Grosnez Castle

Grosnez Castle is a ruined 14th-century castle in Saint Ouen, situated on the Grosnez headland in the north-west corner of the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands. None of the castle's history was known before the late nineteenth century when archaeological excavations were carried out to remove large quantities of rubble which covered all of the present ruins other than the top of the gatehouse.

There are extremely few documentary records relating to the castle and as a result, following the archaeological excavations, various theories were put forward by archaeologists and historians as to the castle's origins and history. Many have been repeated so often in the last ninety years that they have been regarded as the authoritative truth rather than possible theories as originally made. A review and further research of the archaeology and history of the castle have recently been published which puts forward a different and alternative plausible history.

That recent research suggests that the castle had an extremely short life immediately before it was captured by the Duc de Bourbon, who had opportunistically invaded the Channel Islands with Bertrand du Guesclin, Marshall of France, in 1373 hoping to capture rich booty and extract tributes and ransoms from islanders.

The research suggests that construction of the castle was started by Sir Renaud de Carteret, Seigneur of St. Ouen in about 1369–70 at the time warfare was renewed in the Hundred Years' War following the Treaty of Brétigny of 1360, and it was probably not even complete at the time of its capture three or four years later.

Text adapted from “Grosnez Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Grosnez Castle ranks #5,177 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #4 of the 4 mapped in Jersey. Founded 1330, it is older than 61% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 604 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Jersey compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