Saint Sampson, Guernsey

Infobox Channel Island parish
native_name=Saint Sampson




island=Guernsey
area=6.0 km²
population=8592
population_density=1432/km²
electoral_district=St Sampson

Saint Sampson (Guernésiais: Saint Samsaon; French: Saint Sampson), is one of the parishes of Guernsey, Channel Islands.

The Guernésiais nickname for people from St Sampson is "roînes" (frogs).

The parish is divided into two non-contiguous sections, the bulk of the parish lying on the east coast, with a smaller section lying on the west coast. The parish of Vale borders the parish to the north and also extends between the two parts of St. Sampson.

What is currently the northern boundary of the parish originally ran along the south coast of La Braye du Valle, a tidal channel that made the northern extremity of Guernsey, Le Clos du Valle, a tidal island.

La Braye du Valle was drained and reclaimed in 1806 by the British Government as a defence measure. The eastern end of the former channel became the town and harbour (from 1820) of St. Sampson's, now the second biggest port in Guernsey. The western end of La Braye is now Le Grand Havre. The roadway called The Bridge across the end of the harbour at St. Sampson's recalls the bridge that formerly linked the two parts of Guernsey at high tide.

The parish church of St. Sampson claims to be the oldest of Guernsey's parish churches, standing on the coast where Samson of Dol arrived from Brittany to convert Islanders to Christianity.

The parish of St. Sampson hosts:
*the Island prison
*"The Track" (sports ground)
*Delancey Park
*The island's skate park
*the Guernsey studio of Channel Television and BBC Guernsey
*numerous industrial premises, and fuel farm
*Corbet Field - home of [http://www.valerec.org.gg/ Vale Recreation] Football Club
*St. Sampson's Secondary School
*The Island Bowl
*The St. Sampson Douzaine