Le Boulivot is listed in Volume 1 of Joan Stevens' Old Jersey Houses as having been built between 1500 and 1700, but no details are given of its history, other than to refer to changes over the years to the windows.
Four properties
There are several old properties at Boulivot, a name indicating a defensive bulwark or earthwork. Grouville's Millennium Book, Grouville, the Story of a Country Parish, shows Highgrove, Le Boulivot, Boulivot Farm and Boulivot House as the members of a group numbered Boulivot 1-4. None was being farmed in 1977. The book also refers to Boulivot de Bas and Le Petit Boulivot. We currently do not have pages for the various Boulivot properties, but we intend to divide this page into separate profiles in our standard format. In the meantime, the pictures we have for all Boulivot properties are included in this page.
Datestones
Boulivot de Bas has a datestone 18 ENC 03 over the front door, and a further one on a shed with 18 ENC MLB 11. These indicate that the property was in the Nicolle family, possibly with a marriage to a Labey.
The datestone JLB ♥ EGD 1812 at Highgrove, Boulivot, is for Jean Le Boutillier of Grouville and Elizabeth Gaudin of St Martin, who married in Grouville on 25 September 1784. There is a further first storey engraving at Highgrove of the initials ILB, possibly for Jean Le Boutillier carved roughly into a window surround. Yet another stone, incorporated into a wall at Highgrove, has the date 1660 over the initials FA, For Francois Amy, is an indented circle. Boulivot has a more recent stone, inscribed RAM JB 1977, for Rodney Amy and Jill Baldwin.
The main house at Le Boulivot has a partly covered corbel inscribed IHP 1774, for Jean Hooper, who was a Churchwarden at Grouville who married Marie Godfray of St Clement on 17 November 1770.
There is a further stone inscribed IHP ♥ MGF 1785 for Jean Hooper (1740-1801) who was Constable of Grouville and Marie Godfray, who were married in St Clement on 17 November 1770.
A barn at the rear of Le Boulivot has a stone engraved IHP ♥ ISS = 1803 [1] for Jean Hooper (1771- ), eldest son of the above Jean and Marie Godfray, who married Jane Saunders Stephens.
A stone inscribed EQR SB 1818, for Elie Queree and Susanne Bree, both of Grouville, who married in St Helier on 26 December 1807, was listed by Joan Stevens as being at Boulivot but is now on an extension to Highfield, Trinity.
Boulivot House
The current house was probably constructed in 1846, after the death of Judith Poingdestre, mother of Jean Labey, who moved to Carteret Farm in 1842. It is shown on Hugh Godfray's map, for which the survey was undertaken in 1846.
The original house was bought by Estienne Labey (1589-1659) in October 16141 from Jean Mourant, who was acting as receiver to the estate of Matthieu Nicolle. The Labeys were believed to have been small-scale farmers and Jean Labey (1795-1872) was the last of the family to live there, before the property was sold in 1848 to Thomas Filleul of Radier House. His name appears on the Godfray map, indicating that the purchase was effected earlier, but only completed when work on the new house had finished.
Jean Labey is also believed to have been a carpenter and cabinet maker.
Some of the original house survives, including a Norman-style doorway in the new structure.
Thomas Filleul lived at the house and died there in 1881. It was inherited by his eldest daughter Jane, who was married to Josué Mourant, of Les Marais House. On her death in 1889 the house passed to the eldest son, Thomas Filleul Mourant, and eventually to his sister Lydia Jane Mourant, and in 1952 to the Amys family of Le Câtillon de Bas.
Le Petit Boulivot
Le Petit Boulivot appears in the 16th Century Extentes as belonging to the Le Tubelin family. It passed from Philippe Le Tubelin to his daughter, who married Pierre Aubin, and then to Philippe Aubin. It then passed to Jean Aubin, his daughter Marguerite, who married the Rev Josué Pallot, their eldest son Josué's daughter Marguerite, who married William Seward. Their eldest son Philippe appears to have died childless and the property passed to his niece, Elizabeth Anthoine, and then to her sister Anne, who married Nicolas Perchard.
The property remained in the Perchard family until the end of the 19th century, and then into the Mourant family, during which time it had a change of name to Green Dale.
Le Boulivot
This substantial property was owned in the 16th century by men named Mourant and Besnard, but they forfeited it and it was sold by Royal Commissioners in 1562 to William Hooper, who became embroiled in a number of legal disputes from 1576 onwards. His family retained Le Boulivot for 280 years and were wealthy and prominent parishioners. The last of the family to live there was Jean Hooper (1770-1829) who was Constable of Grouville from 1811 to 1814. Another Jean Hooper was Constable from 1776 to 1779 and Thomas Hooper was Constable from 1817 to 1820. The house was sold by Jean Hooper to Elie Querée.
Boulivot Farm
This property is variously found in official documents as Boulivot, Boulivot Farm and Boulivot House. It was farmed by the Le Cuirot family in the 1930s and '40s.
Workers at Boulivot in the 1930s
The main entrance
Boulivot Farm
Boulivot Cottage, formerly the family home of Pierre Marie Moulin and his wife Jeanne
Boulivot Cottage
Boulivot de Bas
Boulivot de Bas
Boulivot de Bas
Boulivot Farm
Petit Boulivot
Petit Boulivot
Notes and references
- Joan Stevens, Old Jersey Houses Vol 1
- Rowland Anthony, editor, Grouville, the Story of a Country Parish
- The Jersey Datestone Register
- ↑ The ♥ symbol has been used to represent the entwined hearts usually found on datestones
