Collection · 12 places · 4 tidal

Coastal Towers

The round towers that ring the island — built to stop Napoleon, now the best landmarks on the coast.

In the 1780s and again during the Napoleonic wars, Jersey built a chain of round granite towers along its beaches, each one within sight of the next, so that a landing anywhere could be signalled and met. Nearly thirty were built; a dozen of the best survive in this collection, from the squat early towers at Archirondel and La Rocco to the later, taller Martello pattern at Kempt and Lewis on the west coast.

The finest stand out on the sand: Seymour Tower a mile offshore in the Royal Bay of Grouville, Icho and La Rocco surrounded by the sea at every high tide. Others — Le Hocq, Victoria, Portelet's Janvrin's Tower on its island — you can walk to at any hour. A few now sleep visitors; most simply stand and watch the bay as they were built to.

Collect every one to earn the Coastal Towers card.

4 tidal stops on this trail — Seymour Tower, La Rocco Tower, Portelet Bay & Janvrin's Tower, Icho Tower. On foot they are only reachable around low water. Read the tidal guide and check live tide times (gov.je) before you set out.