Le Douet, Hautes Croix
Historic Jersey buildings
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Property name
Le Douet
Other names
- Brook Farm [1]
- Le Douet Cottage
- Clos du Douet
Location
Grande Route de St Jean, Hautes Croix, St John
Type of property
Historic farm group, principally 19th century with likely earlier origins. Divided into six residential units in 1986
Valuations
- The main house was sold for £750,000 in 2006 and £1,285,000 in 2008
- 1 Clos du Douet was sold for £320,000 in 2001 and was sold after being offered for £949,000 in 2020
- 2 Clos du Douet was sold for £540,000 in 2009
- 3 Clos du Douet was sold for £812,000 in 2018
- 4 Clos du Douet was sold for £119,797 in 2001
- 5 Clos du Douet was sold for £510,000 in 2012
- 6 Clos du Douet was sold for £315,000 in 2003
Families associated with the property
- Romeril: This had long been a Romeril property, as the Charles Romeril, who sold it in 1793, held it by right of succession as elder brother and principal heir of the prematurely deceased Jean Romeril. The latter held it as being a son of Charles Romeril, elder son and principal heir of Simeon Romeril, who held it as the principal heir of his nephew, another Jean Romeril. Stevens, Arthur and Stevens, in Jersey Place Names, Volume I, 207, show that this last Jean Romeril owned Le Clos des Escaliers, immediately to the north of the house, and no doubt the other fields that went with the property, in 1747. His uncle Simeon inheriting the property on his death, indicates that Jean`s grandfather, being Simeon`s father, also owned Le Douet. This takes the Romeril ownership into the 17th century. The purchaser in 1793 was the merchant Philippe Nicolle, son of Philippe, son of Jean, son of Philippe. The fields sold with the property were then the Jardin à Potage, Le Clos des Escaliers, Le Grand Jardin, Le Clos de la Mare and Le Clos appellé Le Franc Fief. The sale also included the house, outhouses, yard, avenue, access drives and Le Douet, which gave the house its name
- Nicolle: The above Philippe Nicolle became a Jurat. The owner was J Nicolle on the Godfray map of 1849, perhaps Joshua Mauger Nicolle, second son of the above purchaser, Philippe Nicolle. However, he lived in St Helier, was a merchant, as had been his father, and probably let out the house and land
- Dorey - The land registry records the farm was purchased by George Dorey from Sydney Nicolle in 1867 – the property previously being under the ownership of the Nicolle family. George Dorey was a carpenter living in a town house in St Helier in 1861, married to Esther Nicolle. We believe that rather than purchasing Le Douet, it probably passed to him through his wife. The farm was inherited by John Dorey in 1901. Census returns from 1871 onwards record the Doreys as farmer/employer with servants at the house. The 1985 land registry entry records that Le Douet was previously called Brook Farm. [2]
Datestones
- 18 GDR ♥♥ ENC 75 - For George Dorey and Esther Nicolle who married in Trinity in 1859 [3]
Historic Environment Record entry
Listed building
A significant example of an historic Jersey farm group with strong association with cider-making, a once thriving local industry. The farm is set back from the main road and accessed by a drive at right angles to the road - a distinctive pattern found in many regions of France, especially Normandy.
The various buildings retain their historic character and group value, the principal interventions being the alteration of openings to 1-5 Clos du Douet. The focus of the group is a well-executed 19th century farm house, with a fine granite ashlar façade and 1875 datestone, adjoined to the rear by an earlier granite range with 1814 datestone. There is also a finely-made traditional Jersey lavoir, and an unusually extensive and notable piggery with stone pitched roofs. The further range of 1828 farm buildings situated on the north side was converted to residential in the 1980s.
Farm range dated 1828. Former farm group, consisting of five-bay, two-storey farmhouse (Le Douet) with single storey granite rubble outbuildings adjoining at right angles to the south, with two rows of domed pigsties to the west and a covered lavoir to the east; two-storey block of farm buildings, converted to residential use as Nos 1-6 Clos de Douet, to the north; and long drive to main road.
Old Jersey Houses
A brief entry for this important historic property notes that it was a 'real centre of cider making' when owned by the Dorey family.
'It also has the finest piggery seen anywhere in the island and a finely made lavoir in which blue granite slabs like tables were mounted for scrubbing clothes'.
The fontaine, douet et lavoir was the subject of litigation between 1739 and 1742, when owned by Romerils and neighbours disputed the right to use it.
Notes and references
- ↑ Although the property was known as Brook Farm in the early part of the 20th century, it was shows as Le Douet in the 19th century censuses and appears to have reverted to its former name
- ↑ Although the property was known as Brook Farm in the early part of the 20th century, it was shows as Le Douet in the 19th century censuses and appears to have had its original name, since then, resurrected
- ↑ Esther was not related, or was not closely related, to the Nicolle family who owned Le Douet from 1793 until the mid-19th century. She was the daughter of Jean-Pierre Nicolle and Esther Noel, and grand-daughter of Jean Nicolle and Elizabeth Le Sueur. There is no record, however, of that Jean Nicolle or Jean-Pierre as living at Le Douet, nor of either being the owner shown on the 1849 Godfray Map - he was a St Lawrence resident
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The washing place - fontaine, douet et lavoir - which gave the property its new name -
The impressive piggery
Estate agent photographs
These photographs of 1 Clos du Douet were on an estate agent's website when it was offered for sale in 2020
