Listed building or place reference: TR0198

Historic site reference
Property: Trinity Manor
Road name: La Route de la Trinite
Parish: Trinity
Location: View on map
Grade: Listed Building Grade 1
Category: Residential (rural house)
Statement of significance: An outstanding manor house site associated with the fief of La Trinité, including a manor house with associated outbuildings and lodges. The site is of medieval origins; the house remodelled c.1910 in a northern French style inflected with Edwardian Baroque, but also retaining elements of its medieval and 17th to early 19th century development. One of the major manor house gardens on Jersey with a strong garden design (1910-13) closely related, by the renowned architect Reginald Blomfield, to his architecture in the house.
Context: n/a
External Description: The oldest part of the present house appears to be the section of the south front comprising the three central bays and the two to the right of the arched doorway. The main doorway consists of a round-headed chamfered arch with a Gothic ogee moulding, terminating in a fleur-de-lys, above - probably c.1600. The ashlar facing of the wall may be basically of this date, though partly relaid in the 18th century when the windows were enlarged. However, the building incorporates part of an older structure. The cellar under the present great hall has the remains of a fireplace of late medieval type, possibly of the 15th century; it also contains some reused medieval beams and the posts of former wattle and daub partitions, indicating that there was a house of some significance on the site in the 14th century when this type of partition between rooms was in use. Also present in the cellar is a medieval stone salt bath. The two bays to the west were added by Amice de Carteret in 1641-2, making the front asymmetrical; an armorial stone bearing the de Carteret arms conjoint with those of the fief, indicates the division between the two building phases. At some time from the mid 18th to early 19th century, the house was doubled in size by the addition of a range of rooms to the north, separated from the south ones by a longitudinal corridor. The walled garden with its square corner tower may date from this period. In 1909 the manor and fief were purchased by the noted traveller, scholar and churchman Athelstan Riley. Between 1910 and 1913, he employed the architect Sir Reginald Blomfield and the local builder Charles Messervy to remodel and extend the house in a northern French style inflected with Edwardian Baroque, incorporating features brought from L'Ancienneté, a ruined 16th or 17th century house in St Brelade. Blomfield also laid out the grounds, creating the cour d'honneur to the north of the house (its fountain copied from a 17th century example at Lucerne) and the terraces, canal and lake to the south. Amice de Carteret's cross was restored at this time. External additions from this phase include: - The huge steep-pitched roof of Cornish slate with its two rows of dormers and immensely tall chimneys (the central pair joined with an arch in which hangs a bell). This was inspired by the chateaux of the Cotentin region of Normandy. The decorative lead finials were copied from a house at St Malo. - The east wing, of two bays and two storeys, and the adjoining single-storey kitchen block with oval dormer, its small square windows facing the courtyard brought from L'Ancienneté. - The ground-floor walls of the west wing, which was to have been of two storeys to match the east wing, but was left as a shell in 1913 and never completed. - The two-storey north porch, constructed in a contrasting smooth grey granite ashlar, with beehive roof, banded pilasters, first floor window with architrave and dentil cornice, and round-arched main entrance with drip-stone, terminating in a cartouche bearing Riley's arms and those of his wife. - The chapel, mirroring the kitchen in form but with Diocletian windows and a bell hung at the apex of the roof. - The casement windows (replacing sashes) in the main block, with shutters on the north front and, on the south, recessed panels in the stonework between first- and second-floor window openings. The interior of the house was gutted except for the ground floor on the south side and the first floor to the north. Interiors dating from this phase include: - The entrance hall, made from two old rooms, with marble columns, cantilevered concrete staircase (the upper parts, giving access to the attic storeys, are of mahogany and were reused from the old staircase) and door with ornamental olive-wood inlay, which Riley commissioned from a Greek craftsman in 1883 for Kensington Court, his London house, and later brought to Jersey. - The drawing-room or grande salle, with oak panelling made by John Parsons of St Teath, Cornwall; the design is adapted from the panelling formerly at the old Bishop's palace at Bromley and later displayed in the South Kensington Museum. Of the two granite fireplaces with smoke-hoods, one may