Mont Orgueil Castle signs to be changed after assessment

Information boards are being replaced at the castle

Jersey Heritage will replace the information boards at Mont Orgueil Castle after an assessment of the site.

It said signs had become weathered and scratched and some were almost illegible at the castle in Gorey.

Jersey Heritage said it would update 19 boards with new information - telling the stories of people who lived, worked and died there.

The work will cost about £15,000 and has to be approved by Planning.

Assessors from Visit England visited the site as part of an agreement with Jersey Heritage.

Morgan Ward, head of Visitor Services at Jersey Heritage, said they had been generally very positive about the castle but marked it down because of its interpretation boards.

It has now drawn up plans for a series of replacements which will be positioned all over the site.

Jersey Heritage said it would update 19 boards with new information

Mr Ward said the existing information boards focused on the structure of the buildings, with lots of information about how they were built and defended.

"They do suffer from the elements," he said.

"They haven't stood the test of time quite so well as the medieval fortress of Jersey granite.

"Some of them are getting a little bit illegible, they're getting very deteriorated by the environment."

Jersey Heritage said its new panels would include a QR code which would link readers to a dedicated online version in their own language.

Prison cells

It also said it would change its focus from traditional information to tales of some of the castle's more interesting characters.

"We want to create the image of this castle being inhabited - being a place where people lived, worked and, on many occasions, died," said Mr Ward.

One story includes that of 15th Century Bailiff Clement Le Hardy who was arrested after stealing bottles of Spanish wine and other valuables from a shipwreck off Corbière.

Imprisoned in the Prison Tower at the castle, he eventually died "covered with lice and vermin", Mr Ward said.

The cells where he was held are now open to the elements and will feature a new interpretation board telling his story and that of others who were held there.