The Coinages of the Channel Islands.
by B. Lowsley.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON COINAGES FOR THE CHANNEL ISLANDS.
Before treating of the Channel Islands coinages in detail, it may be of interest briefly to notice in order the various changes and the influences which led to these.
The earliest inhabitants of the islands of whom anything is known were contemporaneous with the ancient Britons of Druidical times. Jersey and Guernsey are still rich in Druidical remains. The Table-stone of the Cromlech at Gorey is 160 feet superficial, and the weight, as I have made it, after careful calculation, is about 23-3/4 tons. It rests on six upright stones, weighing, on an average, one ton each. In the very complete work recently edited by E. Toulmin Nicolle[A] is the following interesting note:--
"That traces of the old Northmen, which were once obscure, have now become clear and patent; that institutions, long deemed Roman, may be Scandinavian; that in blood and language there are many more foreign elements than were originally recognized, are the results of much well-applied learning and acumen. But no approximation to the proportion that these foreign elements bear to the remainder has been obtained; neither has the analysis of them gone much beyond the discovery of those which are referred to Scandinavia. Of the tribes on the mainland, those which in the time of Caesar and in the first four centuries of our era have the best claim to be considered as the remote ancestors of the early occupants of the islanders, are the Curiosilites, the Rhedones, the Osismii, the Lemovices, the Veneti, and the Unelli--all mentioned by Caesar himself, as well as by writers who came after him. A little later appear the names of the Abrincatui and the Bajucasses. All these are referable to some part of either Normandy or Brittany, and all seem to have been populations allied to each other in habits and politics. They all belonged to the tract which bore the name of Armorica, a word which in the Keltic means the same as Pomerania in Sclavonic--_i.e._, the country along the seaside."
[A] "The Channel Islands." By the late David Thomas Ansted, M.A., and the late Robert Gordon Latham, M.A. Revised and Edited by E. Toulmin Nicolle. Published by W. H. Allen and Co., 13, Waterloo Place, London.
All evidences that can be gathered would tend to prove that before the time of the Romans the Channel Islands were but thinly populated. There are no traces of decayed large towns nor records of pirate strongholds, and the conclusion is that the inhabitants were fishermen, and some living by hunting and crude tillage. The frequent Druidical remains show the religion which obtained. Any coins in use in those days would be Gaulish, of the types then circulated amongst the mainland tribes above named.
The writer of the foregoing notes considers that the earliest history of the Channel Islands is as follows (page 284):--
"1. At first the occupants were Bretons--few in number--pagan, and probably poor fishermen.
"2. Under the Romans a slight infusion of either Roman or Legionary blood may have taken place--more in Alderney than in Jersey--more in Jersey than in Sark.
"3. When the Litus Saxonicum was established, there may have been thereon lighthouses for the honest sailor, or small piratical holdings for the corsair, as the case might be. There were, however, no emporia or places either rich through the arts of peace, or formidable for the mechanism of war.
"4. When the Irish Church, under the school of St. Columbanus, was in its full missionary vigour, Irish missionaries preached the Gospel to the islanders, and amongst the missionaries and the islanders there may have been a few Saxons of the Litus.
"5. In the sixth century some portion of that mixture of Saxons, Danes, Chattuarii, Leti, Goths, Bretons, and Romanized Gauls, whom the Frank kings drove to the coasts, may have betaken themselves to the islands opposite.
"To summarise--the elements of the population nearest the Channel Islands were:--(1) original Keltic; (2) Roman; (3) Legionary; (4) Saxon; (5) Gothic; (6) Letic; (7) Frank; (8) Vandal--all earlier than the time of Rollo, and most of them German; to which we may add, as a possible element, the Alans of Brittany.
"That the soldiers of the Roman garrison were not necessarily Roman is suggested by the word "Legionary." Some of them are particularly stated to have been foreign. There is indeed special mention of the troop of cavalry from Dalmatia--"Equites Dalmatae."
The inference from the above, as regards coins current in the Channel Islands prior to the Norman conquest of England, would clearly be that, subsequent to the circulation of the first uninscribed Gaulish coins as imitated from the Phillippus types, there followed the well-struck Roman issues, which, in course of time, were superseded by the coinages used and introduced by later invaders and settlers.
