THE Constable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft, has rewritten Jersey history for his latest play, The Bailiff’s Nose.

The two-hour comedy drama written in Shakespearian-style blank verse takes a liberal look at the escapades of Sir Walter Raleigh during his short time as Governor of Jersey, including an invented liaison, a fictional Bailiff and a playful dig at the States.In real life the Elizabethan adventurer visited the Island only twice for a total of a few weeks and left at the peak of his career, having introduced the land registry to the Island and saved Mont Orgueil from demolition.In Mr Crowcroft’s version, Ralegh – to use the spelling that Mr Crowcroft says Sir Walter favoured – turns up three times and doesn’t mention the land registry, although he does still stick up for the castle.’I have invented quite a lot,’ admits the Constable.

‘The Bailiff of the title is invented because the Bailiff of the time was, by all accounts, very good and I wanted to have a few characters in the play that were not.’The Bailiff’s Nose is at Jersey Arts Centre from 9 to 11 February.