The Bréhon Tower (; or Fort Brehon) is accessible only by boat and sits on Bréhon Rock, an island in the Little Russell channel about 1.5 km northeast of

St Peter Port St. Peter 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 tow ...

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 ...

, between the port and the islands of

Herm Herm (Guernésiais: , ultimately from Old Norse 'arm', due to the shape of the island, or Old French 'hermit') is one of the -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, ...

and Jethou. Thomas Charles de Putron (1806–1869) built the oval tower of granite from Herm, completing the work in 1857.BBC – Guernsey history – Brehon Tower
bbc.co.uk; accessed 24 August 2015. Although not strictly 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 ...

, Bréhon represents the final evolution of the basic design of the Martello tower. In 1914 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 ...

transferred ownership of Bréhon Tower 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 ...

. During the German occupation of the Channel Islands, German forces placed coastal defence and anti-aircraft guns on the tower. Today, although the site is open to visitors, the tower is closed. The tower holds a light operated by the Guernsey Harbour Authority. The island is home to a breeding colony of

common tern The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in Temperateness, temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is stron ...

History

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

was erected on Bréhon in 1744 to serve as a sea mark. However the lack of visibility of the obelisk led to its replacement in 1824 by a tower 40 ft high and 34 ft in circumference, topped by a globe. In the tenure (1803–1813) of Lieutenant Governor General Sir John Doyle, there were plans to erect a guardhouse on Bréhon, but nothing came of these. Doyle was responsible, however, for substantial fortification efforts elsewhere in Guernsey, including the construction of the

s of Fort Grey, 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 ...

In the 1840s there was a renewed concern about British relations with France, with particular concern for the protection of

Alderney Alderney ( ; ; ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependencies, Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest isla ...

and the other Channel Islands because of their strategic importance in the Channel.

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Major-General Sir

William Francis Patrick Napier General Sir William Francis Patrick Napier Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, KCB (7 December 178512 February 1860) was a British soldier in the British Army and a military historian. Early life Napier was born at Celbridge, County Kild ...

proposed a number of works, including the establishment of a fort on Bréhon. In 1850 the British became concerned that the French had created fortifications at

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

. This led to the construction of several defensive structures, including towers and forts, in the Channel area. The Alderney cutter ''Experiment'' was wrecked off Bréhon in March 1850; eight people drowned but

pilot boat ''Mary of Guernsey'' saved 20.

Tower

A review of Guerney's defences in 1852 recommended the construction of three artillery barracks, Fort Richmond,

, and Fort Le Marchant, the upgrading of Fort Doyle, and the construction of Bréhon Tower. Work on Bréhon Tower commenced in 1854 and was completed in 1856. The builder was Thomas Charles de Putron, who carried on business at the Pierre Percée.Priaulx Library: ''The Star'', 31 August 191

-accessed 27 October 2014. The total cost was £sd, £8,098 18 s 10 d. Bréhon Tower's role was to guard the shipping channel between Guernsey and Herm, and help protect the harbour of St Peter Port. The fort's footprint measures 65 feet by 85 feet (at the widest point), and the tower stands 34 feet high. The tower has three levels. The magazine, shell room, shifting room, stores, and fresh-water cistern were all on the ground floor. It also had latrines on the same floor, a Victorian innovation. The first floor contained the garrison's living quarters. There is also a jetty on the St Peter Port side of the island. The original plan was to put three heavy guns on the gun platform at the top, with five guns on the (second) floor below, sharing the 14 cannon ports. However, during construction the armament was cut back to three 68-pounder and two 10-inch shell guns, all on the gun platform.Lowry (2008), pp.53–54.Clements (1998), p. 135. The guns had a range of 3,000m. In 1859, when loading the guns, each of which weighed 5 tons, a barge capsized and sank; the gun was lost. When the garrison fired the cannons for the first time, the concussion created a fracture that extended from top to bottom. The tower's garrison was drawn from the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. The garrison was originally to have consisted of two officers and 60 NOCs and other ranks, but with the reduction in armament, two officers and 30 men was deemed sufficient. Boats from Guernsey brought provisions and fresh drinking water; the cistern provided the water for general use.

20th century

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

the tower was obsolete and the War Office turned it over to the States of Guernsey. In World War II, German forces installed a coastal defence gun in a new embrasure cut in the north wall. They also put two anti-aircraft guns on the roof of the tower. The German guns were credited with shooting down several aircraft. On 14 May 1943, RAF Spitfires of the Czechoslovak-manned

312 __NOTOC__ Year 312 (Roman numerals, CCCXII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantinus and Licinianus (or, less frequently, year 1065 ''Ab urbe co ...

and 313 Squadrons made a low-altitude attack on a flotilla of 12 E-boats in St Peter Port in an operation called Roadstead 2. Bréhon Tower's guns fired flak at the Spitfires, so

Flying Officer Flying officer (Fg Offr or F/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Flying officer is immediately ...

Jaroslav Novák of 312 Squadron flew at the tower in a direct attack. His Spitfire Mk Vb, serial number EP539, was shot down and Novák was killed. A year later, on 22 May 1944, Bréhon Tower's guns shot down Flight Lieutenant Hugh Percy of 610 Squadron. He was flying a Spitfire Mk XIV, serial number RB162. It was claimed that Bréhon Tower also shot down one German aircraft. It was a

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the ...

that crashed east of

Protection

Brehon Tower and the islet upon which it stands was listed as a Protected Monument on 30 September 1969, reference PM54.

Link

Link to a video of the interior of th
Brehon Tower

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

Citations

References

*Bruce, H.A., ed. (1864) ''Life of General Sir William Napier, K. C. B., author of 'History of the Peninsular War', etc: Edited by H. A. Bruce. With portraits''. (J. Murray) *Clements, William H. (1998) ''Towers of Strength: Martello Towers Worldwide''. (London: Pen & Sword). . *Forty, George (2005) ''Channel Islands at War: A German Perspective''. (Ian Allan). *Grimsley, E.J. (1988) ''The historical development of the Martello Tower in the Channel Islands''. (Sarnian Publications). *Lowry, Bernard (2008) ''Fortifications From the Tudors to the Cold War''. (Osprey Publishing). {{DEFAULTSORT:Brehon Tower Fortifications in Guernsey Sea forts Towers completed in 1856 Lighthouses in Guernsey