British-struck coins of the Saxon kings are rarely found in the Channel Islands, the coins used at the Saxon period of England being doubtless drawn by these islands from Normandy and Brittany. There have never, so far as is known, been regal or state mints established in the Channel Islands, with the exception of the strange venture by Colonel Smyth in the reign of King Charles I., which will be fully noted in turn hereafter.
"Freluques" and "enseignes" also perhaps appear to have been struck in Guernsey, and a few copper tokens, as will be described, were introduced by banks and firms. But from the time of the Romans until the present century, French and other foreign money has been imported, and formed the recognized currency.
THE EARLIEST COINS OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS
As referred to in the preceding general notes, the earliest coins known to have been in use in the Channel Islands are of the same types as used at the time on the near coast of France. They are styled Gaulish, and are generally of the following description:--
_O._ Sinister head in profile; nose, lips, eyes, and ears expressed by duplicate lines; tracery or ornamentation in front of the face, and profuse rolls of curling hair.
_R._ Figure of a horse, extravagantly drawn and decorated, and with ornaments or gear of some kind above and below. Often the mane of the horse is arranged and curled, as if specially so dressed for parade or show, and almost suggests decorations as still sometimes adopted by American Indian or other barbarian chiefs. There are reins, too, in some instances, and these are sometimes held by a rough representation of an arm and hand. The legs of the horse always indicate gallopping. The symbols underneath it are usually either (1) the wild boar, as perhaps indicative of the most important local wild beast in the chase; (2) the chariot wheel, as representing that the horse would draw this vehicle, there not being room to show the whole on the coin fully and in rear of the horse; (3) the implement described by Sir John Evans[B] as a "lyre-shaped object." It would be most interesting to ascertain what this instrument--which is frequently delineated--may really be. It might be a musical production of the bagpipe character, or a head-dress, or a warlike weapon. An extensive museum or collection of very ancient implements should solve the problem.
[B] "The Coins of the Ancient Britons." By Sir John Evans, K.C.B., F.S.A., F.G.S. Published by J. Russell Smith, 36, Soho Square, London.
As regards the metal of which the coins are made, Sir John Evans, at page 128 of his work, states as follows:--
"These coins are formed of _billon_ or base silver, which appears to vary considerably in the amount of its alloy. From an analysis made by De Caylus (Donop. Medailles Gallo Gaeliques, page 24) of two coins, their compositions were found to be as follows:--
A. B.
Silver 0413 1770 Copper 8414 7954 Tin 1166 0265 Iron 0005 0009 Gold 0002 0002 ------ ------ 10000 10000
"The weight of the larger pieces ranges from 80 to 105 grains, and that of the smaller coins is about 25 grains."
It will be observed from the above analysis how considerably the proportions of the white metals, as silver and tin, vary in these coins, and this variation, as regards metallic composition, is so universal that amongst a large number in the same "find" you will even, on cleaning the coins, see some of them look as if made of silver, and the colour vary, until you reach some that appear hardly better than wholly of copper. It would be very interesting to know where the metal or ore for these coinages was procured from. There must have been a natural mixture of most of the metals.
I have looked through a "find" of more than 200 Jersey Gaulish coins, which are in the possession of R. R. Lempriere, Esq. They were turned up by the plough on his manor of Rozel; and whatever covering had enclosed them had either gone to decay, or become broken up, as they were quite loose. He had cleaned a few of them. Even to the eye the metallic composition varied greatly--some being of the colour of silver, and some lowering to that of copper. In this lot there were but two of the smaller size of 25 grains, and I think that proportion may perhaps give some indication as to the relative rarity of the two coins; for at a rough estimate one seems to meet only about one in a hundred, which is of the smaller kind. The larger Gaulish coins are common; large "finds"
of the types formerly used in the Channel Islands having been made on the adjacent mainland of Normandy and Brittany, and also on the south coast of England.
Sir John Evans mentions (page 128) the hoard at Mount Batten, near Plymouth (_Numismatic Journal_, Vol. I., page 224), and that in the _Arch. Assoc. Journal_, Vol. III., page 62, is an account of a find of them at Avranches, written by Mr. C. Roach Smith; also in 1820 nearly 1,000 were discovered in Jersey; and previously, in 1787, there had been a find in that island. The manor of Rozel seems to have been most rich in furnishing specimens. In addition to the number in possession of the seigneur of Rozel, as before referred to, there are from that district of the island collections at the St. Helier Museum, and with Lady Marett, Wm. Nicolle, Esq., Dr. Le Cronier, E. C. Cable, Esq., and others.
