Lowlands, St Ouen
Historic Jersey buildings
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Property name
Lowlands
Other names
- L'Abreuvoir
Location
Rue du Couvent, St Ouen
Type of property
18th century house with 15th century interior features
Valuations
- Sold for £1,420,000 in 2003
- Advertised for sale for £12 million in 2025
Families associated with the property
- Goddard
- Le Maistre: In 1941 Walter Le Maistre (1882- ) and his wife Lydia Jane, née Marett (1881- ), who married at St Saviour in 1902, were living here
Historic Environment Record entry
Listed building
At the core of this house are the remains of a very early structure. Although partially remodelled in the 1940s, the front east elevation of the main house, the laverie/boulangerie, and the south outbuilding are intact. All have good quality stonework and retain historic character.
18th century house, with earlier origins, possibly 15th century, with 19th century farm buildings.
Formerly L'Abreuvoir.
The stone fireplace in the ground floor main house north gable is of a type circa 1450. Property bought by George McKenzie Goddard, formerly of the Falklands Islands, in 1947 for £2,800. Many of the receipts relate to work done at this period. Property stayed in Goddard family until 1993. Archive photos show views of the house before and after renovation in 1947-49.
Shown on the Richmond Map of 1795.
Interior of main house includes a stone fireplace on the ground floor north gable wall - of a type seen in a number of houses in this area. It has the double-convex corbels with an incised-groove on the upper-part and an ogee on the lower part, circa 1450. The left-side corbel is damaged; the shoulder-stones above have been shaped as corbels and a reused gate-post now serves as a lintel with a rebuilt hood above. These rearrangements, and the unusually low position of the double-convex corbels, suggest the usual scenario of an open-hall construction, the fireplace of which had a joggled-lintel and a diminishing-hood.
At some unknown date the room would have been sealed, creating a second chamber above. The fireplace and hood may have been reconstructed at this time, resulting in its unusual low appearance and the mutilation. Some squared stones used in the outside construction of the north gable are of a type often seen in late-Medieval work in Jersey. No interior features survive in the laverie/boulangerie.
Old Jersey Houses
Not included despite very old features
Notes and references
