King's Survey of the Channel Islands

King's Survey of the Channel Islands

Fear of an invasion from the European continent was a very real concern throughout British history. As far back as the Romans and as recently as the Second World War, the British people have had to face this dire prospect. The Channel Islands long represented an important part of Britain’s defenses along the coast where it comes closest to the European mainland. As such, King Charles II (1630–85) commissioned a survey of the Channel Islands in 1679, known as the Legge Report, a copy of which was presented to the King a year later. The team of surveyors was led by the distinguished Admiral George Legge (ca. 1647–91), 1st Baron of Dartmouth, and included Sir Bernard de Gomme (1620–1685), a Dutch military engineer and one of the leading experts of his day, and Thomas Philips (d. 1693), a British military engineer and artist. Charles instructed them to make "a consultation of all the ablest pilots of Normandy and Brittany to know what ports the King of France might make useful to his fleet" so that the Royal Navy might be able to intercept the coming attack. The result is a beautiful synthesis of art and science as the informative text of the manuscript is accompanied by forty splendidly detailed and artful watercolors depicting the islands.

A Military Survey Worthy of a King

This all-star team of military minds produced an outstanding document that far exceeds the quality of a normal military survey. Its text gives the kind of information on the various localities that one would expect: the various ecclesiastical, legal, and civil administrative bodies of the islands are detailed, as are Royal Charters, the Papal Bull of 1480, Crown Officers’ roles, and standing orders for the garrisons. However, the watercolors present images of the islands worthy of the magnificence of the royal court of King Charles II. They depict the islands themselves and their approaches, often depicted from a bird’s eye view, as well as detailing various harbors and forts. In total, Philips created forty watercolors measuring 53 x 38 cm, which fold out two twice their size or more. Three copies of the manuscript exist: the original is housed in the National Maritime Museum in London, the King’s copy in the British Library, and a third at the Royal Court of Guernsey.