Surville Manor: 1967 Report – Part 2

Surville Manor: 1967 Report – Part 2

SURVILLE MANOR
GARDES LA FOY
By PHYLLIDA CAMPBELL
Jersey Life, 1967

Down the Centuries

Eventually the fief of Surville came to the Messervys whose family own it today, and the manor was sold to the father of Mr. George Romeril who lives at Wyvill, Georgetown. The present owners bought the property in 1946 with 50 or 60 vergees of land, which to begin with Commander Chamberlayne farmed himself. His four children, Susan, Gillian, Nicola and Michael all went to school in the island. The derelict old manor behind their home held a fascination for the Chamberlaynes and they decided to restore it to a liveable dwelling.

This was a long job and they tackled it with great enthusiasm. The charming little tourelle at the back is one of its most interesting features. It is not tall and stately like La Tourelle at Faldouet or le Catillon at St. Martin's, but it fits snugly into the rear of the homestead, and the 23 steps of its circular granite staircase are perfectly preserved.

The most exciting aspect of the manor as it is today is the enormously heavy capstone, weighing something like 30 tons, forming the ceiling of a small room at the foot of the escalier. Commander Chamberlayne has a theory about this. He thinks it may very probably have been a tumulus (artificial hillock raised over a Neolithic grave) and the earth round it removed elsewhere. There is certainly a triangular man-made platform before the newer house, now turned into a lawn and sloping gently down towards where the land descends into Bellozanne Valley.

`If I am right and they built the house around the grave' he says, 'it could easily be the oldest house on the Island'.

The old chamfered door with its heavy straight lintel still stands, so do the three well-built chimney stacks with their `witches' seats'. Mr. and Mrs. Coutanche, who now rent the house and farmland, are a real Jersey family and love the ancient architecture of their home, while appreciating its modern conveniences.

The Cod House

  

Despite its brief 126 years of life, the Victorian cod-house also has its charm, not the least of which is the big drawing room which the Chamberlaynes built on, with its so beautiful and tranquil view over the valley. 

On one cotil to the south, Commander Chamberlayne is busy planting an arboretum. Survilles, Le Gallais, Pawletts, Romerils, Messervys and other families unknown perhaps—and now it is the home of an English family who regard it as a heritage to be loved and preserved in character.