Fire at Fort Henry "devastating" for Royal Jersey Golf Club

Sunday 21 May 2023

The Royal Jersey Golf Club has described a fire at Fort Henry which destroyed the majority of offices and machinery as "devastating".

An investigation is now underway into the cause of the blaze which took place overnight between Friday and Saturday.

Eight firefighters were called to reports of an open land fire in the early hours of Saturday morning.

When they arrived, they found that the workshop within Fort Henry – a listed building on the southern end of Grouville Common – was alight, and called for support from two more water carriers and four more firefighters.

Pictured: Fort Henry is a listed building on the southern end of Grouville Common.

No one was injured during the blaze, but the Royal Jersey Golf Club told members in an email yesterday that the "majority of the greenkeeping sheds, offices, machinery, computer systems, safety clothing and tools" were destroyed.

"Whilst the course will remain open as the fire was contained within the walls of the fort, there will be no course maintenance for at least the next few days," the email continued.

"In addition, there will be no hire buggies available from Monday as the greenstaff will require them to access the course.

"Whilst this is devastating for the club, thankfully no one was in the fort at the time."

Scores of islanders have since praised firefighters for their work in controlling and putting out the blaze on social media.

Jersey Fire and Rescue Service have opened an investigation into the cause of the fire, which they say remains "ongoing".