[AJR]

A few of my photos of the desolate site of Grosnez Castle in Jersey, which I visited last week.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[AJR]

Old postcard of Grosnez Castle recently added to my collection.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 

[AJR]

Grosnez Castle

The name 'Grosnez' comes either from Jersey / French Patois meaning 'great nose' or from Norse meaning 'grey headland'.

This stronghold lies on the cliff-top at Les Landes at the most north-westerly tip of Jersey and is thought to have been built between 1328 and 1330 on the orders of Sir John de Roche to serve as a refuge from the French for the islanders in this part of the island. It was clearly not meant to withstand a siege as the nearest fresh water spring is 200m away. Additionally, there were no secondary walls inside the castle so once the outer walls were breached its capture was certain.

The remains of the curtain wall surround an irregularly shaped court about 50m across. The wall is up to 1.7m thick in places, although very little remains of it on the northern and western sides. There, and also on the east, the ground descends steeply for about 60m straight into the sea. On the southern side are the partly reconstructed ruins of a gatehouse about 6.5m wide projecting within the courtyard. Here on the landward side, the castle is protected by a ditch cut into the rock.

There is a portcullis groove descending to passage level, and below the groove is a pit for a counterpoise type drawbridge. Usually such a pit would be placed in front of a portcullis, since if it were possible for an attacker to get underneath the portcullis it would not be much use as a barrier.

Each end of the short section of wall which has the gatehouse in the middle ends in a D-shaped tower now reduced to about 2m high. Only that to the west properly flanks the wall, and it has remains of two shooting slits at ground level.

Between the gatehouse and the east tower is a ramp up to the former wall-walk. There are two other towers further round on the east and west sides, but beyond them the natural defences made flanking towers superfluous.

The castle, which is built from local granite, may not have been permanently occupied and the only traces of internal buildings are of modest structures, so there may never have been a hall or chapel.

The castle is said to have been captured by a French force led by the Duke of Bourbon in July 1373 in conjunction with an attack on Mont Orgueil by Bertrand du Guesclin. It was captured again in 1381, and is thought to become a ruin between 1461 and 1468, during a time of French occupation.

Local legend has it that much of the stone was used to build St. Ouen's Manor in 1483, but what is known is that locals took down the castle deliberately and used the stones on their own land particularly around the Mont Mado area of St. John from where the stone originally came.

In 1806, a naval signal station was established at Grosnez to send messages to Guernsey. Grosnez Castle is depicted on the reverse of the Jersey 50 pence coin.

The castle stands on public land so it can be visited at anytime and the sunsets here can be breathtaking.

(Based on text by Mike Salter in "Castles & Old Churches of the Channel Islands")

[AJR]

Ground-plan of Grosnez Castle, from "Castles & Old Churches of the Channel Islands", by Mike Salter.

Attached thumbnail(s)

•