HERITAGE
Book review
Fortifications of Jersey, past and present By David Dorgan, Review by Alasdair Crosby
T
he author, David Dorgan, has a love of history – and of living history. The reader may well have seen him in period uniform as a member of the Muzzle Loaders and Antique Firearms Association or the 1781 Jersey Militia. To promote a previous book, Give Me Shelter, Air Raid Precautions of the Channel Islands, he and his wife could have been observed wearing fashions of the 1940s. As the author’s biographical information in the book states: ‘Growing up in the 1950s and playing in a local park amongst the WW2 German fortifications was a backdrop to a love of history. This subsequent research of local fortifications was undertaken using research material that had not been sourced previously from the National Archives at Kew as well as locally and that research has formed the basis of this publication.’ The history of Jersey’s fortifications has been quite a well-trodden route for historians, but previous written descriptions have been more in the nature of substantial and detailed publications that are not too easy to put into a pocket or to carry around in the course of a walk that takes in some of the historic sites. This is the gap filled by Mr Dorgan’s short, self-published book. It answers simple questions that perhaps a tourist or someone new to the Island might wish to have answered. What and where are these fortifications? When were they built? What was the nature of their ordnance?
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Envious eyes have always looked on Jersey from afar, causing Islanders to create defensive areas or buildings for their own safety or for intruders to safeguard the continued success of their invasion and occupation. Iron Age forts existed above Grève de Lecq and on the defendable hill that would one day become the castle of Mont Orgueil and elsewhere. In mediaeval times Grosnez Castle formed a refuge for local inhabitants. With the invention of gunpowder, Elizabeth Castle took over from Mont Orgueil. Then, in the 18th and 19th Centuries, forts sprung up all around the coastline to protect the Island from French invasion. The German wartime Occupiers built a host of defensive structures, many of which are still very visible. Finally, in the 1960s, some of the German bunkers were repurposed as Cold War nuclear bomb shelters and administration centres, were the worst ever to happen. The scheme of the book is to give thumbnail details of these structures, starting with the main historic fortifications and then starting in town, going anti-clockwise around the coast, describing all these structures in sequence of location. The main emphasis is on the Conway and Martello Towers built in the 18th and 19th Centuries; the German fortifications, of which descriptions are easily accessible in other quarters, are given only fleeting references.
Inevitably, in a self-published book, there are some criticisms; generally speaking, it could have benefited from a more thorough editing. But for a thumbnail guide to the wealth of fortified history around Jersey’s coasts, David Dorgan’s book certainly serves its purpose. At a time when we hope more visitors will return to enjoy what the Island has to offer, and for Islanders who want to know a little more about Jersey’s history as they enjoy a walk along the coasts or the cliff paths, this book would be a useful companion. Copies are available from Amazon or the Société Jersiaise; £10.
