Grouville No 3 tower

Grouville No 3, Hurel Tower

This is one of two towers on the east coast which have been converted to private homes with the addition of wings on either side

Tower No 3, also known as Hurel, or Le Hurel Tower, was bought from the Crown by Walter Falla, son of Isaac, in 1905 for £60. Walter Falla was a doctor. ^[1] He went on to buy some adjoining land from Thomas Bertram the following year. ^[2]

It is believed that one of both of the two 'wings' on either side of the tower were constructed between 1925 and 1932. They were not mentioned in the contract when Walter Falla sold the property to brothers Edward Hudson and Henry Burgess Hudson in 1925, for £1,500 - a considerable profit, even allowing for inflation over 20 years.

The property was then acquired in 1932 by William Shaw, and the contract for this sale mentions buildings attached to the tower, as does his 1938 will.

HER entry

Built circa 1780s, the tower is significant as an integral part of a group of surviving Conway towers in Jersey that not only illustrates the changing political and strategic military history of the Island in the late 18th and 19th century, but represents a turning point in the history of defence strategy across Europe, and global trends in the history of war.

The interest of the tower is diminished by the addition of early-mid 20th century buildings and associated alterations.

Conway-pattern tower, circa 1782. The Richmond map shows Grouville Bay with five Conway Towers constructed in the southern half of the bay - designated 1-5 from south to north. Put up for disposal to the States of Jersey by the War Department in 1896. Private dwelling constructed around tower early 20th century.

Standard Conway Tower pattern. Round and tapered, built of regular squared and well-tooled blocks of granite. The upper floors are punctuated with musketry loopholes with dressed granite doorway raised at first floor level. There are four machicolations at parapet level. Roof platform with masonry parapet now capped. Various alterations to original tower layout - including large modern window openings punched through seaward face on ground and first floors, and new doors at all levels on both sides to access later wings.

Le Hurel Tower in 1900, while it was still owned by the War Department. In the background are towers No 2 and No 1

Notes and references

1. ↑ He was the first cousin of lawyer Peter Falla, famed locally for importing the first motor car to the island
2. ↑ The property transaction between Mr Falla and the Crown also included his purchase of No 4, Fauvic Tower, for £160. The towers were wrongly described in the contract as 'martello' towers