The Story of Castle Cornet

The Lower Barracks, the smaller of the two Georgian barrack blocks in the castle is the first building you see as you emerge from the entrance tunnel. After obtaining a ticket from the nearby guardroom it is the logical place to begin a tour, as the displays inside tell the story of the castle's development from its Norman origins to its use by the occcupying German forces during World War Two.

Interactive panorama: courtesy of VisitGuernsey. More panoramas...

Using a mixture of reconstructed tableaux, models, traditional museum displays and computer interactives, the museum interprets both the building and the history of the castle as a whole. On part of the ground floor there is a reconstructed Georgian barrack room to give an impression of how the building would have been used originally, while the rest of the museum interprets the history of the castle from its origins up until the Second World War.

Built on an offshore island to defend the town of St Peter Port and its anchorage, the castle was also at one time the residence of Guernsey's English governors. This tradition ended after lightning caused an explosion in 1672 which killed the wife and mother-in-law of the contemporary Governor, Charles Hatton, and extensively damaged the upper parts of the castle. Just a few years earlier, the castle had survived the English Civil War occupied by the royalist Governor and his garrison while the island of Guernsey sided with the parliamentarians. The two sides exchanged gunfire for years with the castle being supplied by sea from royalist Jersey. Castle Cornet was in fact the last royalist stronghold to fall, only being forced to surrender after supplies ran out following Jersey's capitulation.

One of the objects we have chosen as our contribution to the British Museum / BBC A History of the World Project represents Guernsey's involvement in this historic conflict. A stone cannonball found in St Peter Port parish church was probably fired from Castle Cornet during the civil war siege.