Batterie Seeckt, Rue au Blancq, Grouville Hill

The 319 Infantry Division Battery Seeckt was just north of Rue au Blancq, over the fields from the present day estate Clos de Roncier (which was built on the site of a wartime camp for Russian forced labour, Lager Rommel). The whole site is private land, but I took it upon myself to pay a respectful visit (no damage caused) so that you don't have to :)

Thanks to the CIOS, a map shows the layout. The big arrow points to Nicolle Tower, where the obs post for this battery is in a hedge over a field from the tower. The four 10cm field guns (9.7km range) appear to have been positioned in the fields, no concrete involved.

The three O-with-an-arrow symbols were the 2cm flak guns, at least two of these were on concrete structures which remain today. The one right next to the lane is completely buried, if there was every anything there. The other two symbols mark the position of defensive light machine guns.

A map from the present day.

Heading down a track, from our starting point at the housing estate, we eventually reached what we were aiming for - a big wide hedge in the center of this flat area (looking south-east in this shot, towards the lane)...from recent experience this can only mean one thing - a farmer won't want to waste a scrap of land without good reason...

.. and voila, there's concrete there.

Inside, a collection of agri-junk, and interesting paintwork.

If you decide to scramble upwards...

.. this is getting interesting!

Nice, a protected flak gun emplacement.

Some original woodwork survives to this day.

The trapezoid shaped gun mount... and around to the left...

.. watch out, something felt odd underfoot here, could be a rotten board over a drop, or maybe not.

A little more to the left, looking back towards the steps.

Looking left over the fields over towards the Clos de Roncier.

Heading West, over the next field, and near some houses, an old ablutions block in the corner has lost its roof...

.. not much to see in there.

Same structure, from a little farther along the side of the field - from right next to...

.. another wide hedge, hiding more concrete.

Two rooms down there. From the map above, it seems one of the flak guns was on the flat roof here.

The other room. It would have been a bit of a dirty scramble to get down there, too much for my old legs at the time.

So, now you've seen it, you don't need to go along yourself.... you've seen it all before out west anyway :)


On a previous posting, JB kindly commented : "please be aware the owner of the land lives in the house overlooking it and he doesn't want visitors. I interviewed him a few years ago and he said too many dog walkers had ruined it for everyone. You may be interested to know that there were 3 such positions, part of another survives and it looks suspiciously like the remains of another is also buried there.

A small toilet/wash room remains also but is in terrible condition.

The flak position is indeed unique as it has a crew room underneath, mostly built in red brick...Batterie Ludendorf has 2 similar Flak positions but no crew rooms under them." - thank you JB!


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Le Catillon roadside german bunker

This bunker has become one of my favourites now that I've finally taken a look inside.For years I drove past and assumed it was just an underground shelter like the one near Rozel Manor, and never took a closer look - but this one has much more to offer! Located near Queens Valley reservoir, at the bottom of the hill Le Catillon, this OP (Operation Position) Catillon is like a child's dream fort to have in their garden!

Looking in from the road, apart from the shelter room, there are two other sources of daylight. Interesting... let's head inside....

How exciting, steps up to a top level! And I hadn't ripped all the ivy down yet, at this point :)

It's nicely 3D this one! The upper level needed some pruning to open it up and reveal...

.. a view over the road, where a machine gun would have mown down any liberation attempts.

Looking back at the steps.

Back down inside, the shelter hasn't been vandalised (I admit I do have qualms about making bunkers more visible and possibly inviting unwanted attention? Your comments on this would be welcome).

At the other end, you emerge into a bit of a dip in the ground, it would take younger legs than mine to scramble up out of here.

I really enjoyed exploring OP Catillon and clearing it up a bit. Go take a look before the greenery grows back!

(PS I'd still appreciate dialogue on my previous "Guess where?" posting  do-you-know-this-bunker)

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Resistance Nest Hohe 190

Follow-up to my post about Hohe 212 found nearby, further along the fields in the same lane. If you come up Rue des Teurs Champs there are 4 fields (the first being much smaller than the other 3) between the house on the right and the next junction, with Le Cotil Vautier. 4 fields divided by 3 hedges, and every one of these hedges has something of interest at the end of it, in the woodland on the ridge. Photo : German, but not of great interest to most people - unless you can tell me otherwise?

At the end of hedge 1,a shelter corridor with 2 open ends (aligned along the ridge - this photo was taken facing the castle direction), and...

.. this shelter in the middle, on the side away from the bay - the left of the previous photo.

At the end of hedge 2, this puzzling one has no obvious use. Nobody seems to know what was its purpose, or whether it's legit to call it part of Hohe 190 or Hohe 212 (along hedge 3).

