breton on October 13 1853, Lillie Langtry has been famous for her acting career, her immense beauty and her presence, and often she's been talked about due to her somewhat scandalous affairs.
Today we are going to be looking at the other side of Lillie, the entrepreneur, the witty woman of London's high society, we're going to be looking at her achievements and exploring who she was as a person.
To support our charity and our mission to tell Jersey's stories you can make a donation on our website Support | Jersey Heritage.
Described as "15 minutes of mayhem" by historian Doug Ford, find out more about Jersey’s famous battle which took place in the Royal Square in St Helier, Jersey on 6 January 1781. Hosts, Mel and Perry are joined this month by Doug Ford, who’ll talk through the battle, how French forces, led by Baron de Rullecourt, landed at La Rocque in the early hours of the morning and tried to take the Island by force and how the battle was won, with the loss of Major Peirson.
If you want to discover the more of the story, then come to Jersey Museum. The Battle of Jersey features in ‘La Terr’rie d’Jèrri’ our FREE exhibition at Jersey Museum.
Support our charity by making a donation and help us tell more stories of our Island. Fundraising | Jersey Heritage
In this Christmas special we will be sharing our Jèrriais roots, which explore festive Jersey traditions, to how Christmas is celebrated by our vibrant multicultural community today.
We want to give special thanks to our fantastic guest speakers; Tracy from Jersey Heritage, Lesley Katsande, Alex Silva, Marcel Bucur & Anna Jolda
A very special thank you also goes out to our listeners! We have loved bringing you the Small Island, Big Story sessions this year and look forward to sharing more stories with you in 2025! Don’t forget to subscribe!
Support Jersey Heritage in 2025 by becoming a Member or if you have time, consider volunteering! Find out more here.
In the latest episode of our ‘Small Island, Big Story Sessions’ podcast, hosts Mel and Perry are joined by Dan Morrison, author of 'The Prince and the Poisoner'. When Dan visited Jersey recently, he came on the podcast to tell us about a murder in 1930s India that rocked the Raj and how the investigation was linked to Jersey through Deputy Police Commissioner E. Henry Le Brocq, who was in charge of Calcutta’s detective department.
Dan is a former New York crime reporter and currently deputy world editor at ‘USA Today’, shares his research into this fascinating story with a Jersey connection, and how he stumbled across it whilst researching something completely different.
Discover your family history with Jersey Heritage, it's easy to get started visit our website to find out more Jersey Archive | Jersey Heritage.
In this episode Mel and Perry welcome Jersey's very own British and European surf champion, Arlene Maltman. Arlene shares her incredible story of being a female surfer in a male dominated sport.
Mel and Perry will talk about the heritage of surfing in Jersey, how the names of surf spots have become part of our intangible cultural heritage and how surfing has put Jersey on the map.
Arlene shares how people's attitudes to women in the sport has changed and how the industry supporting women surfing has developed. She also shares her memories of Jersey as a European hotspot for surfing culture.
So grab your board and join Mel, Perry and Arlene for a surf through history.
We’re asking practitioners, community groups or ICH champions to share their traditions, language, knowledge, habits, beliefs and customs to create a list of the Island’s intangible cultural heritage. Share your stories by visiting our website. ICH | Jersey Heritage
How would you feel if your sexuality was illegal? How would you form relationships? Where would you go and what would you do? Hosts Mel and Perry read between the lines of the LGBTQ+ history in the Channel Islands. They speak to Vic Tanner Davy who'll be sharing some the stories of interesting characters, the challenges they faced and the history of legislation that make life difficult for them.
Vic Tanner Davy is Head of Programmes for Jersey Heritage and ex-CEO of Liberate a charity focussed on equality, diversity and inclusion across the Channel Islands. He has delivered hundreds of training sessions and public speaking engagements on its behalf, educating and engaging with people on the subject of equality, diversity and inclusion.
Support the work of Jersey Heritage in telling the Island's stories by becoming a Member.
In today's episode, we are going to be exploring the lost dolmen of La Coupe, a series of ancient stones on the sea shore in Jersey, that have given local archaeologists and geologists much to deliberate.
Are these stone just a jumbled mass on the sea shore, or are they actually a megalithic monument? If so, how did they get there? Where they carefully placed there in prehistoric times or did coastal erosion mean they tumbled from a hill top near by?
Join hosts Mel and Perry with special guest Paul Chambers, Head of the Aspiring Jersey Island Geopark project, to discuss the mystery surround the lost dolmen. Find out why we call these megalithic structures are called dolmen in Jersey (an incorrect term) and the prehistoric origins of Jersey.
Paul also talks about the Aspiring Jersey Island Geopark project, an Island-wide initiative to become a Geopark.
To find out more about the Geopark project visit the Jersey Island Geopark website.
You can read more about the Igneous Origins of Jersey on the Jersey Heritage website.
To support Jersey Heritage, become a Member or make a donation here.
From conger soup to pigeon pie, and everything in between. Mel and Perry are joined by food historian, Dr Annie Gray. Taking a tour through food from preparation to digestion, the pod takes you back through the history of food, how recipes have developed throughout the years with the introduction of new ingredients and how we eat food now. This is a mouth watering episode of The Small Island, Big Story Sessions.
