To celebrate Watch Day on September 13, 2012, students from the Prince Andrew School on Saint Helena, a remote volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, visited heritage sites and attended talks on the island’s history. To spread awareness about the island’s built heritage and the need for its conservation, students toured the island with parent volunteers and staff from the Saint Helena National Trust. Sites visited included Lemon Valley, where fortifications built by the East India Company still stand; the Museum of Saint Helena in Jamestown for a lecture about Saint Helena’s role in the slave trade; and a trip to High Knoll Fort, mostly built in 1798 as the island’s main line of defense against outside invaders. The students were so enthusiastic about their experience on Watch day that they gave a presentation to their entire school about the importance of the island’s historic sites and the need to protect them for increased enjoyment and understanding of St. Helena.
The jagged cliffs of Saint Helena rise out of the Atlantic Ocean between the continents of Africa and South America, some 1,200 miles from the nearest landmass. Banks’ Battery, pictured here, consists of a group of fortifications, built in 1678 and continually improved over the next 150 years.
Prince Andrew School students await a boat on Jamesbay Wharf to commence Watch Day 2012.
Students learn about the history of Lemon Valley, the site of fortifications built by the East India Company, including the period of Napoleon's captivity, and subsequent defense strategy under British Crown rule.
Students pose outside the museum where a lecture about St. Helena’s role in the slave trade is delivered.
Students visit Jacob’s Ladder, a historic site on the island and the only path out of the seaward end of Jamestown, Saint Helena.
Watch Day 2012 ends with an exploration of High Knoll Fort, with a view of Prince Andrew School in the distance.
High Knoll Fort, also known as the Citadel, is the largest and most prominent of the forts and military installations on the island.
