Island 240 - La Roche Rondel, Jersey, Channel Islands

I confess to not having realised I had visited this island until several weeks later, while doing some research about another island off Jersey!

The tower at Archirondel was constructed on a tidal island, that can't have been much more than a large rocky outcrop, called La Roche Rondel, between November 1792 and 1794. It cost £4000 to build, has four levels and was used as a garrison for artillery soldiers.  It is one of 23 Conway Towers built on Jersey between 1778 and 1801. It was the 22nd to be built and is mainly built of rhyolite, which was quarried at La Crete. The tower was altered by the Germans during their Second World War Occupation.

I'm not sure if it was at this time or later when the southern arm of the St Catherine's Breakwater was being constructed that the area between the rock and the mainland was filled in.  The St Catherine's Breakwater was planned to enclose a naval base at a time when there was a threat of invasion by the French.  It was started in 1847 and construction continued until 1855.  However only the northern breakwater was completed because the British eventually realised that the water wasn't deep enough for warships.  The northern breakwater is half a mile long.  The southern one where Archirondel Tower is very short.

Archirondel Tower is now painted in red and white stripes on its seaward side to act as a navigational daymark.  When we visited in early July 2104 it was being used as a venue for an art exhibition.  I would have had a look around it but I was dripping wet, as it had been raining all day, and the people standing by the door all looked very smart.  I found the nearby geocache instead and then beat a hasty retreat to the nearby beach café.

Jersey Heritage maintains the tower and you can rent it out as a self-catering property.  However although it has electricity and lighting, it has no running water (therefore no loo!), so it is pretty basic.

We were nearing the end of our circuit of the Jersey Coast Path, which we started in Gorey.  It is a lovely walk and highly recommended, even in the rain!

I loved Jersey and will be back one day to visit Les Ecrehous, Les Minquiers and to walk out to the Seymour and La Rocco Towers. 

Archirondel Tower on a rainy day

Island 239 - L'Islet, Bouley Bay, Jersey, Channel Islands

L'Islet is a very small rocky tidal island located about 50 metres from the beach at Bouley Bay on the north coast of Jersey.  It may be small but it is also perfectly formed and a delightful spot on a sunny afternoon.  There is a narrow path up the rocks on the western side and the top of the island has a few trees growing on it - at least one of them is a holm oak.  It had a geocache on it, although I couldn't find it.  Part of the island is exposed rock and the rest is covered in grass, heather, gorse, ivy and a few wild flowers.

The excellent Mad Mary's Café is about 200 miles away on the promenade above the beach.  Mad Mary is warm and friendly and couldn't be more helpful or accommodating.  I can highly recommend the millionaire's shortbread and the marmite on toast and my friend loved her apple pie.

L'Islet, Bouley Bay

 

Bouley Bay
 

On the summit of the island

Looking north out to sea

Low tide at Bouley Bay

Island 238 - The Hermitage, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands

The Hermitage is a very small rocky tidal island, which was joined to Elizabeth Castle by a breakwater, which was constructed in 1870.  There is a flight of 65 stone steps leading up to a very small chapel on the top of the rock.  The breakwater extends out beyond Hermitage Rock.  The chapel is very small and when I visited in July 2014 it was a bit damp, smelly and uninviting!

Hermitage Rock and the breakwater are a delightful spot to spend some "stand and stare" time on a sunny day. I would have liked to spend longer there but although the castle was open until 5.30, the gate out to the Hermitage and breakwater was shut almost an hour before that on the day we visited.  

St Helier was born in Tongeren/Tongres in what is now Belgium in the 6th century.  He may have become a Christian through a priest called Cunibert, who was subsequently killed by St Helier's pagan father. He fled to St Marcou(f) at Nanteuil on the Cherbourg Peninsula in France. 

