Possible Roman Camp in Jersey?

[Carus Andiae]

Although most historians and archaeologists have insisted that there is no evidence of Roman military occupation in Jersey, Channel Islands, I recently came across the following, and I would appreciate the views of the learned members of this forum.

In 1979, Charles Stevens asserted that there was evidence to support a possible landing of detachments of the Legions VII and X in Jersey as part of an amphibious exercise prior to Julius Caesar's landings in Britain. Stevens believes that Caesar, prior to the landing 54BC, dispatched detachments of the aforementioned legions to practice an assault on one of the Islands visible from the Gallic coast, of which Jersey (Andium, as the Romans knew it) was the closest and largest. It is plausible that he would have sent and officer to survey the landing site first, as did did with Britain itself, sending Gaius Volsenus. Certainly a legend exists in the Island of "Un lieutenant de Cesar" arriving in the Island in a small 'coracle' (Stevens supposes this may have been the 'dinghy' of a warship). Of course if this really did happen, one would expect Caesar to have mentioned it in one of his books.

Stevens believes that following this, the exercise would have taken place. He identifies two sites as possible camps of the legion detachments: Les Catieux (also known as Chastel Sedement) and Dielament. Tracing the names of these locations to their earliest references, he claims that the names, the meanings of which are obscure, could be corruptions of Septimana and Decumana. Chastel does, of course, mean a fortification. Certainly Les Catieux (another word meaning camp of fort) has been known as Caesar's Camp since time immemorial, an quantities of Roman material - pottery and coins - were found during excavations.

There are photos of Les Catieux here: http://www.prehistoricjersey.net/Les_Catieaux.shtml

and plans here:
http://www.prehistoricjersey.net/Les_Ca ... plan.shtml

Ignore what it says about the site probably being medieval for the moment - that is disputed.

Incidentally, also in Jersey is Caesar's Fort, actually a medieval outwork of Mont Orgueil Castle, but Steven's suggests it may have been built on a late Roman fortification. Certainly it would be logical that if the Romans were going to fortify the site it would be that one, since it also had an Iron Age Hill Fort.