Jersey Crapaud

The story

A cast bronze toad on a granite column about nine feet high at Charing Cross, made by Gordon Young in 2004. Passages from the Code Le Geyt, the compilation of Jersey law drawn up in 1698, are cut into the stone of the column. Crapaud is the Jèrriais word for the western common toad — the island's own Norman language, now spoken by few. The toad is protected under the Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2021 and has been disappearing in recent years from the wild ground where it was once found, though many private garden ponds still hold healthy populations.