They are often turned up in agricultural work, and many farmers possess a few, but will not part with them, nor with their stone or bronze spear-heads, arrow-heads, axe-heads, and jars, as there is often some superstition that it is unlucky to let these be sold away from the neighbourhood where they were dug up.
Full descriptions of some "finds" are given in the annual issues of the _Societe Jersiaise_, together with illustrations. The illustrations differ little as regards the types shown from those given in the works of Evans and Hawkins. There is, however, one point to be observed that is interesting and noteworthy--_i.e._, Gaulish and Roman coins have been found enclosed together in the same urn, thus indicating that the two coinages had concurrently come into the possession of the same person before being hidden. This appears proof of concurrent circulation. The small urn found by Mr. George Amy, of Rozel, close to the spot where the landslip occurred in 1875, is in the Jersey Museum. It is, of course, hand-made pottery, and burnt nearly black. It contained both Gaulish and Roman coins--the former, both of _billon_ and silver, being mainly of the smaller or more rare sort, and each weighing only from 18 to 28 grains. The urn was a small one, the top having been covered by a flat stone, with a larger stone keeping this down in its place.
By consideration of the metal values of Gaulish and Roman coins turned up in the same "find," we might arrive at the relative current values as regulated and assigned at the period.
ROMAN COINS IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS
After conquest and occupation by the Romans, the Gaulish currency, as well as that of ancient Britain, was superseded by Roman issues. Mr.
Edward Hawkins, in his standard work on the Silver Coins of England[C]
(page 22), tersely and precisely explains what happened in England; and the Channel Islands came within the same provisions and action.
[C] "The Silver Coins of England." By Edward Hawkins, F.R.S., F.A.S.
Published by Bernard Quaritch, 15, Piccadilly, London.
"It is natural to suppose that when the Roman power had become established in Britain, the ordinary money of that empire would form the general circulation of this country, and that British money would be for the most part, if not entirely, superseded. Gildas asserts that an edict was actually issued and enforced, ordaining that all money current in this island should bear the image and superscription of the Roman Emperor; and the circumstance of Roman coins being almost daily turned up in every part of the country amply confirms his statement. It is quite unnecessary to enter here into any description of that money, as it is perfectly well known to everyone, and numerous treatises and descriptions of it have been published in all languages."
Just as stated above, it would be but going over ground already thoroughly well trodden to treat of the different Roman coins discovered in the Channel islands. They are similar to those which have come to light on the south coast of England and in Normandy and Brittany. I will, however, append at length the following note from William Nicolle, Esq., Jurat, of Bosville, King's Cliff, Jersey, who has favoured me with particulars of Roman coins found in Jersey, and now in his possession:--
"The Roman coins in my possession are 342 in number, and form part of a find which was made in February, 1848, in the district of 'Les Quenvais,' in the parish of St. Brelade's, Jersey. They were described in a paper which was contributed to the Worcester Congress in the summer of 1848, by the late Mr. F. C. Lukis, F.S.A., the eminent Guernsey archaeologist, and which was published in the 'Journal of the Archaeological Association,' Vol. IV., page 272.
"Mr. Lukis says:--'By a series of sections the accumulation of sand in Les Quenvais bears marks of several inundations, quite distinct in their appearance, and varying somewhat in their directions. The soil and clay beneath this sandy mass exhibit Roman vestiges of pottery and other articles, so that we cannot be far wrong in attributing the change in this supposed fertile district to a period not far removed from the Roman subjugation of western Europe. Fragments of Roman pottery from beneath the sandy hillocks of Les Quenvais, in the possession of Col. Le Couteur, of Jersey, Aide-de-camp to Her Majesty, present indubitable marks of the possession of this district by those conquerors. And, as if a further proof were wanting, in February last a jar[D] of coarse earthenware, which contained 400 brass coins in excellent state of preservation, was dug out from the substratum, where it may have been lodged at the time of the Roman occupation of Jersey.'
[D] This jar is in my possession.