Castle Cornet is a large castle in Guernsey, and former tidal island, which is now part of one of the breakwaters of St Peter Port's harbour, the main one in the island.Formerly a tidal island, like Lihou on the west coast of Guernsey, it was first fortified as a castle between 1206 and 1256, following the division of the Duchy of Normandy in 1204. In 1339 when a French force captured the island and occupied it for several years, Cornet was besieged, captured and the garrison massacred. With the advent of cannon and gunpowder, the castle was remodelled between 1545 and 1548. It served as official residence of the Governor of Guernsey until 1672 when the keep was catastrophically destroyed. A bolt of lightning struck the magazine of the castle, destroying the keep and a number of living quarters. The Governor at the time was Lord Hatton. His mother, wife and a number of members of staff were killed in the explosion. It became integrated into the breakwater during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. On Castle Cornet breakwater is a lighthouse, with fixed light seen 9 miles.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Henry B Wimbush was one of Raphael Tuck's most prolific artists, but despite his very high postcard output, he remains a shadowy figure, only briefly chronicled in art dictionaries and reference works. Although he first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1888, he was not famous as a painter, and his work was not very well known.

CHANNEL ISLANDS: A group of islands, on the S. side of the English Channel, 10 m. W. of coast of France and 80 m. S. of coast of England. The principal members of the group are Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark. Geographically connected with France, they have been politically attached to England since the Conquest, and are now all that remain to it of the dukedom of Normandy. The land is parcelled out among a great number of small proprietors, and is carefully cultivated. The language is nearly the same as the old Norman French, but English is taught in all the parochial schools.