Postcard showing Mont Orgueil Castle in Jersey. Construction of the castle began in 1204 and it continued to be used as a fortification until the invention of gunpowder made it obsolete. Walter Raleigh, of privateer fame and Governor of Jersey in 1600, rejected a plan to demolish the castle and recycle the stone for new fortifications, saying "twere pity to cast it down". It was then variously used as a prison and military barracks until it was turned into a museum in 1923.
Stamp on the left from the 2005 definitive series of wildflowers, featuring common knapweed, Centaurea nigra, a common plant in Europe. Stamp on the right from the 2011 Europa series on forests, a set of four featuring local trees, pictured English oak, Quercus robur, a very long-lived tree species found throughout Europe.
