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The area of Trinity nestled between Egypt to the north and Route d’Ebenezer to the south shows how even a small, rural corner of the island can be full of history.
‘Your Home, Your Story’ is a new series of free talks at Jersey Archive that focuses on individual properties nominated by islanders wanting to know more about their home and the area they live in.
In a preview of his talk this Saturday, archivist Roland Quitaine shares some of his research on a part of Trinity that may be small, but still packs a punch with its history...
Egypt used to be the site of a large farm complex. The property was owned by the family of Alfred Rice, who bought it in 1936. It was rented out to three English business partners; James Williams, James Woltering and Eva Tipper. They left the island in June 1940 before the Occupation and Mr G A Vautier took on management of the farm.
The German forces requisitioned the farm for shooting practise in August 1943. The buildings, which according to Jersey’s Historic Environment Record (HER) dated from the 1700s and 1800s, were partially demolished and used for a battle training area.
Pictured: A bomb was found at Egypt Point, Les Platons, Trinity. (Jersey Heritage)
Farmers were periodically allowed to re-enter the property to pasture cattle and harvest crops when no military activity was taking place, but by the end of 1943 the danger from unexploded ammunition was considered too great and the land could no longer be cultivated.
The area was later used as target practise for artillery batteries. In November 1976, an unexploded artillery shell weighing 200lbs was found in the Egypt area and detonated in a controlled explosion by States bomb disposal officer Eric Walker. The Jersey Evening Post report at the time theorised that the shell might have been fired across the island from La Moye.
South of Egypt at the Les Croix junction is an obelisk known as the Le Vesconte Memorial. This was built in memory of Philippe Le Vesconte, of La Porte, Rue de Cambrai, who was a prominent resident in the area and indeed in the whole parish. He served as Connétable of Trinity for an impressive 28 years in total. After his death in 1909, parishioners had the memorial built in recognition of his service.
Pictured: Connétable Philippe Le Vesconte (top row, first from the right) on a visit to the Minquiers. (Jersey Heritage)
The entries in the Trinity Honorary Police registers tell us some of the issues that Philippe and his colleagues at the Parish Hall had to deal with.
For example, on 5 November 1899, Louis Aimable Desiré Paturel was accused of having obtained a bottle of alcohol from innkeeper George Burger under false pretences at 7am on 24 August by saying that Philip Deslandes needed it to treat a sick horse. He was arrested by Centenier Thomas Cabot junior and sent to prison pending a full report on the incident.
An entry for 22 November 1899 is more evidence of the rural nature of the area. Yves Marie Bidaut was accused of watering down milk from the cows of his employer, James Renouf. This was a serious matter as Bidaut was sentenced to 15 days in prison with hard labour.
The last case that Philippe dealt with as Connétable was that of Philip Georges Becquet. He was accused on several occasions (but especially on 1 July 1909) of having incited various people in his employment to noisily slander the honour of Blanche Elisa Câtel, wife of John Matthew Le Gallais, in a field in the Vingtaine of Augrès. The decision of the court regarding this case was not recorded in the Trinity register.
Down the road from the Le Vesconte Memorial is a group of farm buildings at ‘Rock Vale’ on La Rue de la Bergerie. Having an English rather than a French name gives the impression that the house might be a more recent addition, but a building on the site appears on maps as far back as the 1795 Duke of Richmond Map. The HER shows that the house was built during the 1800s, although probably incorporating parts of an older building.
Pictured: Requisition notices in German and English. (Jersey Heritage)
The history of ‘Rock Vale’ typifies that of many local farm buildings. It was owned by a well-established Jersey family, the Picots. It stayed in the family for generations, being passed down from father of the family to the eldest son. It was common practice in Jersey for the eldest son of the family to be named after their father and the Public Registry and Census records going back to 1851 show us that successive generations of men by the name of ‘Josué Picot’ lived and farmed at the property.
A Josué Jean Picot inherited the farm in 1907 and can be seen there with his family on the 1921 census. The census enumerator recorded his name as ‘Joshua John Picot’ and this shows how the French and English forms of names were sometimes interchangeable.
In the years before 1891, the house ‘Rock Vale’ seems to disappear from the records, but the Picot family are still farming at a property called ‘Maison Brulée’, or ‘the burnt house’. Looking at the neighbouring properties on the census returns, we can take an educated guess that this was likely to be the same house under a different name, and indeed the 1849 Godfray map shows a building on the site of ‘Rock Vale’ with the name J Picot given as owner.
This article only touches on some of the research into the area between Egypt and Ebenezer for the ‘Your Home, Your Story’ series, sponsored by Antony Gibb Historic Buildings Consultants.
If you would like to hear more stories, Jersey Archive is hosting a free talk on Saturday 19 August at 10:00.
To book a place on the talk, call 833300 or email archives@jerseyheritage.org.
The Archive will also be open from 09:00-13:00 for general research.
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Pictured top: The area from Egypt to Ebenezer in Trinity pictured on the Richmond map. (Jersey Heritage)
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