page_title: Fortifications of Alderney
section_title: Victorian era fortifications
hierarchical_section_title: Fortifications of Alderney / Victorian era fortifications
caption_attribution_description: English: Braye Harbour.
context_page_description: Apart from a Roman Fort, there were very few fortifications in Alderney until the mid 19th century. These were then modified and updated in the mid 20th Century by Germans during the occupation period. Alderney at 8 km² is now one of the most fortified places in the world.
context_section_description: Concerns by the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, over France and the expansion of their harbour at Cherbourg resulted in a commission in 1842 to look at the problem. A recommendation to build harbours at St Catherine's in Jersey and in Alderney was approved in 1845, to be called "Harbours of Refuge" to avoid upsetting the French. A massive breakwater to enclose between 67 acres (27 ha) and 150 acres (61 ha) in Braye bay, dependent upon the date of the plan between 1845 and 1859. The idea of building just a harbour would provide the enemy with a good facility that once taken could not be recovered. It required fortifications to defend the harbour. Following the construction of the railway line from the quarry to the harbour and the importation of two engines, the northern breakwater was begun. Given the misleading title of a harbour of refuge so as not to provoke the French, it was constructed by Jackson and Bean between 1847 and September 1864 when it had reached 1,500 m (4,900 ft) when works were abandoned.
caption: Panorama of Braye Harbour
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