St Helier is thought to have brought Christianity to Jersey.  He lived a life of prayer in a cave on the top of Hermitage Rock for 15 years until 555 AD when he was beheaded by Norman pirates.  A monastery dedicated to him was founded on the island where Elizabeth Castle now stands.  He is the patron saint of Jersey and his feast day is 16th July.  He has of course also given his name to the main town on Jersey.

Hermitage Rock was fortified with a gun battery c1680-1700.

Hermitage Rock from the top of Elizabeth Castle



Elizabeth Castle from the breakwater with The Hermitage on the right hand side

The Hermitage showing the steps up to the chapel

The Hermitage from the end of the breakwater

The Hermitage

Elizabeth Castle from the top of the Hermitage

Hidden in the shadows there is a very small room clinging to the edge of the cliff

Ruined building at the foot of The Hermitage

The Hermitage and Breakwater from Elizabeth Castle

Island 237 - Elizabeth Castle, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands

Elizabeth Castle is located on a tidal island, formerly known as L'Islet in St Aubin's Bay adjacent to the town of St Helier.  The island can be accessed across a concrete causeway nearly a mile long from the beach at the eastern end of St Aubin's Bay for several hours either side of low tide.  The castle is maintained and run by Jersey Heritage and there is an admission charge.

An abbey dedicated to St Helier was founded on the island in 1155 but was soon downgraded to the status of a priory with about 6 monks.  It was abandoned before the 16th century.

By the late 16th century Mont Orgueil Castle at Gorey was no longer sufficient to guard Jersey from attack.  Queen Elizabeth I ordered the construction of Elizabeth Castle.  It was built in 1594 by Paul Ivy.  In 1600 Sir Walter Ralegh was appointed governor of Jersey.

During the English Civil War the island was besieged by parliamentarians for 50 days in 1651.  The royalists under governor Philip Carteret were forced to surrender after a mortar attack, during which the abbey church was destroyed.

King Charles II visited Elizabeth Castle twice - once as Prince of Wales in 1645 for 10 weeks with 300 of his servants.  His second visit was in 1649 after the execution of his father King Charles I when he came with the future James II.  He stayed for 6 months and then travelled on to exile in France in February 1650.  James stayed on for another 6 months and was made governor.

The castle was remodelled several times during the 17th century and again in the 1730s and 1740s by John Henry Bastide, a military engineer.  At this time the last remains of the abbey were removed.

In 1806 Fort Regent was built on the hill above St Helier and Elizabeth Castle was no longer the Jersey's principal defence.  The barracks were overcrowded and squalid until the mid 19th century when conditions were improved.

In 1923 the British Army sold Elizabeth Castle to the States of Jersey for £1,500.

During the Second World War 100 Germans lived in Elizabeth Castle.  Construction work on their bunkers was carried out by forced workers from Russia and other countries.

Barracks, Elizabeth Castle - view from the top of Elizabeth Castle

Site of the former abbey

 - destroyed by a mortar during the English Civil War

I'm not sure of the purpose of this building!

DUKW amphibious ferry used to transport visitors at all states of the tide

There are 2 of them named Charming Betty and Charming Nancy

West coast of Elizabeth Castle



Elizabeth Castle

Elizabeth from the parade ground of the barracks.

Elizabeth Castle
 

Harbour at Elizabeth Castle

Island 236 - Fort Charles/The Green, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands

Fort Charles/The Green is a small tidal island linked to St Helier on Jersey by a concrete causeway, which is just under a mile long, at low tide.  It was linked by a bridge to the islet on which Elizabeth Castle now stands by the 1650s.  The gap between the islands was filled in at a later date and it is now quite difficult to spot the join.  A map of 1650 I found in a book called The Channel Islands and The Great Rebellion by M.F.H. Ellis and published in 1937 shows a bowling green at the south end of the island and a windmill in the middle of it.  Neither exists today.  The island was originally more rocky but the rocks were removed to prevent them from being used as cover by invading armies leaving the largely flat profile the island has today.  In 1688 the island was enclosed to form the outer ward of Elizabeth Castle.  The Germans added more fortifications during their occupation of the Channel Islands in the Second World War.

