The Channel Islands
Guernsey and Jersey have been associated with quality knitting since Tudor times. Mary, Queen of Scots is believed to have worn a pair of white Guernsey stockings for her execution in 1587. On receiving a fine pair of Jersey stockings from
Sir Walter Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth I granted a licence to the islanders to trade freely in knitted woollen goods.
Today we associate the term ’jersey’ with the knitted fabric that takes its name from the island, but jersey was originally a wool. While the multi-horned Jersey sheep died out long ago, its closest living relative, the Isle of Man’s Manx Loaghtan, was introduced to the island in 2009. And the fisherman’s guernsey (often called a gansey) is a garment widely worn in fishing communities all around the UK – although there’s actually little, if any, evidence that it originally came from the island whose name it bears.