A Bloody Entertaining History of Jersey #2
In ABEHOJ#1 we began around 250,000 years ago and got up to the landmark year of 1204 when King John of England was defeated at the Siege of Rouen by the French. Normandy was now lost forever… but not our beloved Jersey!
The islanders chose to swear allegiance to King John of England and not King Philippe-Auguste of France, partly due to certain sweeteners John threw into the deal such as Jersey being exempt from English tax laws; Jersey chose the money… and unashamedly still does to this day.
However, with the English and French bickering becoming increasingly bloodthirsty, Jersey now found itself on the front line and thus with some urgency, fortifications started to appear.
The eastern flank of the island is particularly vulnerable to French attacks (and still is) with easy landings possible from St. Catherines downwards, so right away in 1204 construction started on Mont Orgueil castle in Gorey. The name is French and translates to “Mount Pride”, with French and Jèrriais being the dominant spoken languages at the time. More recently, with English replacing French (Jèrriais still is spoken in some Northern parts of the island!) the castle is referred to as Gorey Castle.
Gorey Castle would be the principal defence for Jersey for the next 400 years and would withstand numerous French assaults. It still stands today looking over the lovely Gorey Village.
In 1338, a large French and Italian Fleet of around 8000 soldiers descended on Sark and Guernsey. With the Sark undefended (easy pickings) and all garrison populations in Guernsey being put to death (quite cruel), Jersey was next!
Robert Bertrand, Marshal of France who led the attack on Guernsey initially offered Jersey islanders a deal. They refused, and Jersey was burned and plundered — yet Gorey Castle stood firm.
Again, in 1373 besieged by the French, Gorey Castle stood firm.
However, eventually, French persistence did pay off (new cannon technology did also play a key part) and the French stormed Gorey in 1461, holding it for 7 years.
Work on Grosnez Castle in the furthermost North West of Jersey started around 1330, inspired by what we now call the Hundred Years’ War (i.e. protect islanders from the French!). The planning of this castle wasn’t quite as well thought through as for Gorey because there was no access to drinking water, meaning it was just a waiting game by anyone sieging the castle. However, between 1461–1468 (the War of the Roses) it did hold off the French who had taken the East of Jersey, including squatting in Gorey Castle.
Not much of Grosnez remains. After being overrun in 1373 and 1381 by the French and a second-class citizen to Gorey, locals in 1483 decided that the better use of the stones was to reinforce their own homes instead, e.g. St. Ouens Manor, and the rest simply succumbed to time and the elements.
I was told by a group of locals eating at Faulkner Fisheries that there is no coastal path from this BBQ restaurant to Grosnez — they were wrong! It’s a cracking path, it’s just quite hard to find where it begins and poorly maintained, but highly recommended.
Another French attack! In 1551, Captain Francois Breuil landed in Bouley Bay with thousands of men. As a keen cyclist, I appreciate the challenge of getting out of this bay! Stories have been passed down the generations of over 1000 French and Italian soldiers slain attempting this and the retreating Breuil was sworn by the French King to never speak of the disaster again.
As construction began on Elizabeth Castle in the 1590s, Gorey Castle was affectionately called The Old Castle by locals, and would soon become the Island’s prison. Groznez was now just a glorious spot to watch the sunset.
Jersey endured almost constant probing, pirating, plundering, burning, looting and invading from the French on varying scales from 1204 to the English Civil War. Now, siding with the Crown, it was the English parliament that Jersey had to fear!
Jersey actually flip-flopped between the Crown and Parliament depending on which of the powerful Jersey families were the most powerful at one time. Sir George de Carteret returned from the English navy to Jersey in 1643 to return the Crown to the forefront in Jersey and it stayed that way through to Charles I regicide in 1649. Charles II (his son) fled to Jersey to save himself after his father lost his head and was declared King of England in the Royal Square (formerly “Market Square”) soon after. Now — and this is an important point — the Royal Square in St. Helier is not a recommended place to find an honest boozer but the Sir George de Carteret in St. Peter’s Village certainly is one to find!
It was for Charles II's safety that Sir George was rewarded with land from the American colony: New Jersey and New York. Solid links between these and Jersey are active still today and worth remembering that both NJ and NY come following massive moments in Jersey’s bloody history.
One last significant French effort to mention in detail: the Battle of Jersey! This would draw a line under the constant hostility (ok, there are two sides to every story!) the islanders endured from the French.
Retaliating from some (fairly honest) Jersey Privateering, two attempts to take the entire island were made. The first, in 1779, resulted in a force of 1500 being forced back from St. Ouen by Island cannon fire, albeit aided by the French totally misjudging the rapid Jersey tides — as do many tourists!
Records show that two St. Owen sheep also sadly died as a result of the French cannon fire.
The second attempt was more successful and it was what you’ll be able to read about as the Battle of Jersey in more detail elsewhere. This event was when the French wrecked many of their own ships and lives travelling across the rocks of the South East but landed in La Rocqu regardless, then marched to St. Helier to take the centre.
Ridiculous demands for surrender were made to Elizabeth Castle soldiers to surrender, mostly met by derision and cannon fire. There is a pub named after the local hero that is remembered for routing the French soon after in the Royal Square (then called the Market Square) and it is “OK”. If you are familiar with my earlier blogs, it’s the Lamplighter you should be frequenting when in St. Helier.
Now that was quite a flippant flurry through around 500 years of battles!
For ABEHOJ#3 (please wait patiently for it) we focus on World War II where Jersey went from a holiday Island to play Build Fortress on for German troops, to a desperate battle for survival — for both the Germans and Islanders.
Thank you for reading so far!