Elizabeth Castle is maintained and run by Jersey Heritage.  There is an admission charge and the ticket office is located at the north end of Fort Charles. The admission charge in 2014 when we visited was £10.10 for an adult if you walk across the causeway and £12.65 if you use the amphibious DUKW ferry.  I thought it was well worth the money, as the site is quite extensive and there is a lot to see.



German Bunker - added during the Occupation

Causeway at low tide

Bank of wild flowers

Fort Charles looking north towards St Helier



Fort Charles - built in 1646



Looking towards Elizabeth Castle

Start of the causeway, looking towards St Helier

Fort Charles from the top of Elizabeth Castle

East coast of Fort Charles from Elizabeth Castle
In the shadow you can just about make out a delightful looking garden in between the upper and lower walls.  Where the wall changes direction is the original gap between the two islands. 

Fort Charles - eastern side

Causeway at low tide



On Fort Charles looking south towards Elizabeth Castle

East coast of Fort Charles

Island 235 - La Corbiere, Jersey, Channel Islands

 

La Corbiere in the distance looking west 

The small rocky tidal island of La Corbiere is located on the south west tip of Jersey.  It can be reached by a half mile long concrete causeway for at least 2 hours either side of low tide.  Apparently a siren sounds when the causeway is about to be covered by the incoming tide.

The lighthouse on La Corbiere was constructed in 1873 and it was the first lighthouse in the world to be built of reinforced concrete rather than stone.  In clear weather the light can be seen from 18 miles away.  The lighthouse was designed by the engineer Sir John Coode.  Until 1965 the light was a vaporised paraffin lamp. During the German Occupation the light was switched off most of the time and only lit when the Germans needed to guide their own ships around the rocks.

Before the construction of the lighthouse there were many shipwrecks on these rocks.  In 1495 a Spanish ship carrying a cargo of wine foundered and in 1859 the Royal Mail Steam Packet was wrecked on the rocks.

A plaque adjacent to the causeway commemorates the lighthousekeeper Peter Edwin Larbalestier who drowned in 1946 while trying to rescue a holidaymaker who had been cut off by the tide while crossing the causeway.  The lighthouse has been automated since the 1976.

The name Corbiere means "the place where crows gather".

 

The road down to the causeway at La Corbiere

Causeway to La Corbiere

 This is as near to the lighthouse as you can get unless you are on a guided tour

La Corbiere Lighthouse

The causeway to La Corbiere Lighthouse

The long and winding causeway

High tide at La Corbiere

Island 234 - Ile au Guerdain/Janvrin's Tomb, Jersey, Channel Islands

Ile au Guerdain or Janvrin's Tomb is a small rocky island in Portelet Bay, which is linked to the beach below Portelet by a sand tombolo for at least 3 hours either side of low tide.

In 1721 a local seafarer called Philippe Janvrin died of the plague while at sea.  The local people wouldn't allow his body to be brought ashore but permitted his burial on Ile au Guerdain.  His body was exhumed at a later date and reburied at St Brelade's Church.

The building on the summit of the island is a Martello Tower, which was built in 1808.

Getting on to the island is an easy scramble over some rocks.  However I could see no obvious path to the top of the island.  I have no experience of rock climbing and was about to give up when a couple sprinted passed me and scrambled up a route they obviously knew well.   I followed them but as is often the case getting up was easier than getting down again!  I found the geocache and took a few photos and then made my way back down very slowly.

Tombolo - looking south towards Ile au Guerdain

Ile au Guerdain looking east from Portelet Common

Ile au Guerdain from Noirmont Point - the tide was retreating rapidly and by the time we reached Portelet Bay it had gone out far enough to access the island with dry feet

The tombolo is beginning to appear as the tide goes out.



Ile au Guerdain

Ile au Guerdain

Martello Tower on the summit of Ile au Guerdain



Martello Tower