be original or may have been brought from France in the 19th century; the other was transferred by Riley from a house near Valognes in Normandy. There is also an Adams type decorative plasterwork ceiling - to Blomfield's design - in the west Drawing Room - The dining room, its stone fireplace brought from L'Ancienneté, with a plaster overmantel added by Riley, which shows two knights jousting. - The former chapel, with coved ceiling and Diocletian windows, two of which contain medieval stained-glass figures of saints. The swept-back gallery resting on Doric columns survives from Blomfield's scheme of fittings, the rest of which have been removed. - The Chambre du Roi, a first-floor bedroom reputedly once occupied by Charles II, with 17th century panelling re-used from elsewhere in the house. The Riley/Blomfield remodelling was left uncompleted at the start of the Great War, and was taken up again only in the 1920s. Additions of this second phase include: - The library (1927) - the ground floor of the unfinished west wing was roofed, and fitted with bookcases, doorcases and panelling brought from Kensington Court, all designed by the architect of that house, Sir Thomas Jackson. - The Winter Garden (1928), begun in 1913, was given a glass roof supported on six slender columns. - The two circular bastion towers in the garden (1929), which contain the upper and lower portions of a newel staircase brought from L'Ancienneté. The principal building is now in French Chateau style. It is 2-storey plus 2-storey roof accommodation, 7-bay, of rectangular form with side extensions: a 2-storey wing to the east and a one storey wing to the west. There are granite walls, and a steep 50º slate tile roof crowned with an ashlar stone bellcote. The entrance bay breaks forward as an ogee domed tower, with decorative crest above the door. There are rounded top dormers on 2 levels: the 1st level has round head hooded dormers, and the 2nd level oval windowed dormers. All windows are replacement painted softwood said to match originals. There is a chapel (converted to living space) to the north west corner linked to the house by a flat roof passage, and a new winter garden. The site layout and landscape are a fine example of 19th and 20th century landscape planning, enhanced by designed features of high quality. The site includes a working farm and variety of gardens: kitchen garden, fruit garden and landscaped leisure gardens. The 19th century agricultural complex and cottages have walls in granite rubble, with brick window and door dressings and slate roofs. There are 2 date stones of 1761 and 1874. There is also a small colombier of circular plan and granite walls. Also notable are the garden walls and structures including a Folly Tower and a bridge over Blomfield's drain canal, which discharges rain water into a reservoir/lake. Earlier features include the cobbled stone entrance drive, which may be 15th or 16th century, 2 medieval cross bases in the garden - one incorporated into a stone garden table; the other, now restored, supposedly has the heart of Amice de Carteret, a distinguished 17th century seigneur, buried beneath it. An early stone cross has a plaque bearing Elisabeth De Carteret's name and the date 1664. There are 3 gate lodges of late 19th / early 20th century. The south lodge has rear and side elevations in render, and the front elevation in small granite ashlar, with stone door and window dressings. The east lodge has large granite ashlar walls, and pointed arch windows with hood moulds. The central bay on the front, south elevation, has a large square window divided into 3 segments with pointed arch pattern in painted softwood. The north lodge is a plain rendered building. Although the non-statutory grade 1 reflects the outstanding interest of the manor house site, there are certain subsidiary buildings within the large and complex site which either lack interior interest or are entirely modern structures. Their locations are shown on the attached annotated plan. The following buildings / structures lack interior interest and are included within the listing for their exterior interest only - B: the Winter Garden to the main house reconstructed in the late C20; C: the former kitchen wing to the main house adapted for an indoor pool in the late C20; J: the South Lodge; K: the East Lodge; and M: the C19 farm buildings and cottages. The following modern buildings / structures are not included within the listing - D: the late C20 garage block; F: the modern outdoor pool and pool house; H: the modern greenhouse and tennis court within the walled garden; I: the late C20 stable, log store and greenhouse; L: the North Lodge; N: the late C20 agricultural shed; O: the cottages built in 1997; and Q: the modern dairy unit and slurry tank.
Internal Description: n/a
Special interest: Architectural,Historical

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19/06/2017

Schedule Listed Building Grade 1

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