Jersey Round Tower - History

History

Governor, Henry Seymour Conway had proposed building 30 towers in 1778 to forestall, or at least impede French incursions on the island. Work began in 1779, after a failed French landing at St Ouen's Bay on 1 May 1779. Perhaps four had been completed by the time of the Battle of Jersey in 1781, in which they played no part. Guernsey, which the French did not attack, had built 15 loophole towers between 1778 and 1779.

One tower, Seymour Tower, which replaced an earlier tower on the same spot at La Rocque, was built of granite and was the only square tower. The other 22 towers that Conway had constructed were round.

Although frequently called Martello towers, the round towers are taller, and they predate the development of true Martello towers. The round towers differ from Martello towers in several ways. The Jersey towers are mostly built with local granite rather than brick, have a slighter batter (taper), and most importantly, originally did not have a cannon on the top platform. (The Guernsey round towers have a strong batter on the ground floor and no machicolations; they too initially did not carry a gun on the top platform.) Later, at the onset of the Napoleonic Wars, both the Jersey and Guernsey towers each received a 12-pounder carronade on a pivot mount for the top platform.

During the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II, the Germans adapted some of the towers to their own purposes. The Germans destroyed the tower erected on the Bel Royal area and replaced it with a bunker. They fortified other towers with concrete.

To date, 17 of the original Round Towers, and seven of the Martellos, remain and some have been painted white and red on the seaward side to serve as daymarks (navigational aids). Furthermore, one may hire, via the National Trust for Jersey, some of the towers, such as Victoria Tower, for short stays. One can hire other towers, such as Archirondel shown on the picture, via Jersey Heritage.