Alarm Forest is the newest of the eight districts of the island of

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three consti ...

, part of the British Overseas Territory of

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha is a British Overseas Territory located in the South Atlantic and consisting of the island of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha including Gough Island. Its name w ...

in the South

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

. It is located southeast of Jamestown, in the interior of the island, and is the only district to lack a coastline.

Description

Terrain in the district is quite varied with steep ridges and a limited amount of flat ground, as befits the island's volcanic origin. The district was created in the early 1990s from parts of Jamestown and Longwood Districts. There is no settlement by that name, however, as it was named after the gun

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

that used to be fired when unidentified ships were spotted. It includes the areas of The Briars, Seaview, Two Gun Saddle, Hunts Vale and Alarm Hill. Alarm Forest is the only district that does not border the ocean. Its population has grown from 276 in 1998 to 289 in 2008 and 383 in 2016. Alarm Forest is mostly a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for Jamestown or Longwood as the only major places of employment in the district are the headquarters of

Sure South Atlantic SuRe (The Standard for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure) is a global voluntary standard which integrates key criteria of sustainability and resilience into infrastructure development and upgrade. It has been developed by the Swiss Global I ...

, with its large satellite dishes that connect Saint Helena to the outside world, and the St Helena Distillery. The district lacks a community centre or a school and the population looks to nearby Jamestown or Longwood for shopping and entertainment.

History

Napoleon resided in the Briars, then in Jamestown, for several months in 1815 before being transferred to

Longwood House Longwood House is a mansion in St. Helena and the final residence of Napoleon Bonaparte, the former Emperor of the French, during his exile on the island of Saint Helena, from 10 December 1815 until his death on 5 May 1821. History Longwood ...

. He had selected a spot in Sane Valley as his burial site during one of his walks and his tomb was built there after his death in 1821. Napoleon was reburied in 1840 in

Les Invalides The Hôtel des Invalides ( en, "house of invalids"), commonly called Les Invalides (), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. The French government later purchased the site of the tomb and commemorates his death there every year.

References

{{Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Districts of Saint Helena Populated places in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha