Seymour Tower Day 2

Adventures continue

The refurbishment of Seymour Tower by Jersey Heritage has created a unique holiday let for both local residents and visitors to the Island. Although there are obviously bunks inside the tower, the weather was perfect for sleeping outside and so most of us slept on the platform. The perfect spot to watch the sunrise on another great day.

The Tower was purchased by the States of Jersey from the Crown in 1923 for £120. For a number of years it was rented by local families before Jersey Heritage refurbished it for residential stays. It is an ideal location to witness the twice daily dramatic change in the landscape, as the tide rises and falls. This significant movement of water has unfortunately caught out a number of people, who have sadly paid with their lives.

During the Occupation 4 German soldiers were seen trying to return to shore, a boat rescue was unsuccessful due to the poor condition of the vessel. They strapped themselves together on the nearest high point and as they were overwhelmed they were seen standing in a Heil Hitler salute.

An incident with a more favourable outcome, occurred in February 1987. Two horse riders found themselves disorientated in poor visibility and returned to the Tower as the tide started to rise. They encouraged their horses onto the platform to escape the flooding waters and fortunately it was a calm day with very little swell. As the tide dropped the horses couldn’t be encouraged to descend the steps, they are pretty steep! To rescue the horses it was necessary to construct a ramp out of sand and shingle, which had to be completed between two high waters.

The Tower viewed from the south west. The seaward facing walls are painted white as a navigation mark. St Catherine’s Breakwater is visible to the north. It is the responsibility of the residents to raise the flag, indicating that people are present.

There is some pretty old graffiti on the walls at the top of one set of stairs. These writings from 1925 are pretty clear, it looked like there were some older ones but they were not clear enough to be certain.

You can imagine that the bunk room would be really comfortable on a wild winters night, with the wood burning stove in use, but most of us decided to sleep outside as it was such an amazing night.

The views from the roof are pretty spectacular, at night we spent time trying to identify the lights of various French towns and navigation marks.

As the tide started to flood we moved the kayaks back onto the sand bank. Although it wasn’t a Spring Tide it took the water less than 30 minutes to reach the kayaks.

Arriving back at Seymour Slip after an enjoyable and memorable two days. The water was so clear that we could see the bottom all the way back.

Seymour Tower is a fascinating place to either walk or paddle to, it feels wild and remote. It is even more special if you are able to spend a night at the tower, in the company of friends. Watching the complete transformation of the seascape twice a day with the ebb and flow of the tides.

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Many thanks and happy exploring and paddling, Kevin.