Coutanche Farm

Historic Jersey buildings Coutanche Farm, Trinity Index of all house profiles If you own this property, have ancestors who lived here, or can provide any further information and photographs, please contact us through editorial@jerripedia.org

Property name

Coutanche Farm

Location

Unsurprisingly this farm in Rue Coutanche, Trinity, is named after the Coutanche family who are believed to have owned it as early as 1540, and continuously until Charles Coutanche sold the property in 1820

Type of property

Farm

Valuations

No recent transactions

Families associated with the property

• Coutanche
• Blampied: In 1901 widow of Josue Blampied, Mary Elizabeth, nee Blampied (1828- ) was living and farming here, with her sons John (1859- ) and Walter (1871- ), and daughters Mary (1865- ) and Clara (1876- )
• Barr: 20th century owners

Datestones

RC IP 1696 - For Renaud Coutanche ^[1] and his wife Jeanne Pinel

RCT 1725 MMG - For Renaud Coutanche and Marie Mauger, who were married in 1704

CCT ♥♥ ILB 1812 - For Charles Coutanche, who sold the house, and Jeanne Le Bas

• GBB ♥♥ SNA 1970 on a plaque at the front of the house records the purchase of Coutanche Farm by George Bisson Barr and Shirley Norma Assinder
• SRGAB CMC 1981 on the press house records the ownership of Simon Robert George Assinder Barr and Cheryl Margaret Cowan

Historic Environment Record entry

Listed building

A good survival of an early Jersey farm house retaining significant internal and external features relating to its development since circa 1600 and possibly earlier.

The room east of the round arch is noted as having good panelling and a fireplace with cross on one chamfer and decorated corbels; the first floor with clapboard partitioning and wide elm floorboards of some age. All windows have later sash windows with large panes of glass; only one on the north has small panes and a type of sash not meant to open. Much of the panelling and three-panel doors inserted after 1725.

More recently, J McCormack Channel Island Houses places the main build phases of the original house as circa 1400, 1600 and 1696; and notes that the west extension is very early, circa 1450.

Shown on the Richmond Map of 1795.

Old Jersey Houses

The entry in Volume 1 is mainly restricted to the three early datestones and architectural details of the property. It notes that the first member of the family to live in the house was Jean Coutanche, who was born in 1540.

A further entry in Volume 2 suggests that Renaud Coutanche (1640- ) ^[2] who commissioned the earliest datestone, was the 15th of his line to live in the house. No supporting information is given for this amazing claim, which would suggest that the house was in existence in at least the 14th century, and probably some time earlier. ^[3]

However, the entry goes on to identify the three buildings in the principal range (moving from west to east) as 16th century, the middle section also 16th century but reconstructed in 1725, and a dower wing added in 1812.

Notes and references

1. ↑ The Renaud Coutanche who married Jeanne Pinel is believed to have been born in 1645, not 1640 as suggested in the reference to this datestone in Old Jersey Houses.
2. ↑ There is no baptism record for a Renaud in this year. The only baptism on record is for Renault, son of Jean, baptised in Trinity in 1645
3. ↑ The earliest Coutanche church record is the baptism of a Jean in St John in 1598