 A gun battery was erected in the churchyard in 1643 by the pro-Parliamentarian militia besieging Elizabeth Castle, and return fire from the castle struck the tower (the dents in the granite wall can still be seen); it is believed that this accounts for the lack of a steeple, which is assumed to have been destroyed by gunfire at this time.In 1646 Charles, Prince of Wales, and his brother James, Duke of York (the future Kings Charles II of England and James II of England respectively) took refuge in Jersey during the English Civil War and attended services at the church.Unusually for the time the service was conducted in English, though the (Calvinist) services usually held there were normally conducted in French.