Annie works across TV and radio, and has been the resident food historian on BBC Radio 4’s award-winning culinary panel show, The Kitchen Cabinet since its inception in 2012.
If this pod inspires you to find out more about Jersey's food history, come to Jersey Museum and visit our Bouan Appétit! exhibition.
You can support our charity by becoming a Jersey Heritage Member.
Join Mel and Perry as they talk to Director of Archives and Collections, Linda Romeril, about the Executioners List - a document that covers crimes and executions of the 14th – 18th centuries. Who were the executioners and who were they executing and why?
This podcast episode contains discussions on sensitive topics which could be distressing to some listeners.
The Executioners List is held at Jersey Archive. If you'd like to discover the history of Jersey then become a Member. If you'd like to start your own research project, subscribe to our Archives and Collections online.
In today's episode, we are going to be diving into jersey's rich maritime history. We'll be focusing on the shipwrecks of the Channel Islands with local historian and former Jersey heritage curator, Doug Ford. We'll be sharing stories of life at sea and the perils of navigating our treacherous waters which take us into darker stories of cannibalism and survival .
Support our charity by becoming a Jersey Heritage Member, why not visit the Maritime Museum in St Helier and join as a Member at the same time. Jersey Heritage: Discover Our Island Story.
In today's episode, Mel and Perry are going to be talking to Paul Lister, he'llbe sharing first hand experience of what it was like to work in a Cold War bunker here in Jersey. Hidden in a street in the heart of St. Heller, this Jersey Command Center was used to pass and receive messages of potential nuclear fallout around the UK and Europe. We are really lucky today to be joined by Paul Lister, who worked in the Cold War Bunker in the late 1980s.
If you'd like to visit the Cold War bunker in Jersey then you can find out how on our website Cold War Bunker | Jersey Heritage.
If you'd like to support our work, telling the Island's stories, please consider supporting us through Membership or a donation. Support | Jersey Heritage
Join Mel and Perry as they talk to Harry Le Feuvre, Digital Access Manager at Jersey Archive. Harry will be sharing his research into the fascinating lives into Kenneth and Kathleen Le Sueur their collection of letters and photographs encompass their tales of distance travel, romance and possible espionage!
If you are enjoying the Small Island, Big Story Sessions then consider supporting Jersey Heritage by becoming a Member. Your support will help us to continue to tell the Island's stories. Find out more on becoming a supporter on our website jerseyheritage.org
How does Jersey's native language, Jèrriais, link to the Island's festivals, celebrations and traditions. Starting in January in the depths of winter we take a look at the calendar year from old Christmas day, to 'quarter days' such as Michalmas. Mel and Perry are joined once more by Geraint Jennings, Jèrriais Promotions Officer and take a tour around the year and find out why St Brelade parishioners are 'caterpillars' and people from St Helier had the runs!
If you've been inspired to find out more about Jersey's Heritage, take a look at our website for details on becoming a Member, undertaking your own research or visiting a Jersey Heritage site. www.jerseyheritage.org
Join Perry and Mel as they take a journey through the Island's native language, Jèrriais, and its links to Jersey's folklore. From 'black dogs' to 'water spirits', Jèrriais plays a key role in how the Island's superstitions and tales have been shared and retold throughout generations. They are joined by Jersey Heritage's Jèrriais Promotions Manager, Geraint Jennings.
Support Jersey Heritage's charitable work to tell the Island's stories by becoming a Jersey Heritage Member, find out more here Membership.
Did you know that Jersey was considered the witch hunting capital of Atlantic Europe?
Mel and Perry look at Jersey Archive documents and explore how public beliefs of witchcraft turned into moral panic and prosecution.
Become a Jersey Heritage Member and support our work telling the Island's story. Visit our website for details.
Martin Toft of the Société Jersiaise describes how archival research inspired him to travel to Brazil and Belize to discover more about Jersey’s links to the slave trade.
Professor Brycchan Carey of Northumbria University discusses 200 years of silence on the subject and encourages us all to question the past.
Keith McClelland of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery discusses the evidence for Channel Islanders’ involvement in the slave trade.
Discover the incredible love story of Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, and their daring resistance work during the Occupation.
Explore the story of Seymour Tower and the magnificent wetlands site in which it stands, a mile off Jersey’s south-east coast.
This Heritage Podcast explores the story of Howard D, Jersey’s first motor lifeboat, and the rest of the historic fleet on display outside the Maritime Museum
Step behind the scenes at Jersey Archive and explore fascinating stories from the collection of Aliens Registration Cards. From Breton farm workers to South American piano teachers, Jersey was a surprisingly international community in the 1920s when these immigration cards were created.
Discover the history of the landmark Radio Tower that stands high on the cliffs at La Corbiere overlooking the lighthouse and Jersey’s dramatic south-west coastline. What were the many challenges of converting this concrete German tower into a unique holiday home?
Uncover the secrets of Jersey’s Cold War Bunker with some of the people who worked there in the 1980s. They describe its operation role and share their memories of the fateful night in 1986 when the Chernobyl accident threatened to turn a nuclear nightmare into reality.