Clearance work uncovers a lost piece of the island

Just a few doors further north from the Vale Douzaine Room sits the remains of an old farm turned quarry which is apparently one of the last 19th century quarries established on the island.

The quarry, now long filled in, was once a farm thought to date back to as far as 1650, according to local house expert, John McCormack.

Art of Living’s Andrew Pouteaux had been intending to clear the entrance way and tidy up the site for use by the residents of La Nouvelle Maraitaine.

However while clearing away the brambles he discovered the remains of the farmhouse’s wing, possibly some derricks from the quarry’s cranes and the ruins of an outhouse.

‘I immediately thought to speak to John McCormack who said he was very interested in coming and taking a look, ‘ he said.

‘On the outbuilding you can see the remains of a furze oven which was installed later than the original building and then we have the side wall of the farmhouse’s wing with the rest of the house presumably swallowed up down beneath the surface of what is now a field,’ said Mr Pouteaux.

Mr McCormack wrote The Guernsey House book in which he tried to list all types of buildings found on the Richmond map and is known in Guernsey as the expert on the island’s dwellings.

‘However although this is on the map I had actually missed it. The place has the remains of a hearth in the wall which would have been to sit a fireplace upstairs and that sort of design means it can’t be a medieval building and probably dates anywhere between 1650 and 1787,’ said Mr McCormack.

La Societe Guernesiaise archaeologist Tanya Walls had brought up the map of the site in 1898 and it showed at that time the house still remained. Then the 1938 map showed just the section that remains and then the quarry meaning it had to have been established in the very late 19th or early 20th century.

‘It is a 19th century quarry and that has to be one of the last established here on island,’ said Ms Walls.