This is a painting of Fort Grey in Guernsey. It is always difficult for me to single out a special place on the island – I have so many. But this area is among my favourites. After a somewhat arduous walk along the south cliffs, one starts to descend and the land becomes softer and lusher. The exhausted walker will greet the site of the little café at Portelet Harbour with delight. There you can get a delicious fresh crab sandwich and a slice of gâche, feed crumbs to the scruffy blackbird that lives in the escallonia hedge (I know it can’t be the same bird, but it always looks the same).
Shipwrecks at Fort Grey
Once recovered, a short stroll takes you to Fort Grey, locally known as the Cup and Saucer. Built in 1804, it replaced a derelict seventeenth structure named the Château de Rocquaine. The Guernsey government website includes some illustrations of the original building. A visiting preacher painted the fort and, according to the article, got into trouble with the local militia, who accused him of spying. He described the building as ‘Rockshine’ Castle, which was probably a mishearing of the local patois.
Nowadays the fort is home to an excellent museum of shipwrecks. A walk on the beach below gives a different and more imposing view of the islet and its fort.
Dark acts at Fort Grey
Try as I might, my paintings are rarely entirely sunny. The site of Fort Grey was once, allegedly, a witches’ coven. Guernsey took to witch-hunting with gusto in the early seventeenth century and put many women to death. When I posted this painting on Instagram, one of my followers picked up something of the darkness in this image, an extraordinarily empathic act. Much of the dark history in the Channel Islands comes from the Occupation years. But before that was the awful treatment of wise women.
If you like this painting, you might also enjoy this view of Fort Saumarez, or maybe this view of the cliffs.