Fort Tourgis facts for kids

Fort Tourgis in 2010

Fort Tourgis is a very large old fort on the island of Alderney. It's located in the northwest part of the island, near St Anne. This fort is part of the many strong defenses built around Alderney.

Fort Tourgis was finished in 1855. It was designed to hold 346 soldiers and was meant to be the biggest fort on Alderney. It could also hold 33 large cannons and four huge mortars (a type of cannon). Another fort, Fort Albert, started a year later in 1856, became even bigger. But even today, Fort Tourgis is a very impressive building.

The forts on Alderney were built to protect the island and its harbor. The harbor was planned to be a safe place for the British navy. Around 1860, new weapons and iron-plated ships made these old forts less useful. However, some forts, like Tourgis, were updated with newer guns. By 1908, only Fort Albert and Roselle Battery still had working guns to defend the island.

In July 1940, German forces took over Alderney and the other Channel Islands. They used the forts to protect sea routes and to stop any British attacks. Fort Tourgis became known to the Germans as Stutzpunkt Türkenburg, which means Strongpoint Turk's Castle.

Fort Tourgis has a main area called the Citadel. This area holds the soldiers' living quarters, the main storage for ammunition, and other important rooms. It also has two small gun batteries, one facing west and one facing east. The fort's main weapons were in three big batteries facing the sea. These batteries are separated from each other and from the Citadel by ditches and drawbridges.

Thanks to a project called Living Islands and many volunteers, part of the northern defenses of Fort Tourgis is now open to visitors. Cambridge Battery (Battery No. 2) is a great example of how the original Victorian fort was changed by the Germans during World War II. Alderney became one of the most heavily defended parts of Hitler's Atlantic Wall.

Fort Tourgis: A Look Inside
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Fort Tourgis: A Look Inside

By the 1920s, Alderney's forts were mostly empty. But they became very important again during World War II when the Germans took over. The Germans built many new defenses on the small island. This included five artillery batteries (groups of big guns), 23 anti-aircraft batteries (guns to shoot down planes), 13 strongpoints, 12 resistance nests, three defense lines, and over 30,000 mines!

The Germans called Fort Tourgis "Stutzpunkt Türkenburg" or "Strongpoint Turk's Castle." It had a three-gun 20mm anti-aircraft battery, two 10.5 cm guns for beach defense, and two 7.5 cm anti-tank guns. It also had several searchlights and many machine guns. The way the Germans changed the old Victorian fort for modern warfare shows clever engineering.

The plants that have grown over the fort since 1945 create a perfect home for insects, small animals, and birds. Kestrels (a type of hawk) nest in the holes in the eastern wall and hunt in the fields nearby. You might also see stonechats and even dartford warblers among the bushes.

German Tunnel Entrance

This tunnel goes under the old Victorian wall and into the fort. It leads to the former ammunition storage area of Cambridge Battery. This tunnel made it easy to move between the fort and the gun bunkers outside. It also provided a shorter path from the fort to Platte Saline beach.

The many concrete buildings built by the Germans have become home to lots of wildlife. You can find barn swallows nesting in this tunnel. A rare moth called the Bloxworth snout moth also lives here. These spaces are perfect for observing nature.

Victorian Ammunition Storage

This part of the fort was used to store gunpowder, shells, and cannonballs. It supplied Cambridge Battery and was built to be safe and dry.

When it was first built, Cambridge Battery (No. 2) at Fort Tourgis had eight 68-pounder and 32-pounder smooth-bore guns. These guns fired round, solid, or explosive cannonballs. The gunpowder charges would have been prepared here and put into sacks. These sacks were then taken out to the gun crews and loaded into the cannons, followed by the cannonball. The Germans probably used this storage area too, as they built a very thick concrete wall for extra protection.

Cambridge Battery Guns

Battery No. 2 was one of five gun positions in the Victorian fort. It was located at the fort's northeast corner. It held 68-pounder and 32-pounder guns. These guns fired over the walls, which were topped with earth mounds. The guns were placed on heavy wooden platforms that could turn on iron pivots. Small metal wheels on the platforms ran on circular rails, which you can still see clearly today.

The battery's defenses included a long wall with holes for muskets (old rifles) facing southeast. It also had a caponier (a protected walkway) sticking out to the north to defend the fort's northern side.

German Generator and Shelter

We are not completely sure what this bunker was used for. It likely held a small generator to power the nearby 60 cm searchlight. It might also have been used as a shelter for soldiers. This bunker stands where a large Victorian gun once was. That old gun's pivot and rail are now buried under the concrete. Today, you might see sparrows nesting here, sometimes with up to three active nests in a year.

