Historic Jersey buildings
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Property name
La Porte
Location
Rue de La Porte, St John
Type of property
16th century farmhouse
Valuations
No recent transactions
Families associated with the property
Datestones
- IH 1666 for Jean Hue who married Philippine Le Geyt of St Helier on 17 October 1669. This couple had no children and the house seems to have passed by marriage into the Esnouf family, among them Pierre Esnouf, and then, probably, Richard Esnouf (1729-1812), described, along with his son Richard, in a church register as 'de la Porte'. The house then passed to the Le Sueurs after the marriage of Rachel Esnouf to Josué. The house is shown on the 1849 Godfray map as owned by J Le Sueur, who would have inherited from his father, Jean, who died in 1820, who probably inherited from his brother Josué, son of the Josué who married Rachel Esnouf.
- PEN 1694 This stone is believed to tell the story of a fiancée who died before marrying the man for whom work was being undertaken on the house. The stone is crudely engraved with a blank to the right of the date. Joan Stevens says that it appears that the letters ES may have been engraved and then roughed out. Pierre Esnouf, who owned the house at this period died childless, some time between the last years of the 17th century and 1730 at the latest. This would have been Pierre son of Nicolas or Pierre son of Pierre, but we have not been able to fit him into any of our Esnouf trees.
- ILS ♥ REN 1819 - For Josué Le Sueur and Rachel Esnouf, who were married in St John on 23 December 1795. They had eight children and the house was inhrited either by Josue (1803- ) or Jean (1805- )
- JRA ♥ LSA 1963 -For James Ronald Allan and Lesley Stephen Alexander Thomson on the front porch, which was restored that year
- 19 TLS ♥ AMB 91 - On an extension at the rear, for Jersey's second Chief Minister, Senator Terence Le Sueur and Angela Marjorie Bennett, who were married in St Helier on 22 August 1968, and are the current owners of La Porte.
Historic Environment Record entry
Listed building
Fine surviving example of 16th century farmhouse, retains 16th century arched doorway and dated window lintel and other historic features. Notable interior features.
There are datestones from 1666, 1694 and 1819, and two erected in the 20th century, but the house is much older, built in about 1500.
Fine double voussoir shouldered arch doorway, shows slight recess when an arch was built vertically, but the main walls battered outwards, a sure sign of great age. Dower wing probably of great age but refaced circa 1800.
A very early timber window frame, believed to date from 1500 and to be one of the oldest examples of its type surviving, was removed to Jersey Museum.
Shown on the Richmond Map of 1795.
Bakehouse retains fireplace with similar details to main house.
Old Jersey Houses
A lengthy article in Volume One gives details of the datestones (see above), and speculates that the house could have been the scene of an attack by robbers in 1550 and also that the house could have been connected with a nearby priory. There is no historical evidence to support either supposition.
