Grosnez Castle on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Grosnez Castle is a ruined 14th-century
The French captured the castle in 1373 and 1381. The castle was probably last used militarily during the time of the French occupation of Jersey (1461–1468, when the French held the east of the island, but loyal Jersey folk held the western parishes). In 1483, after several years of petitioning King Edward IV, the Seigneur of St Ouen - recommended to the King's Grace by his father-in-law the governor, was granted a ″License to Crenelate″ - that is allowed to fortify his manor house. Governor Harliston approved the dismantling of the ″fort of refuge″ at Grosnez so that the already-worked stone could be re-used in fortifying St. Ouen's Manor. The financial savings were important to Seigneur De Carteret, as - when he came into his majority - ″trees grew in the Hall of the Manor because his Guardians had wasted the substance of the Rentes″ i.e. - embezzled the income - and he was investing heavily in renovating the dilapidated manor buildings. His shortage of money was both what influenced him to marry the daughter of the Plantagenet Governor Harliston, and also what led him into conflict with the second governor of the island after 1486. When Matthew Baker was sent to take Harliston's place in 1486, the Seigneur had not paid his taxes to the Exchequer for three years - since the death of Edward IV. De Carteret was already under some suspicion as a Plantagenet supporter - after all - the rebel Governor Harliston was his father-in-law. When King Henry VII ordered a general examination of outstanding accounts by the Exchequer clerks, it was inevitable that De Carteret would be required to pay the back taxes he owed the Crown. This, then, is the background to the dismantling of Grosnez Castle - and also of the later friction between De Carteret and Matthew Baker.
In 1806, a naval signal station was established at Grosnez to send messages to
Image:Grosnez castle Jersey gatehouse.jpg
Image:Grosnez castle Jersey ruins.jpg
Image:Châté d'Grosnez Juilet 2009 k.jpg
Image:Châté d'Grosnez Juilet 2009 g.jpg
{{Castles in Jersey
Castles in Jersey
Tourist attractions in Jersey
Buildings and structures in Saint Ouen, Jersey
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
in Saint Ouen, situated in Grosnez in the north-west corner of the island of Jersey
Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...
in the Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...
. Philippe de Carteret held it against the French when they held half of Jersey between 1461 and 1467, but it has been a ruin since the mid-16th century.
Grosnez Castle is open to the public. There is small automated signal station at the rear of the castle that affords scenic views.
Name
The name comes from the old Norse words for "grey headland" - - an accurate description of the site when seen from the sea. In time the spelling evolved to resemble the French for ''big nose''. A nearby headland to the west has a similar name, ''Rouge Nez''.History
Sir John des Roches ordered the castle built around 1330, about the time of the start of theHundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...
. The castle's purpose was to provide local farmers with a place of refuge from French attacks.Dillon (2011), p.69.
The walls are of local granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
and are thickest on the landward side. The castle's position on a clifftop 200 ft (~ 60 m) above the sea means that the natural features of the site protect it on three sides. A rock-cut ditch defended the landward side. The remains of walls, mostly footings, are still present.
A drawbridge
A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...
and portcullis
A portcullis () is a heavy, vertically closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications. It consists of a latticed Grille (architecture), grille made of wood and/or metal, which slides down grooves inset within each jamb of the gateway.
...
protected the gatehouse, which is the only substantial surviving remnant, and would have made it difficult to capture. There are traces of six simple buildings. The castle, though, had a number of weaknesses:
*There were no sally port
A sallyport is a secure, controlled entry way to an enclosure, e.g., a fortification or prison. The entrance is usually protected by some means, such as a fixed wall on the outside, parallel to the door, which must be circumvented to enter and ...
s for counter-attacks;
*Most importantly, there was no water well
A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...
inside the walls.
The French captured the castle in 1373 and 1381. The castle was probably last used militarily during the time of the French occupation of Jersey (1461–1468, when the French held the east of the island, but loyal Jersey folk held the western parishes). In 1483, after several years of petitioning King Edward IV, the Seigneur of St Ouen - recommended to the King's Grace by his father-in-law the governor, was granted a ″License to Crenelate″ - that is allowed to fortify his manor house. Governor Harliston approved the dismantling of the ″fort of refuge″ at Grosnez so that the already-worked stone could be re-used in fortifying St. Ouen's Manor. The financial savings were important to Seigneur De Carteret, as - when he came into his majority - ″trees grew in the Hall of the Manor because his Guardians had wasted the substance of the Rentes″ i.e. - embezzled the income - and he was investing heavily in renovating the dilapidated manor buildings. His shortage of money was both what influenced him to marry the daughter of the Plantagenet Governor Harliston, and also what led him into conflict with the second governor of the island after 1486. When Matthew Baker was sent to take Harliston's place in 1486, the Seigneur had not paid his taxes to the Exchequer for three years - since the death of Edward IV. De Carteret was already under some suspicion as a Plantagenet supporter - after all - the rebel Governor Harliston was his father-in-law. When King Henry VII ordered a general examination of outstanding accounts by the Exchequer clerks, it was inevitable that De Carteret would be required to pay the back taxes he owed the Crown. This, then, is the background to the dismantling of Grosnez Castle - and also of the later friction between De Carteret and Matthew Baker.
In 1806, a naval signal station was established at Grosnez to send messages to Guernsey
Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...
.
Modern depiction
Grosnez Castle appears on the reverse of the Jersey 50 pence coin.Citations and references
Citations References * Dillon, Paddy (2011) ''Walking on Jersey: 24 routes and the Jersey coastal walk''. (Cicerone). * King, David James Cathcart (1988) ''The Castle in England and Wales: An Interpretative History''. (Routledge). * Hammond, Reginald J W (ed.), ''Channel Islands'', (London, Ward Lock Red Guides, 1970), p. 63,Gallery