The restored La Rocco tower in St Ouen's Bay
That Was Jersey |
Local history for everyone |
CHANNEL ISLANDS |
Jersey’s position within sight of France, yet loyal to the English crown, has made her vulnerable through the centuries to coastal attack. The north coast cliffs provided a good measure of protection, but the bays of the west, south and east coasts were too accessible to potential invaders. Coastal defences were a necessity, and they needed frequent updating and repairs.
There were several phases in the construction of towers around Jersey’s coasts. The first plan was made by General Conway, then Governor of the Island. He planned for thirty towers to protect the coast, particularly from the threat of French invasions. Between 1778 and Conway’s death in 1795, 22 out of the planned 30 towers were built, and a twenty-third (La Rocco) was ready for construction.
La Rocco's tower was badly damaged during the Occupation, but it was rebuilt and is now again a landmark in St Ouen's Bay.
Conway’s towers were a local modification of a design by a French nobleman, Maurice, Comte de Saxe. His principles were adapted by Conway to the coastal situation in Jersey, but what made Jersey’s towers distinctive was the use of "mâchicoulis" to allow the defenders to protect the base of the tower.
Round towers were generally accepted to be stronger than square ones. The only square tower to be built was Seymour Tower, off the southeast corner of the Island. It is a replacement for an earlier tower on the same islet. The other prominent tower on that coast is Icho Tower. Both these towers are positioned well away from the land, and can be dangerous to visit without a good guide. Icho tower is round, unlike Seymour.
The deficiencies in the defences were made good in the nineteenth-century by the construction of eight Martello towers. These were a later design in defensive towers, based on a tower at Mortella on the island of Corsica, which had proved so effective in action. Conway’s plan had developed from towers standing alone, to towers with a battery at the base. The Martello towers (as towers modelled on the Corsican design came to be known) were towers with a battery on the top.
Thirty-one towers in total were built, of which twenty-four remain. Three fell victim to coastal erosion, three were destroyed in the German Occupation, and one has just disappeared. Of these seven casualties, six were of the original Jersey design, and only one of the Martello pattern.
During the German Occupation of Jersey, the Germans recognised the strategic position of the coastal towers, and they used and adapted the towers for their own defence. In one case, this even involved demolishing the existing tower at Bel Royal to make way for a concrete bunker.
Mont Orgueil Castle on its granite cliff top was the first major defence and was built around the beginning of the thirteenth century, with a continuing programme of improvement, until advances in warfare and the use of cannons rendered it vulnerable to attack. In Jersey-French it is still sometimes referred to as "the Old Castle".
Elizabeth Castle was built at the end of the sixteenth century, on the site of a former priory. Originally known as the New Castle, it was named (and extended) by Sir Walter Raleigh, Governor of Jersey, for his famous queen. Its island site was an important part of its defences. It was most recently used for military purposes by the German occupying force during the Second World War.
St Aubin’s Fort predates Elizabeth Castle and together they provided protection to the broad sweep of St Aubin’s Bay, and to the harbours at St Aubin and later St Helier. The Fort was built in the 1540s, to protect the harbour at St Aubin, which was the safest harbour in the island at the time. It was used extensively by merchants, who then built their fine houses nearby.
Fort Henry and Prince William’s Redoubt along Grouville Bay were included by Conway in his strategy to protect the bay and were numbered in the General’s military manner of listing the coastal towers.