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St. Aubin's Fort, Jersey

St Aubin's Fort is a fort in St. Brelade, Jersey, that was first constructed in the 1540s to protect the fishing village of St. Aubin, located at the western end of St. Aubin's Bay, from a seaborne invasion. The fort is situated just off the coast upon a small islet, which sits just off the coast in the sea. Initially constructed as a small tower, the tower was later encased by a line of outer walls and bulwarks, designed to house cannon.

The fort would go through several periods of reconstruction and renovation over the centuries as fears of a French invasion of Jersey would grow in the 18th and 19th centuries. The fort was also occupied by the German Wehrmacht from 1940 to 1945, when the Island was captured during the Second World War.

St. Aubin's Tower
Henry VIII of England built a series of small artillery forts across the south coast of England in the late 1530s and 1540s to counter any potential French invasions of his kingdom. St. Aubin's Tower was one of these forts and was constructed with the purpose of slowing down an enemy force whilst local forces were able to concentrate on the shoreline and mount an effective defence of St. Aubin. The tower was built one storey high and was designed to hold cannon within the walls of the tower. The southern parapets of the tower were likely crenulated to provide cover for arquebusiers rather than to house small cannon.

The masonry used to construct this initial tower was made up of local sea-stones and red granite, which was abundant on the island. Only the lower half of the existing tower is formed from this masonry, with the upper half of the tower being composed from grey Mont Mado granite, which was added centuries later.

A small garrison of four men were stationed at the fort, though this total was halved during times of peace between England, France and Spain. This continued military presence of the islet caused considerable friction between local parish authorities and the English military leadership on the Island as the locals had been made responsible for the payment of these soldiers' wages. In 1630, the Lieutenant-Governor of the Island, Captain Francis Rainsford, actually imprisoned the Constable of St. Lawrence for failing to garrison the fort.

The English Civil War
St. Aubin's Tower remained in the hands of the Parliamentarian faction for the first seven months of the conflict (between March 1643 and November 1943) between the Island's royalists and the pro-parliament supporters. The royalists had control of the twin castles of Mont Orgueil castle and Elizabeth Castle and the parliamentarians had control of the rest of the Island, with neither side being able to dislodge the other so a period of stalemate ensued. Within this period, the tower of St. Aubin was surrounded by bulwarks and outer defences making it into a fort. A watchtower was also constructed on top of St. Aubin's Tower. With the collapse of the parliamentarian faction in Jersey in late-1643, the parliamentarian garrison of St. Aubin's Fort decided to switch sides and forcibly arrested their commanding officer, a man called Lieutenant Brand.

The Island remained in complete control of the royalists for the next eight years under the command of George Carteret. In order to keep control of the Island, Carteret had a small army of multinational regulars which were bolstered by the Jersey Militia. In order to pay for this force, Carteret sought about creating a flotilla of privateers, which would harass parliamentary shipping in the English Channel. The piratical navy was based at St. Aubin so it was necessary to strengthen St. Aubin's Fort to protect this lucrative trade. The tower was heightened so that a storeroom and magazine could be fitted within the structure. The bulwarks and walls around the tower were also strengthened. A bell was bought and hung within the watchtower, on the top of the St. Aubin's Tower. The garrison at the fort was composed of English and Irish regulars though this was bolstered by local soldiers in times of alarm. Twelve cannons were also in place at the fort.

In October 1651, a Parliamentarian army under Colonel James Heane landed at St. Ouen's Bay and defeated Carteret's royalist force there. Despite this setback, George Carteret was determined to hold out in Elizabeth Castle and St. Aubin's Fort. The Fort at Aubin would be important in keeping the parliamentary navy out of St. Aubin's Bay. The local troops at St. Aubin's Fort mutinied and abandoned their posts within sight of New Model Army marching towards them. The English and Irish regular troops then fled to Elizabeth Castle.

King Charles II ordered that a new pier should be built at St. Aubin given the growth of trade at the port. The States of Jersey initially wanted this pier to be built from the shoreline, but no actual work took place for many years until the Governor of Jersey, Sir Thomas Morgan, ordered a new pier to be built from the fort in 1675, which was completed in 1700. A 1680 military report of the Island's military defences, written by Colonel George Legge, details that St. Aubin's Fort seems to have gone a period of structural decline after 1651. Also, two of the thirteen cannons at the fort were unserviceable and nine of the carriages were broken.

Fort in the 18th and 19th Centuries
In 1730, some building works was carried on St. Aubin's Fort which included the building of King George II's Gateway as well as the strengthening of the southern defences of the fort. A canteen and an adjoining alehouse were also built within the walls of the fort, next to the main gate. The castle ordnance remained at thirteen guns with a garrison of twenty-four men and their officers. By 1801, an 8-inch howitzer was stationed at the fort.

The invention of steam-powered naval vessels meant that Jersey's coastal defences needed to be upgraded as now an enemy naval force could act largely independent of the forces of nature. St. Aubin's Fort was included in this building programme. As a result, some of its cannons were fitted onto traversing platforms and further loopholes were chiselled into the masonry of the fort so that the defenders could deliver concentrated fire against an enemy force. A series of trapdoors and ladders was erected within the tower to provide swift access between the different floors. The garrison was increased again as well as more barracks rooms and magazine stores in order to accommodation this influx of new troops.

Despite all these improvements, the importance of the Fort waned due to continued peace between Britain and France and, as a result, the garrison and artillery was withdrawn from the Fort by the 20th century. The last tenant stationed at the Fort was a man called Lionel Cox, who converted the fort into a summer residence.

German Occupation
During the Second World War, the Germans sought to make use of St. Aubin's Fort by installing the islet with modern armaments and weaponry. These included a 10.5cm artillery piece, three French tank turrets, and four machine-guns as well as a number of bunkers. The artillery gun was actually a relic of the First World War and had been captured in large numbers by the Germans after the Fall of France in 1940. This gun was housed with a large angular bunker to the north-east of the fort. Two of the three tank-turrets came from Renault FT-17 tanks and were installed upon smaller square bunkers: one on the northern end of the jetty, the other to the east of the bunker holding the artillery piece. The third tank-turret came from a Renault R35 and was positioned on top of the southern walls of the fort. A personnel bunker was built on the western end of the islet, which provided accommodation for ten men. The machine-guns were emplaced within field positions, so their exact locations are unknown.