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Mont Orgueil Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Gorey Castle

In the parish of St Martin.
On the Isle of Jersey.

Latitude 49.19961° Longitude -2.01911°

Mont Orgueil Castle has been described as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are major building remains.
Description

There is no evidence to indicate the existence of any medieval fortification on the site prior to 1204, when Normandy was recovered from the English by France, and it is between this date and the first reference to a castle at Gorey in 1225 that work must have been commenced on the buildings. The present buildings and the documentary evidence record a long history of construction, alteration, and refurbishment, firstly between 1204 and circa 1470, to provide a fortification for the protection of the island, the seat of the Governor, and some state buildings against attack and siege by hand-held and simple mechanical weapons, and especially in response to major attacks, such as those by the French in the 1380s. It was subsequently refurbished to mount cannon and protect the island against attack by artillery fire, commencing in the 1460s. The biggest development of the castle followed the renewed tension with France inspired by Henry VIII, and between 1520 and 1600 a series of improvements were made by a succession of Governors. These included the construction of a new Tudor keep with a battery of guns on the top and a huge masonry-faced rampart, known as Grand Battery, that were both designed to repel artillery attacks from Mont Saint Nicolas which had previously dominated the castle. Following the establishment of Elizabeth Castle in St Helier Bay, as the principal defence of the island, in the late 1590s Mont Orgueil was not abandoned but became an administrative centre and was refurbished again on several occasions and remained relatively intact until circa 1680. (Mont Orgueil Conservation Plan 2008)

Gorey Castle-as it is popularly known-was built in C13 as the island's main defence against the French whose coastline was only 14 miles away. The castle was built at Mont Orgueil because sea and cliffs protected the castle on three sides. Also, the granite that the castle was built on meant that it was virtually impossible to undermine. The castle is overlooked by Mont Saint Nicolas 200m to the north. This was beyond effective archery range but well within the range of late medieval artillery and the northern defences of the medieval castle where replaced (or encased with and built on) a massive Tudor wall over 14m thick.
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Sources of information, references and further reading

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself. The information within this site is provided freely by me for educational purposes only.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.
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This record last updated on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
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