The castle was built on an island known as The Islet, the first protective measures were installed in the mid-16th century. Construction of the castle began in 1594. The first iteration of the castle was completed in the early 17th century, with further developments made in the following years. It served as a fortress and defensive and was occupied by different forces over the years. Today it is now a popular tourist attraction.

Map of Castle

English civil war

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

Battle of Jersey

The battle of Jersey took place January 6th, 1781 due to the Anglo-French war and American Revolution war being unsuccessful to invade the island in order to protect American and French shipping. The island had been occupied by British privateers who would disrupt important shipping for the French, which caused the French governor at the time to interfere.

The French decided to attack with 2,000 French men, but a storm had caused only 1,200 to arrive in jersey. The French surprisingly landed unexpectedly with 800 of them landing at La Roque, due to the fact that the guards deciding to leave their post to go drinking, and the other 400 troops had landed on the rocks where they concluded they where completely lost, and 200 troops landing the next morning (due to the storm). The French managed to invade undetected and captured the governor and made him sign a letter which meant he had to surrender Elizabeth castle. Once they arrived at Elizabeth castle the occupants there, didn’t care that he had signed the surrender because he was a prisoner and decided to open fire on the French.

The battle lasted nearly 15 minutes, and happened at the royal square, with the British winning due to having more utilities and soldiers. After the war the British had captured 600 soldiers including the 200 French that landed the next morning.

After doing some research and gathering facts about the castle, I want to base our film off the architecture of the castle, including things like the walls, archways, the different layers of the castle and so on. This interests me as although it may just look like basic walls and buildings, they have way more history behind them. I think this will make a good film.