In the north of St Ouen, between the manors of Vinchelez de Haut and Vinchelez de Bas, the road dips into a deep lane where the trees meet overhead. From the 1860s onwards photographers and postcard makers came to capture it, and old prints of Vinchelez Lane are found in collections from Jersey to the Library of Congress.
It is also a haunted lane. In March 2022 Jersey Post issued six stamps illustrating what it called myths and legends 'which have shaped Jersey's history and culture', painted by the illustrator Jensine Eckwall. One of them was 'The Soldiers of Vinchelez Lane'.
Beyond the title, the published material says very little. Online ghost listings add only that phantom soldiers haunt the location, without dates, a description or a witness. We have not been able to find whether they are thought to be militia, soldiers of the Napoleonic garrisons, German troops of the Occupation or something older. The north-west of Jersey was heavily fortified in every one of those periods, so there is no shortage of candidates.
We record the legend because Jersey Post clearly treated it as a recognised island story. Anyone who knows a fuller version, or its source, would be helping fill a real gap.
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