SIEGE OF CASTLE CORNET 1643/51 on GUERNSEY

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

SIEGE OF CASTLE CORNET 1643/51 on GUERNSEY

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun May 24, 2020 8:20 pm

The people of Guernsey supported the Parliament in England, but Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peter Osborne and his troops who disagreed, and sided with the Royalists, entrenched themselves in Castle Cornet, which is situated 183m off the coast of Guernsey and covered the port of St Peter Port so that this port was closed. The castle was almost an impregnable fortress from both the coast and the sea.

Osborne was very unpopular on Guernsey, due to its high taxation, for fortifying the castle.
Every now and then the castle occupiers got supplies, from the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, Sir George Carteret who took care of this, and also supported the Royalist side.

Captain Bowden, who had first sided with Parliament, sailed from Guernsey to Dartmouth in his ship the BRAMBLE, but here he was persuaded by Prince Maurice to side with the royalists.

He sailed back to Fermain Bay on Guernsey in another ship the GEORGE from Dover, depicted on the 16p. He then lured three major islanders on board, and overpowered them and had them locked up at Castle Cornet.
After being imprisoned for 43 days, during which the prisoners did not sit still, but made an escape hole from their cell to a cell below where they were sitting. They had already made a rope out of flax, from that cell they then scrambled down on the morning they were going to be executed. Then fled via rocks, which were falling dry during low water to St Peter Port, as depicted on the 28p stamp.

When In 1641 Osborne was relieved of his post, and his place was taken by Sir Baldwin Wake who was succeeded in 1649 by Colonel Sir Roger Burgess.
Neighboring Jersey fell to the troops of the Parliament in 1651, after which a naval blockade shut off the supply of provision to Castle Cornet. Finally, on December 19, 1651, the last Royalist reinforcement surrendered.
Burgess and his men were allowed to leave with the roll of drums, and their banners and with full armament depicted on the 39p stamp.

Cornet Castle has been around since the 13th century, and an English army garrison was stationed there until 1939. It was then occupied by German troops who occupied Guernsey from 1940 to 1945.
Opened to the public in 1950, the castle now houses the RAF 201 squadron and the Maritime Museum, which opened in 1991.
The castle is now an important tourist attraction on the island.

The further activities of Captain Bowden are shrouded in mystery, the ship names are real, but the type of ship and the further role of the GEORGE is unknown.

The Parliamentary warships depicted on the 24p stamp are attacking Cornet Castle, she is depicting ships of the time, but the names are unknown.

Guernsey 1993 16p/39p sg 611/15 scott 515/519.
I lost the source for the stamp details.
Attachments
1993 Minisheet. Cornet Castle jpg.jpg
1993 Cornet-Castle.jpg
1993 Cornet-Castle 24p .jpg
1993 Cornet-Castle.28p jpg.jpg
1993 Cornet-Castle 33p .jpg
1993 Cornet-Castle 39p .jpg

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