Homes of the Channel Islands: St John's Manor, 1967 Article

HOMES OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS
St. John's Manor, Jersey
By Penny Hart
Jersey Topic, 1967

Remote, secluded, St. John's Manor stands aloof from the seasonal scrimmage on Jersey's roads. Masked by acres of woodland, its surroundings are timeless, quiet. The only interruptions are the occasional cackles from a group of Canadian geese which spills across the lawn.

Until recently few people - even Islanders - knew what the place actually looked like. For years there was not even a name on the gateway.

Then the present owner, Mr. Noble Lowndes, threw the grounds open to the public in aid of Mental Health Week. And more than 1,000 curious sightseers seized their opportunity to see what lay at the end of the long, tree-lined drive. They weren't disappointed.

Le Manoir de St. Jean la Hougue Bate, startlingly white in the sunshine, stands serenely in the midst of its 10-acre grounds. The elegant Georgian façade facing a vast, sweeping lawn edged with palm trees and tall white statues. The whole effect is somehow un-English—almost colonial.

Maybe this was the quality which first attracted Mr. Lowndes (there is no Fief of St. John so he can't lay claim to the title "seigneur"). He's a New Zealander whose grandfather was a naval settler in the North Island. He came over to live in Britain in 1933 and built up a world-wide insurance company based in London. Recently he found he was running the danger of being "surtaxed out of existence" so he quit his Surrey home and came to live in Jersey. In the same month he retired from business at the age of 70.

It took five aeroplane loads to bring the furniture over and when he walked into the Manor at the end of last summer everything was ready in its place. Little has been moved since then. For Mr. Lowndes' main interest is in the grounds. Thirty gardeners are working there full time—roughly three men to an acre. And apart from the surrounding woodlands there are 40 acres of farmland belonging to the Manor.

So far this year they've opened up a road to St. Lawrence which has not been used for 60 years. They've uncovered a Japanese garden. They've built a log cabin (the wood had to be sent to Guernsey for cutting because the logs were so large) and a tennis court. Still to come are the stables, the heated swimming pool and the woodland barbecue.

 

"We've had so much to do," says Mr. Lowndes, dressed in pin-stripes and smoking a fat cigar, "that I've only been into St. Helier four or five times since I've been here. I hardly know my way round the Island yet."

He explained that the house originates in the 14th Century. But there have been so many alterations over the years that little remains of the ancient building. At one time there were wings on either side, but these were pulled down by a former owner, Mr. Alexander Raworth, because the walls were crumbling.

An artist and sculptor, Mr. Raworth bought the fief in 1910 and probably had the strongest influence on the shape of the present Manor.

 

He knocked down, he rebuilt, and everywhere there are pieces of his work. Possibly the most impressive - certainly the most original - is the ornate Edwardian moulded plaster ceiling in the banqueting hall. It has an extraordinary stalactite motif stamped with the Raworth crest.

When he died in 1950 his widow built a stone memorial chapel in the grounds and his coffin lies in a sealed vault below. The oaken pews were made from wood pulled from the banqueting hall when the new floor was laid.

The banqueting hall, in fact, is the most interesting room in the house. It is 55 feet long with a doorway onto the drive and a modern granite fireplace at one end. Antique furniture and silver lines the oak panelled walls and the centrepiece is a heavy, oak refectory table.

 

On a slightly higher level and through an archway is the dining room. This is probably the oldest part of the house - witness a huge granite fireplace running the length of one wall. It was the original kitchen hearth and at the back of it is an oven with the Carteret arms on the door.

That is the ground floor. Then the inside stairway or the double flight of steps from the drive leads to the entrance hall and the main floor of the house. On one side is the drawing room with grey silk panels on the walls. The most striking pieces of furniture here are two hand-painted wooden cabinets with a matching painted grand piano. On the opposite side of the hall is Mr. Lowndes' bedroom.

Further back and past an ornately curved and carved grandfather clock are two more bedrooms—a guest room and one for his 12-year-old daughter Sarah.

Upstairs to the top floor are more bedrooms, including a suite for Charles Lowndes, 16, who is at Canford School, near Wimborne.

Down the back steps and past an elegant stone well (Mr. Raworth again) is a small triangular building—purpose unknown but probably built before 1600. Leading from it is a high stone wall and a gateway into a large, sunny walled garden, believed to be about 1825.

The outbuildings are extensive, but the most picturesque in a fairy tale kind of way is the modernised dower house with its leaded windows and big Tudor chimneys.

With the past nine months intensive work, the Manor is already taking on the stamp of its new owner. But whereas Mr. Raworth's name is inextricably linked with improvements to the house, Mr. Lowndes will undoubtedly be remembered for the transformation of the grounds into one of the most beautiful and secluded parks in Jersey.