German Searchlight Bunker

During World War I and II, searchlights were very important for lighting up the sea and sky at night. They were often used with sound detectors and radar. There were at least 35 German searchlights on Alderney. Twenty-four of them were 60 cm wide, and six of these were housed in special bunkers found only on Alderney. The 60 cm searchlight unit in this bunker could be moved into position on rails you can still see on the floor. A turntable allowed it to be moved to cover the sea, beaches, and possibly air attacks. It could shine a light over 5 kilometers away.

Fort Tourgis Wildlife Haven

The searchlight bunker looks out towards the sea and back into the fort. Behind you are rough brambles, ivy-covered walls, and bushes that have grown over the fort in the 70 years since the Germans left. This plant growth now provides valuable homes for animals like kestrels, buzzards, meadow pipits, stonechats, and white-toothed shrews. Alderney's forts have become safe places for wildlife. Many flowering plants and ferns now grow at Tourgis.

Military sites like this, with their unique conditions, quickly become home to new plants and animals. This is one reason why Alderney has such rich wildlife. What might look like just overgrown bushes is actually full of life!

Tourgis Searchlight Viewpoint

From the searchlight area, you get a wide view of Clonque Bay and Platte Saline beach. To the east, you can see the Victorian Forts Doyle and Grosnez. To the west, you can see a large part of Alderney's Ramsar site. This is an area of rocky coast, small islands, and seabed that is protected because of its international importance for wetlands.

The strong tides around Alderney create currents that bring up nutrients. These nutrients attract fish, which then attract seabirds. This makes Alderney a major seabird center in the English Channel. Look for the pure white gannets with black wingtips, often flying in groups. You might also see black shags drying their wings on rocks, brown curlews with their long, curved beaks, and white little egrets hunting fish in the rockpools below you.

Victorian Tunnel to Caponier

This tunnel allowed easy access from the main battery to the caponier. In Victorian times, there would have been no other way to get into the secure caponier from outside the fort. It was probably lit by oil lamps.

Victorian Caponier Defense

From the inside, this caponier looks like it's from World War II. But it was cleverly changed and made stronger by the Germans, who added a concrete lining to the original stone walls. This created a place for two German machine guns. Most German bunkers were whitewashed inside, and larger ones often had wood on the walls and floor. From the outside, the caponier clearly looks like part of the Victorian defenses. It had holes for muskets to fire along the fort's walls, protecting them from attack. Many forts from this time used caponiers as part of their defenses. You can see other examples on Alderney at Forts Clonque and Raz, and even on the east side of the Tourgis Citadel. They were a very important part of the defenses at Fort Albert, a newer fort, where the deep ditch is protected by five caponiers.

German Machine Gun and Anti-Tank Bunker

This large space held both a machine gun and a 7.5 cm Pak 40 mobile anti-tank gun. These weapons covered a wide area of fire through the large opening. The anti-tank gun could move around on a track, which you can still see on the concrete floor. This bunker was built with very thick concrete, over one meter (about 3 feet) thick. A large, probably bullet-proof, door allowed easy access for the anti-tank gun. Most of these bunkers were not gas-proof, except for one type called the 10.5 cm Jäger bunker.

Strongpoint Turkenburg Defenses

After June 1940, German forces occupied Alderney and made it very strong. Fort Tourgis, with its good defensive spot on a hillside facing the sea, was perfect for defense. For example, the invention of tanks and landing craft (boats for attacking beaches) meant that strong beach defenses and anti-tank guns were needed. The first bunker you see when you enter this strongpoint held both an anti-tank gun and a machine gun. There is a tunnel from the Victorian caponier, accessed from the 7.5 cm anti-tank bunker, that leads up to the Victorian battery. The Germans lined this caponier with concrete and placed machine guns there. It also had two weapon positions facing west.

Thanks to a lot of clearing and repair work by volunteers and the States Works department, part of the northern defenses of Fort Tourgis is now open to the public. Cambridge Battery (No. 2) and the German bunkers built later are a great example of how the original Victorian forts were changed by German forces during World War II. At that time, Alderney became one of the most heavily fortified parts of Hitler's Atlantic Wall.

German Beach Defense Gun Bunker

This impressive, large Jäger bunker held a 10.5 cm K331 (f) beach defense gun. This special type of bunker also had living quarters and an ammunition storage area. These bunkers were only built in the Channel Islands. The 10.5 cm gun, which was a captured French gun, would have covered the wide Platte Saline beach. Like many other beaches on the island, Platte Saline was open to attacks by landing craft and tanks.