If you go down in the woods today, you may indeed wonder what this is, too, somewhere below field 2.

That's all I can tell you for now. The excellent www.tracesofwarjersey.com has more information about technical details.

This is on private land of course, but field edges and unfenced woodland with no obvious privacy issues are way at the bottom of the scale when it comes to 'trespass', if you don't damage any crops I'm at a loss to see how any harm is done. Make your own minds up on this one!

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Resistance Nest Hohe 212

The remains of RN Hohe 212 (Height 212ft) can be found to the east of Rue des Teurs Champs overlooking the Royal Bay of Grouville (map). Very well concealed, I can imagine most islanders would be completely unaware of the bunkers here.

Not far from the road, on the north side of the hedge is an overgrown mortar pit, what concrete is still visible isn't too hard to spot.

At the end of the hedge heading towards the distant houses, a circular one, just an edge visible.

Find a way down into the lower field (south of the hedge) and chances are you've probably picked the route right next to this shelter...

.. plenty of room in there. If you're willing to get down and dirty on all fours, you could probably get in there if you have younger more supple joints than mine!

Right in the corner of the lower field, another shelter...

.. with something blocking the way.

And if you go down in the woods today, and head north from the last shelter, you may eventually stumble across yet another shelter (not far north from the hut visible in the smaller field above).

There may be more to discover, but this was enough to keep me happy, a load of concrete I'd never seen before. There's another Resistance Nest Hohe 190 (just 22ft lower in altitude), a field or two away, but that can wait for another day. Yes, it's private land of course, but stay off the crops and there's no harm done.

These two RN's and Battery Brauchitsch (not far away between Les Monts and Le Cotil Vautier) gave good defensive cover overlooking this part of the bay.

Misc, load of bollards

 Time to get out of the way some misc shots from the last few weeks...  Grouville beach and common...

 .. closer.

 You don't see so many of these any more, so I thought I'd snap one for old times sake, while there's still one left (Rozel - also one at La Place).

 Looks so lonely without anyone in costume around it :)

 The joy of Jersey, you drive around a corner in a lane and suddenly a view like this presents itself.

 The Dolmen Hougue des Geonnais - I can't help thinking it was a bit more open with less gorse around it last time I was there a few years back?

 Having found a way down a farm track (or three) to the coastal path, a quick shot of the coast in the evening light...

 .. Devil's Hole from a distance...

 .. and the reservoir building at Mourier Valley (there's often a good waterfall here, when the water table permits, going over the cliff onto the pebble beach).

 A tower in Grouville that's currently involved in plans to build a load of new homes around it.

 The path from the slipway near the Seymour Inn, starts as it means to carry on, but then gets narrower and narrower with hedges intruding, and finally gets impossible so we have to climb down to beach level (tide permitting of course).

 Eventually you end up on the beach for lack of a path, but you can nip back to the main road some way before Le Hurel Slip, using this footpath, to shorten a quick circular walk.

Originally, Oxford Road was a fairly long and winding affair, shown in yellow here... (Also in orangey colour, L'Avenue et Dolmen du Pré des Lumières and La Rue Le Masurier which are nearly 20 years young... they were created in the mid 1990s, the Coop Grande Marche was opened in Nov 2001, and the roads officially classified as Main Roads in 2002, La Rue Le Masurier now being part of the tortuous route of the circulatory systems of the ring road)...

 ... it cut through the middle of the Gas Place car parks. Now the new Town Park has done away with a stretch of it, leaving us with an absurd little stump of Oxford Road separated from the rest! Perhaps it could be more logically incorporated into Robin Place?

 Still, at least it's not the shortest road in Jersey, which possibly goes to Le Passage Gosset by the museum - little more than a parking space!

 While we're in the new park, here's the view towards David Place showing a path on what was part of Oxford Road...

 .. and the other way, a view featuring what's left of the gas holder - for how long?

 A park of tellytubby grassy knolls and some art installations. Definitely worth millions ;)

 .. except for local businesses who found their customers can't get there easily any more. The cafe here is still going, but the hair salon closed. Note also the over-the-top expensive paving, only recently finished and already marked by tyre rubber. No expense spared, but give us a pavement way too wide and do away with even more parking :(

 As if it wasn't bad enough, now it's sprouted some large signs!

 Railings, railings, railings...

 .. the spread of micromanagement and more and more bollards...

 .. now making an utter eyesore of the Weighbridge!

 Dear oh dear oh dear ... was the occasional parking there really so bad that this is better?!

Trust a private development to make their bollards interesting - this new batch at new offices on the old Swanson's site next to Payn St. (Esplanade to Seaton Place)... nicely varied and subtle... 10/10.