Fort Grey, colloquially known as the "cup and saucer", is a

Martello tower Martello towers 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. They stand up to high (with two floors) and typica ...

located on a tidal rock in Rocquaine Bay in

Saint Peter, Guernsey St Peter's (Guernesiais: Saint Pierre), known officially as ''Saint Pierre du Bois'' (English language, English: "St. Peter in the Wood"), is a Parishes of Guernsey, parish in Guernsey. It is the centre for the Guernsey Western Parishes which ...

on the west coast of the island.

Château de Rocquaine

The French name of the rock is the ''Château de Rocquaine'' (Castle of Rocquaine); in

Guernésiais Guernésiais (), also known as Guerneseyese, ''Dgèrnésiais'', Guernsey French, and Guernsey Norman French, is the variety of the Norman language spoken in Guernsey. It is sometimes known on the island simply as "patois". As one of the langues d ...

''Châté dé Rocquoïne'' probably built in the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

, 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 Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

' Sabbaths and in 1617 there was reported a meeting between a local girl, Isabel Becquet and

the devil Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'e ...

. Marie de Callais from St Martin, was also convicted for belonging to the coven and burnt at the stake on 17 October 1617.

Fort Grey

The existing fort was built on the remnants of the old Chateau. Its white tower was originally built as a defence by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

in 1804 during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, the builder was a local man, Thomas Henry from Clos du Valle The fort was named after

Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey Charles Grey, 1st Earl Grey, (circa 23 October 1729 – 14 November 1807) was a British Army officer. He was a distinguished soldier in a generation of exceptionally capable military personnel, serving crucially in the Seven Years' War (1756– ...

, who was

Governor of Guernsey The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British crown dependency off the coast of France. Holders of the post of Governor of Guernsey, until the role was abolished in 1835. Since then, only Lieutenant-Governors have been appointed (see Lieutenant Gover ...

from 1797 to 1807. It was made one of three locations in the island where a warning gun would be fired in case of invasion. Monument MV Prosperity Guernsey

The Fort Grey tower, like the other two Guernsey Martello towers, Fort Saumarez and

Fort Hommet Fort Hommet (or Fort Houmet) is a fortification on Vazon Bay headland (or '' houmet'' in Guernésiais) 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 addi ...

, was intended as a

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

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. Each mounted a 24-pounder

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the last quarter of the 18th century to the mid-19th cen ...

on the roof to protect the battery. Fort Saumarez and Fort Hommet also have exterior staircases up to the second floor.Clements (1999), p. 87. 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.

WW2

The

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

sold Fort Grey to the

States of Guernsey The States of Guernsey (), officially the States of Deliberation and sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey, is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the ...

in 1891 for £185. During the

German occupation of the Channel Islands The military occupation of the Channel Islands by Nazi Germany lasted for most of the Second World War, from 30 June 1940 until liberation on 9 May 1945. The Bailiwick of Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey are British Crown dependencies in the ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Germans occupied the fort, as they did most of the other fortifications in Guernsey. 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.

Museum

More recently Fort Grey has been adapted for other more peaceful uses and now operates as a local

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

, housing a number of items of

marine salvage Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other maritime casualty. Salvage may encompass towing, lifting a vessel, or effecting repairs to a ship. Salvors are normally paid for their efforts. Howev ...

from famous wrecks, including the and ''Elwood Mead''. The items also include a cannon from 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.

Protection

The whole of Fort Grey and the slipway at Rocquaine was listed as a Protected Monument on 26 March 1938, reference PM238.

Notes

References

* Clements, William H. (1998). ''Towers of Strength: Martello Towers Worldwide''. London: Pen & Sword. . * Dillon, Paddy (2011). ''Channel Island Walks''. Cicerone Guide. . * Grimsley, E. J. (1988). ''The historical development of the Martello Tower in the Channel Islands''. Sarnian Publications. .

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20040808105930/http://www.museum.guernsey.net/fortgrey.htm Fort Grey], Museums, Guernsey
Governors of Guernsey

History of St. Pierre du Bois by Marie de Garis 1995

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

{{Forts Channel Islands Castles in Guernsey G Military installations established in the 1800s Maritime museums Martello towers Museums in Guernsey Tourist attractions in Guernsey Towers completed in 1804 Witches' Sabbath