Historic Jersey buildings
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Property name
Oak Farm
Location
Rue de Sorel, St John
Type of property
Farm with 17th century, or earlier, origins converted to residential use
Valuations
The house has changed hands five times in the 21st century: for £515,000 in 2001, £815,000 in 2004, £1.4 million in 2007, £1.33 million in 2010 and £1.4 million in 2013
Families associated with the property
- Renouf
- Le Quesne
- Chapron: In 1941 Laura Jane Chapron, nee Sourcouf (1883- ) [1] and her daughter Ivy Lilian Chapron (1922- ) were living here
Datestones
- 1588, initials not deciphered [2]
- 1610 ILQ - Probably for Jean Le Quesne
- PLQ 1616 - For Philippe Le Quesne, son of Leonard and Marguerite, nee Hocquard, who married Marie Le Gallais (St J) in 1616
- IRN 1813 [3] - For Jean Renouf
Historic Environment Record entry
Listed building
The former farmstead (now residential) has evidence of habitation since the 17th century or earlier. There are significant early 19th century alterations, particularly to the main house.
The house was completely refurbished in 1974, and the property underwent further refurbishment after its sale in 1999.
Shown on the Richmond Map of 1795.
Located on the north coast, the farm group is near the head of a small valley, with a lane running along its western side. The principal building is south facing. The property largely retains its historic setting, with associated gardens and yards to the south and west, and a field to the east.
The farm group comprises a five-bay two-storey farmhouse, with attached range of farm buildings and detached outbuilding. The house has a characteristic early 19th century façade in squared granite with ashlar dressings and quoins; and a pair of dressed granite chimneystacks with dripstones.
Adjoining the west gable of the house, forming L-plan, is a two-storey range of farm buildings in rubble stone. It is likely that this range was originally single-storey and has earlier origins than the main house. The south-east corner of the building is formed from large blue-grey stones and the granite in the lower sections appears to be of significant age - perhaps 17th century.
There is a single 19th century brick chimneystack on the south gable. A small detached outbuilding with a mono-pitch roof stands to the south of the property.
Old Jersey Houses
The 1813 stone is likely to indicate the date of the house as it is now. At some time the roof was slightly raised and thatch replaced by slate, perhaps in 1869, a date found on a staircase.
The entry in Volume Two suggests that the 1588 stone, one of five very early datestones known for this year, might be connected to the defeat of the Spanish Armada in that year. [4]
Notes and references
- ↑ Widow of John Philip Chapron
- ↑ There are very few 16th century datestones on domestic properties in Jersey - five of which are dated 1588
- ↑ Copy of design of the 1610 stone
- ↑ This is an example of the unsubstantiated guesses to be found in both volumes of the book. This is a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of datestones. They were almost invariably erected to record ownership of a property in the year inscribed, and are associated either with the construction of, or alterations to, the property. They rarely (and, if so, usually by coincidence) commemorate a family event, although they are frequently wrongly described as marriage stones. As far as is known, there are no other datestones on Jersey properties which commemorate major events in history. The stones were erected when building work was being undertaken - not inserted, at considerable expense, in the wall of an existing structure. The suggestion that five surviving stones were added to buildings in the final months of 1588, when news reached the island of the defeat of the Armada at the end of July, is extremely fanciful.