Historic Jersey buildings
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Property name
La Guerdainerie
Other names
- La Guerdainerie Cottage
- The Old Mint
Location
Rue Guerdain
Type of property
Farm which housed a mint during the English Civil War, now divided into different units
Valuations
- La Guerdainerie was sold for £650,000 in 2012. This must have been one section of the sub-divided property
Families associated with the property
- Guerdain: The location is the clue to the name of the family which built the property, and after whom it was also named. Old Jersey Houses suggests that would have been called La Guerdainerie as early as 1600 but that is most unlikely. Houses did not have names until much later. It may have been known locally as 'the house where the Guerdains live' and the lane, no wider than the track of a cart, outside as leading to the Guerdains' house, but there would have been nothing more formal.
- Rondel: After the Guerdains, the property was owned by the Rondel family. As well as the gravestones there are two inscribed Rondel stones on the property
- Le Sueur: The property passed from the Rondels to the Le Sueur family.
Datestones
- 1597 - no initials on this stone, one of the earliest to be found in Jersey
- MG 1618 - On a trough, for Michel Guerdain, who married Marthe [1] Stocall in 1600
- 18 PRD ♥♥ ELR 17 - Another stone for Philippe Rondel and Elizabeth Le Riche [2]
Historic Environment Record entry
Listed building
A cohesive group. The south elevation retains its proportions and many historic features externally, with fine stonework from the different periods of construction. The plan form remains and the two fireplaces are of note.
Part of a range of buildings of early origins circa 17th century with 18th century phases. The unusual plan and step in the north wall of the main house suggest the earlier presence of a tourelle.
Shown on the Richmond Map of 1795.
Main house (La Guerdainerie) two-storey, five-bay. Adjoining to west (La Guerdainerie Cottage) two-storey, two-bay. Adjoining to east (The Old Mint) two-storey, four-bay, returning north.
Ground floor has open, square granite fireplace with 1596 incised in lintel. Stevens records two sections of octagonal pillars, interpreted as parts of a cross shaft; also a raised cross, cut on a stone, now built into the attic of the northern addition to the house.
Old Jersey Houses
One would not know that there had been a mint here during the time of Charles II, if it were not for the testimony of Chevalier's diary, and the fact that the road running south-west from the house is called La Monnaie. The really extraordinary thing is that no coin minted here has survived, as far as is known, in Jersey or elsewhere. During the Civil War it was owned by Aaron Guerdain, an early doctor. He supported the Parliamentary cause and his house was requisitioned by Sir George Carteret, leading to the establishment of the mint.
Aaron inherited the property from his father Michel, Constable of Trinity from 1639-32.
The house is a fine one, rather large, with no round arches, but the front door has a chamfered lintel, faintly inscribed 1597, making it one of the very few dated stones in the island before 1600.
Notes and references
- ↑ Not Marie, as shown in Datestone Register and elsewhere
- ↑ Old Jersey Houses suggests that these stones suggest a third marriage for the Philippe referred to on the gravestone, but the information in the Jersey Datestone Register shows that it was his second wife Elizabeth Le Riche, and that two different Philippes are shown on the gravestones
