Samarès Manor (
Jèrriais
( ; also known as the Jersey language, Jersey French and Jersey Norman French in English) is a Romance languages, Romance language and the traditional language of the Jersey people. It is a form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, an isla ...
: ''Mangni d'Sanmathès'') is a
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
with medieval origins in the
Vingtaine de Samarès, in the parish of
St. Clement in
Jersey
Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...
, and is the traditional home of the
Seigneur de Samarès. The name Samarès is an old French word meaning salt-marsh, and much of the low-lying surrounding areas are or were coastal marshes.
The gardens are open to the public from April until October.
History
The oldest part of the house is the
undercroft
An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and Vault (architecture), vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area whi ...
thought to be a
crypt
A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...
dedicated to
Saint Martha, dating from the 11th or 12th century. Today, the west-wing of the manor house is above the undercroft. The original building, possibly a chapel, which once stood above the crypt is no longer present.
The manor house is a H-plan building with a number of
Tudor arched windows on the ground floor.
The round
colombier is believed to be the oldest in Jersey and may date to as early as the 12th century.
The present gardens were first created in the 1920s by
Sir James Knott who bought the manor in 1924.
This substantial work included re-claiming the salt marsh area near the manor.
On the 12 June 2009, the manor's grounds were used by the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
as a location for filming an episode of
Antiques Roadshow
''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...
.
Farm
Samarès Manor farm lies directly to east of the manor house. Many of the buildings are now used as self-catering accommodation.
See also
*
Saint Ouen's Manor
References
External links
Samarès Manor
Tourist attractions in Jersey
Manor houses in Jersey
Buildings and structures in Saint Clement, Jersey
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