Fort Doyle to open at Easter

Doyle’s Battery, known locally as Fort Doyle, on Alderney’s stunning northern coast is to open to the public over the Easter weekend.

This compact but well-preserved Victorian fort with its additional World War II fortifications stands on the headland between Platte Saline and Crabby Bay.

It will be open on Easter Saturday (April 16th), Easter Day and Easter Monday (18th) between 10am and 4pm, admission free, with plans to open throughout the summer and beyond once further refurbishment is complete.

Alderney Society volunteers have cleared the site with the support of the States of Alderney, assisted by the States Works Department, and opened up a maze of trenches and several bunkers created by occupying German forces.

Completed in 1854, Doyle’s Battery is the smallest fort on the island and originally accommodated four guns with barracks for 22 men, officers’ quarters, cookhouse, magazine and artillery stores. During the Occupation, two anti-tank gun bunkers were constructed along with bunkers for tank turrets, mortars, machine guns and personnel in what was known to the Germans as Resistance Nest Dohlenfeste.