LOCATION 

St Sampson

The northern town and port of St Sampson is known locally as the Bridge. Guernsey by GWS Robinson (published by David & Charles, Newton Abbott, 1977) describes how it was given this name as follows:

The only other harbour is St Sampson’s. It occupies what was once the eastern end of the Braye du Valle, a narrow salt-water channel which runs from St Sampson’s church to the Grand’ Havre, and at one time divided from he mainland of Guernsey an island measuring about 2 miles by 1 1/2 miles known as the Clos du Valle. The Braye was reclaimed during the Napoleonic wars, and the Clos now forms simply the northernmost section of Guernsey.

The road at the back of the harbour is still called The Bridge. The land was drained at the start of the 1800s. Work to reclaim it began in 1839 and continued until the end of the century.

Although not as large as the harbour at St Peter Port, St Sampson can accommodate sizeable vessels and was once a centre of shipbuilding on the island — particularly the building of ships used in exporting stone from the island’s quarry.

At first glance, St Sampson appears fairly industrial, primarily on account of the power station situated there, but it’s not far from Vale Castle and has good views of Herm on clear days. St Sampson parish is home to a school, sports ground, BBC Guernsey and the island’s prison.

St Sampson is also the name of the parish in which the town of St Sampson resides. This parish is split into two with the larger part sitting on the east coast and a smaller, entirely detached offshoot on the west. They are separated by the Vale parish.

The Sarnian Book 1: Dead in the Water

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A body on a beach, an impossible alibi and an unstoppable race against time!

St Sampson appears in The Sarnian, the explosive adventure series in which the discovery of a dead body on one of Guernsey's most secluded beaches blows the lid on a world of intrigue and deceit.

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