Elizabeth Castle

Elizabeth Castle
Saint Helier, Jersey
Elizabeth Castle at high tide
Elizabeth Castle
Coordinates	49°10′30″N 2°07′30″W / 49.175°N 2.125°W / 49.175; -2.125
Type	Castle
Site information
Owner	People of Jersey
Controlled by	Jersey Heritage
Open to the public	Yes
Condition	Intact
Site history
Built	from 1595
Materials	Granite
Battles/wars	Battle of Jersey Third English Civil War

Elizabeth Castle is a castle and tourist attraction, on a tidal island within the parish of Saint Helier, Jersey. Construction was started in the 16th century when the power of cannon meant that the existing stronghold at Mont Orgueil was insufficient to defend the Island and the port of St. Helier was vulnerable to attack by ships armed with cannon.

It is named after Elizabeth I who was the queen of England around the time the castle was built.

The tidal island called L'Islet (The Islet) lying in Saint Aubin, Jersey {St Aubin's Bay] became the site of the Abbey (later Priory) of Saint Helier. The Crown confiscated the monastic buildings at the Reformation. Surviving buildings were used for military purposes.

Construction of the earliest parts of the castle, the Upper Ward including the Queen Elizabeth Gate, began in 1594. This work was carried out by the Flemish military engineer Paul Ivy.

Governors of Jersey moved their official residence from Mont Orgueil to Elizabeth Castle.

Sir Walter Raleigh Governor of Jersey between 1600 and 1603, named the castle Elizabeth Castle after Elizabeth I of England.

The Lower Ward was constructed, between 1626 and 1636, on the site of the ruined Abbey church. This area of the castle became a parade ground, surrounded by a barrack building and officers' quarters. Wells and cisterns for water existed within this area.

The castle was first used in a military context during the English Civil War in the 17th century. The Prince of Wales visited the castle in 1646 and again, but now as Charles II in September 1649, staying in the Governor's House, having been proclaimed King by governor Sir George Carteret, despite the abolition of the monarchy in England, in February 1649. In 1651, a windmill was constructed half-way between Fort Charles and the Lower Ward. In the same year, the Parliamentarian forces landed in Jersey and bombarded the castle with mortars. The destruction of the medieval Abbey church in the heart of the castle complex which had been used as the storehouse for ammunition and provisions forced Carteret to surrender on 15 December 1651 after being besieged for seven weeks. Jersey was held by Parliamentarians for the next nine years until the restoration of the monarchy.