It is easy to confuse Bellozanne Abbey with Bellozanne Priory, because they both have a similar facade to the main house. Another thing they have in common is that neither was originally an ecclesiastical building and their names are inappropriate.
Bellozanne Abbey is the younger of the two properties, and is featured in Volume Two of Joan Stevens' Old Jersey Houses [1],
Mrs Stevens wrote: "This is a misnomer, as there never was such an abbey in Jersey. The name comes from the Fief de Bellozanne on which the house is situated; this in turn took its name from its parent abbey in the Pays de Bray, north-east of Rouen, a 12th century foundation. This local fief was granted in 1197 by John, not then King, to the Abbot of Bellozanne. It consisted of 20 librates of land and remained under the same patronage until the confiscation of the Alien Priories in 1415, when it escheated to the crown, in whose hands it has since remained."
Mrs Stevens dated the rounded arch of the front door to as early as 1500, and noted that all the windows had been enlarged and the roof probably raised. The only date found on the house is one of 1858 on the garage. Panelling in the ground floor has been dated to 1750.
She also noted the presence in the house of some good furniture of 1870 style, and a number of grandfather clocks with local names including Collinette, Francis Le Feuvre, of St Aubin, and Le Grand of St Aubin. All the furniture and the clocks remained in place when ownership of the property passed to the National Trust for Jersey following the death of its owner, retired teacher Adeline Mundy, in 2012. The inheritance came as a complete surprise to the Trust.
After Miss Mundy finished school, at the age of 18, she taught pupils at the Jersey College for Girls during the German Occupation of the island. She trained as a teacher in London before returning to Jersey where she taught art, music and PE to pupils at Jersey College for Girl's junior school at Mont Cantel.
The photographs in this gallery were taken by Patrick Clarke in 2012 and are reproduced in an online album in conjunction with the National Trust for Jersey
Notes and references
- ↑ OJH II, 99
