Reservoir cogs

DEPUTY E. T. Wheadon had it right when he told the States of Deliberation in 1936 that water doesn't grow on trees.

Well, he didn't use exactly those words, but the gist of his argument to convince members to vote for a St Saviour's reservoir was much the same.

'The public are inclined to think water comes automatically,' is what the president of the Water Board actually proclaimed.

A few hours of solid debate later and despite a desperate plea from the rector of St Saviour's to save a good-sized wedge of the island's greenest parish, the States voted to spend £220,000 on impounding the land necessary to save islanders from going thirsty.

It was a snip at the price and generations of islanders have reason to be grateful for the decision.

But what about the poor landowners, who faced up to losing property which in today's housing market would probably be worth quite a few million?

If you don't believe me, look at the photographs on this page of the wonderful properties, both of which are fighting a losing battle against the damp these days.

Le Neuf Chemin went under, along with 300 yards of the bottom section of the road of the same name, which remains on the east side of our man-made lake.

Also drowned was the wonderful Vieille Rue property.

In all, six houses were lost and 30 people forced to move out of the valley, much to the rector's chagrin.

'Corporations have no soul,' groaned the man of the cloth, adding that some of the properties had been in their respective families for centuries.

He didn't like what he saw was happening to 1930s Guernsey.

'Houses are going up like mushrooms all over the place and one day Guernsey will be one vast suburb with an aerodrome, a vast lake and a little strip of land around the coast.'

Cue laughter in the debating chamber.

But he was right, of course.

Photos in this gallery appear with the kind permission of the Priaulx Library.