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Guernsey Loophole Towers
The British built 15 Guernsey loophole towers at various points along the coast of Guernsey between August 1778 and March 1779 to deter possible French attacks after France had declared itself an ally of the Americans in the American Revolutionary War. Towards the start of the Napoleonic Wars several towers received additional reinforcement in the form of batteries at their bases. Today, 12 towers still survive, three having been destroyed at different times. Two of the survivors, Petit Bôt and Rousse, contain interpretive exhibits that the public may examine. History In 1778, General Henry Seymour Conway, Governor of Jersey, recommended that 30 towers (see Jersey Round Tower) be built there to impede a possible French incursion. As it happened, almost all the towers were built after the Battle of Jersey in 1781. However, in July 1778, the British government also authorized the building of 15 towers on Guernsey. These towers were designed to accommodate only muskets (i.e., there w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guernsey
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands, an island group roughly north of Saint-Malo and west of the Cotentin Peninsula. The jurisdiction consists of ten parishes on the island of Guernsey, three other inhabited islands ( Herm, Jethou and Lihou), and many small islets and rocks. It is not part of the United Kingdom, although defence and some aspects of international relations are managed by the UK. Although the bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as the Channel Islands, the "Channel Islands" are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a separate relationship to the Crown from the other Crown dependencies of Guernsey and the Isle of Man, although all are held by the monarch of the United Kingdom. The island has a mixed British-Norm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Machicolation
A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at the base of a defensive wall. A smaller version found on smaller structures is called a box-machicolation. Terminology The structures are thought to have originated as Crusader imitations of mashrabiya. The word derives from the Old French word ''machecol'', mentioned in Medieval Latin as ''machecollum'', probably from Old French ''machier'' 'crush', 'wound' and ''col'' 'neck'. ''Machicolate'' is only recorded in the 18th century in English, but a verb ''machicollāre'' is attested in Anglo-Latin. Both the Spanish and Portuguese words denoting this structure (''matacán'' and ''mata-cães'', respectively), are similarly composed from "matar canes" meaning roughly "killing dogs", the latter word being a slur referring to infidels.Vil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortifications In Guernsey
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Martin, Guernsey
Saint Martin (Guernésiais and French Saint Martin; historically Saint-Martin-de-la-Bellouse) is a parish in Guernsey, The Channel Islands. The islands lie in the English Channel between Great Britain and France. The postal code for street addresses in this parish begins with GY4. The old Guernésiais nickname for people from Saint Martin is ''dravans''. In 1883, Pierre-Auguste Renoir spent the summer in Guernsey, with a varied landscape of beaches, cliffs and bays, where he created fifteen paintings in little over a month. Most of these feature ''Moulin Huet'', a bay in Saint Martin. These paintings were the subject of a set of commemorative postage stamps issued by the Bailiwick of Guernsey in 1983. The parish church of Saint Martin was consecrated on 4 February 1199. At the gate to the churchyard is La Gran'mère du Chimquière, a statue menhir. St. Martin Parish has entered Britain in Bloom for a number of years, winning the small town category twice, in 2006 and 2011. Ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forest, Guernsey
The Forest (Guernésiais: La Fouarêt, French: La Forêt) is a parish in Guernsey. It is the highest parish on the island, with altitudes of up to about 100 m. The full title of the parish is ''Ste Marguerite de la Foret'', after the parish church. The old Guernésiais nickname for people from La Fouarêt was ''bourdaons'' (). The postal codes for street addresses in this parish begin with GY8. Forest was the first parish in the Island to receive some unwelcome visitors. Chief Officer Inspector W Sculpher recorded the following in the Occurrence Book dated Wednesday, 3 July 1940: "I beg to report that at about 8pm on 30th June a number of German Armed Forces landed at the Airport, Forest." Geography The Forest is located in the south of Guernsey. It borders the parishes of St Peter's to the west, St Saviour's to the north-west, St Andrew's to the north and St Martin's to the east. Beaches The south coast is mostly made up of cliffs, but the beaches in The Forest include: * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castel, Guernsey
Castel (Guernésiais: Lé Casté; French language, French: Sainte-Marie-du-Câtel) is the largest parish in Guernsey in terms of area. The Parish has clear evidence of changes in ancient sea-levels, with trunks of an oak forest visible on Vazon beach at very low tide and at above sea level an ancient beach. The old Guernésiais nickname for people from Castel was ''ânes pur sàng''. The parish plays host to both Le Viaër Marchi and the North Show which includes the Flower parade, Battle of Flowers annually. It also produces a regular magazine called ''Castel Matters''. The GY postcode area, postal code for street addresses in this parish begins with GY5. Parish church The parish church of St Marie de Castel, also known as Notre Dame de la Délivrance, was consecrated on 25 August 1203. It is notable for its preserved medieval fresco. A pre-Christian neolithic Statue menhir, menhir dating from 2,500-1,800 BC in the churchyard, carved to represent a female, with breasts an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magazine (artillery)
