Fort Grey, colloquially known as the "cup and saucer", is a Martello tower located on a tidal rock in Rocquaine Bay in Saint Peter, Guernsey on the west coast of the island.
Fort Grey, colloquially known as the "cup and saucer", is a Martello tower located on a tidal rock in Rocquaine Bay in Saint Peter, Guernsey on the west coast of the island.
The French name of the rock is the Château de Rocquaine (Castle of Rocquaine); in Guernésiais Châté dé Rocquoïne probably built in the Late Middle Ages, there was a small fort, referred to in the 1620s as used by the militia, not being in a fit state to withstand assault. In the 16th century the site of local witches' Sabbaths [1] : 39 and in 1617 there was reported a meeting between a local girl, Isabel Becquet and the devil. [2] Marie de Callais from St Martin, was also convicted for belonging to the coven and burnt at the stake on 17 October 1617. [3] : 8
The existing fort was built on the remnants of the old Chateau. Its white tower was originally built as a defence by the British in 1804 during the Napoleonic Wars, the builder was a local man, Thomas Henry from Clos du Valle [4] The fort was named after Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey, who was Governor of Guernsey from 1797 to 1807. [5] [6] It was made one of three locations in the island where a warning gun would be fired in case of invasion. [1]
The Fort Grey tower, like the other two Guernsey Martello towers, Fort Saumarez and Fort Hommet, was intended as a keep for the battery in which it was placed. The Guernsey Martellos are smaller than the British towers, with the Fort Saumarez and Fort Hommet towers being smaller than the Fort Grey tower. [Note 1] Each mounted a 24-pounder carronade on the roof to protect the battery. Fort Saumarez and Fort Hommet also have exterior staircases up to the second floor. [8]
The connection between St Peter Port and the fort were improved with an upgrade of the road to military standard around 1808, using money arising from the sale of land from the reclaimed Braye du Valle. [9]
The War Office in London sold Fort Grey to the States of Guernsey in 1891 for £185. During the German occupation of the Channel Islands in World War II, the Germans occupied the fort, as they did most of the other fortifications in Guernsey. [6] The fort was given the name Widerstandsnest Graur Turm (resistance nest Gray Tower) armed with a mobile 3.7 cm Pak 36 anti tank gun and machine guns. [10] : 37
More recently Fort Grey has been adapted for other more peaceful uses and now operates as a local shipwreck museum, housing a number of items of marine salvage from famous wrecks, including the MV Prosperity and Elwood Mead. The items also include a cannon from HMS Boreas that points towards the nearby Hanois rocks where Boreas sank in 1807 with the loss of her captain, at least half her crew, and possibly the captain's wife. An additional exhibit of the timbers from a 3rd-century Roman ship, nicknamed "Asterix", found in St Peter Port harbour in 1982 will shortly be on display close by, having taken decades to preserve the 1,700 year old timbers. [11]
The whole of Fort Grey and the slipway at Rocquaine was listed as a Protected Monument on 26 March 1938, reference PM238. [12]
Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.
St Sampson is a parish of Guernsey, an island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, directly north of St Peter Port. It is on the north-west and north-east coasts of the island and is split into two sections, intersected by Vale.
Vale is one of the ten parishes of Guernsey in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, Channel Islands.
Castel /kætel/ is the largest parish in Guernsey in terms of area.
Jersey is a heavily fortified island with coastal fortifications that date to the English Civil War, the Napoleonic Wars, and Nazi Germany's occupation of the Channel Islands. The fortifications include castles, forts, towers, Martello towers, artillery batteries, and seawalls. Not infrequently, fortifications from one period are built on the site of earlier fortifications, or very near them, geography having remained the same even when firepower increased.
The Fort Hommet 10.5 cm coastal defence gun casemate bunker is a fully restored gun casemate that was part of Fortress Guernsey constructed by the forces of Nazi Germany between 1940 and 1945.
Jerbourg Point or the Jerbourg Peninsula is the southeastern point of the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy, lying within St Martin Parish. It marks the end of the east coast cliffs and beginning of the south coast cliffs. It provides scenic views of the Little Russel and the various islands.
The Bréhon Tower is accessible only by boat and sits on Bréhon Rock, an island in the Little Russell channel about 1.5 km northeast of St Peter Port, Guernsey, between the port and the islands of Herm and Jethou. Thomas Charles de Putron (1806–1869) built the oval tower of granite from Herm, completing the work in 1857.
Fort Saumarez is a Martello tower in Saint Peter, Guernsey, on a headland that forms the northern tip of L'Erée and extends to the Lihou causeway.
Fort Hommet is a fortification on Vazon Bay headland in Castel, Guernsey. It is built on the site of fortifications that date back to 1680 and consists of a Martello tower from 1804, later additions during the Victorian Era, and bunkers and casemates that the Germans constructed during World War II.
HMS Boreas was a Laurel-class 22-gun post ship launched in 1806. She was wrecked off Guernsey in the Channel Islands on 28 November 1807 with the loss of most of her crew of 154 men.
The British built 15 Guernsey loophole towers at various points along the coast of Guernsey between August 1778 and March 1779 to deter possible French attacks after France had declared itself an ally of the Americans in the American Revolutionary War. Towards the start of the Napoleonic Wars several towers received additional reinforcement in the form of batteries at their bases. Today, 12 towers still survive, three having been destroyed at different times. Two of the survivors, Petit Bôt and Rousse, contain interpretive exhibits that the public may examine.
Lewis Tower is a Martello tower in St Ouen's Bay on the island of Jersey. It was erected by the British in 1835, and is named after Colonel Griffith Lewis, who commanded the Royal Engineers in Jersey from December 1830 to January 1836.
The Royal Guernsey Militia has a history dating back 800 years. Always loyal to the British Crown, the men were unpaid volunteers whose wish was to defend the Island of Guernsey from foreign invaders.
The Braye du Valle is the area between the main Island of Guernsey and Le Clos du Valle, which was a tidal island to the north.
The island of Guernsey has been fortified for several thousand years, the number of defence locations and complexity of the defence increasing with time, manpower and the improvements in weapons and tactics.
Archaeology is promoted in Jersey by the Société Jersiaise and by Jersey Heritage. Promotion in the Bailiwick of Guernsey being undertaken by La Société Guernesiaise, Guernsey Museums, the Alderney Society with World War II work also undertaken by Festung Guernsey.
Vale Castle, is a protected building located in the Vale, Guernsey. The original name was "Le Château St Michel", later it became "Château de Val" or "Château de Valle" and is over 1,000 years old. It defends both St. Sampson's harbour at the eastern end of the Braye du Valle, Guernsey, and Bordeaux Harbour.
