Castle walkway reveals secrets during repair work

Sunday 19 May 2024

Materials dating back to the mid 19th century have been found buried beneath the Castle Cormet walkway, during reconstruction work of its retaining wall.

During excavation works, the contractor found sections of railway track and wrought iron bar which appeared to have been buried as part of the backfilling behind and under the masonry wall when it was built.

The contractor also found remnants of timber posts which are believed to have been part of the timber gantry crane that was used to construct the Castle Emplacement sea wall when it was first built around 1850.

This recent work has meant surface water drainage issues at the Castle Emplacement have been resolved, with the reconstruction of a 25-metre section of the Castle walkway retaining wall coming in "within the project budget of £400,000".

Pictured: The work to reconstruct a 25-metre section of the Castle walkway retaining wall was completed within the project budget of £400,000.

Guernsey Ports Project Manager Joe Armstrong said the condition of this 25m section of the walkway had deteriorated significantly in recent years, caused in part by a defective surface water drainage system.

“The surface water drainage system was of insufficient capacity for its catchment area,” he said.

“By increasing the number of gullies from one to five, in addition to increasing the diameter of pipework, the capacity of the surface water drainage system has been increased by over 200% with a new, larger diameter pipe installed through the seawall.”

Mr Armstrong said the new system has performed well to drain away rainfall and wave overtopping - particularly that experienced when Storm Ciaran hit the island late last year, followed by prolonged wet weather over the winter months.

“In the past, this would have ponded at the base of the wall and that may well have contributed to the wall’s deteriorating condition,” he said. 

The retaining wall was reconstructed on top of a reinforced concrete ground beam, which itself sits on piles driven into bedrock.

“This is a more suitable foundation to what was there before. Previously, it was comprised of fill material from the land reclamation project to construct the Castle Emplacement in the mid 19th Century,” said Mr Armstrong. 

Pictured: The walkway has recently been reopened to pedestrians with rowing boats back in the area too.

The reconstruction works were designed and managed by Guernsey Ports' Commercial & Infrastructure Team, working with local contractors F Watson & Son Ltd and their sub-contractors.