Magazine is the name for an item or place within which ammunition or other explosive material is stored. It is taken originally from the Arabic word "makhāzin" (مخازن), meaning 'storehouses', via Italian and Middle French. The term is also used for a place where large quantities of ammunition are stored for later distribution, or an ammunition dump. This usage is less common. Field magazines In the early history of tube artillery drawn by horses (and later by mechanized vehicles), ammunition was carried in separate unarmored wagons or vehicles. These soft-skinned vehicles were extremely vulnerable to enemy fire and to explosions caused by a weapons malfunction. Therefore, as part of setting up an artillery battery, a designated place would be used to shelter the ready ammunition. In the case of batteries of towed artillery the temporary magazine would be placed, if possible, in a pit, or natural declivity, or surrounded by sandbags or earthworks. Circumstances might ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tidal Island
A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands, many of them have been sites of religious worship, such as Mont-Saint-Michel with its Benedictine Abbey. Tidal islands are also commonly the sites of fortresses because of their natural fortifications. List of tidal islands Asia Hong Kong * Ma Shi Chau in Tai Po District, northeastern New Territories, within the Tolo Harbour *Kiu Tau Island in Sai Kung Iran * Naaz islands in Persian gulf, southern seashore of Qeshm island Japan * Enoshima, in Sagami Bay, Kanagawa Prefecture Taiwan * Kueibishan in Penghu * Jiangong Islet in Kinmen South Korea *Jindo Island and Modo Island in southwest South Korea *Jebudo in the west Europe Denmark * Mandø Island – on Denmark's western coast * Knudshoved Island – north of Vordingborg on southern Zealand, Denmark Denmar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vale, Guernsey
Vale (Guernésiais: ''Lé Vale''; French: ''Le Valle'') is one of the ten parishes of Guernsey in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, Channel Islands. In 933 the islands, formerly under the control of William I, then Duchy of Brittany were annexed by the Duchy of Normandy. The island of Guernsey and the other Channel Islands represent the last remnants of the medieval Duchy of Normandy.Marr, J., ''The History of Guernsey – the Bailiwick's story'', Guernsey Press (2001). Much of the Vale parish belonging to the fief Saint Michael, which benefited the Benedictine monks who lived in an abbey that had been built next to the Vale Church from when it was granted in 1032 by Robert of Normandy who had apparently been caught in a storm and his ship had ended up safe in Guernsey. The rights to the fief were removed by Henry VIII when he undertook the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Vale Castle The Castle of Saint Michael, now called Vale Castle, has an origin going back at least 1,000 yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Sampson, Guernsey
St Sampson (Guernésiais: ) is a parish of Guernsey, an island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, directly north of St Peter Port. It is on the north-west and north-east coasts of the island and is split into two sections, intersected by Vale. The parish has a population of 8,966. Its residents are known as (the Guernésiais for frogs). What is currently the northern boundary of the parish originally ran along the south coast of Le Braye du Valle, a tidal channel that made the northern extremity of Guernsey, Le Clos du Valle, a tidal island. La Braye du Valle was drained and reclaimed in 1806 by the British Government as a defence measure. The eastern end of the former channel became the town and harbour (from 1820) of St. Sampson's, now the second biggest port in Guernsey. The western end of La Braye is now Le Grand Havre. The roadway called The Bridge across the end of the harbour at St. Sampson's recalls the bridge that formerly linked the two parts of Guernsey at high tide. Hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Peter Port
St. Peter Port (french: Saint-Pierre Port) is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St. Peter Port is a small town (commonly referred to by locals as just "town") consisting mostly of steep narrow streets and steps on the overlooking slopes. It is known that a trading post/town existed here before Roman times with a pre-Christian name which has not survived. The parish covers an area of 6.5 km2. The postal code for addresses in the parish starts with GY1. People from St. Peter Port, were nicknamed "les Villais" (the townspeople) or "cllichards" in Guernésiais. Geography St. Peter Port is on the east coast of Guernsey overlooking Herm and tiny Jethou, a further channel separates Sark and surrounding islets such as Brecqhou; exceptionally Normandy's long Cotentin Peninsula and, to the south-east, Jersey are visible in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battery At Rousse Tower2
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 to certain functions of an automobile *List of battery types *Energy storage, including batteries that are not electrochemical Law * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of intentional harmful or offensive contact Military and naval uses * Artillery battery, an organized group of artillery pieces ** Main battery, the primary weapons of a warship ** Secondary battery (artillery), the smaller guns on a warship * Battery, a position of a cartridge in a firearm action Arts and entertainment Music * Battery (electro-industrial band) * Battery (hardcore punk band) * "Battery", a song by Metallica from the 1986 album ''Master of Puppets'' * Marching percussion ensemble, frequently known as a battery * Battery, a software music sampler b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
