La Haule, more commonly known as La Haule Manor, is one of many examples of properties in Jersey whose name becomes confused with that of the fief associated with it, as Joan Stevens explained in the first volume of Old Jersey Houses: [1]
- "The Franc Fief in St Brelade has belonged to the owners of La Haule since Helier Dumaresq bought it in 1597. The fief is mainly in St Brelade, but a small part, the dependent Fief de Bequeloe, is in St Peter. La Haule is situated on the Fief du Roi, in St Brelade. The house named after the fief, and therefore perhaps its original manor, is La Vielle Maison du Franc Fief, which fief belonged to the Gervaise family before its sale to Helier Dumaresq. [2]
- "Thereafter the Dumaresq's established home, La Haule, automatically became the manor of that fief. However, the house at La Haule was described as a manoir as early as 1430, long before the purchase of the Franc Fief.
- "It had a chapel, and it has a colombier, definite indications of the residence of a Seigneur of a fief, although it is not clear what fief. The chapel need not have been a Seigneurial one, but its close proximity to the manor house makes it almost sure that it was.
- "The house had been confiscated from the Dumaresqs, in a highly dubious manner, by the Governor, Matthew Baker, most of whose transactions were dubious, in about 1490. He passed it to a Valpy, from whom Thomas Dumaresq bought it back in 1513. This could be an instance of retrait linager, an ancient right by which, until 1834, a relative who felt that he had been unjustly deprived of his rightful inheritance, could buy it back, and he who held it could not refuse to sell."
The present house was built, on the same spot as its predecessor, and using stone from the old building, in 1796. As a plaque - PMR:AIV 1796 - high on the front facade confirms, it was build for Philippe Marett and his wife Anne Janvrin. Anne was the daughter of Brelade Janvrin, a wealthy ship owner, and married Philippe in 1795. Some of the labour for building the house was provided by Russian troops who were quartered here in the winter of 1799-1800.
The house has cellars, which are rare in Jersey, and are only found in the older manor houses. The 1795 Richmond Map shows a group of small buildings, indicating the situation immediately before the building of the new house.
Dumaresq inheritance
The property was owned by members of the Dumaresq family, who also became Seigneurs of Samares, through marriage, over a long period. The history of the property can be traced back at least to 1430, when it was left by Guille Dumaresq to his elder daughter. Guille was apparently outlived by his son Thomas, who must have inherited other property from his father.
Lost by Guernseyman
The daughter married Guernseyman Nicolas Perrot, whose son Jacques lost the Manor to the Crown in 1488 after failing to pay dues to the King. The Manor was bought by John Cowper, and resold in 1498 to Nicolas Vallepy, who in turn sold it back to the Dumaresq family. The purchaser was Thomas Dumaresq, probably the great-great-grandson of Guille.
He bought the property back from Nicolas Vallepy in 1513, the last time that it changed hands by sale. It passed from father to son until it was inherited in 1644 by Susanne Dumaresq, daughter of Elie and Marthe Lempriere, both of whose brothers had died without heirs. She had married Jean Dumaresq of Vinchelez de Bas in 1637, and then, in 1648, Elie Marett.
Her widowed mother married for a second time to another Maret, Philippe, of Trinity, who was apparently unrelated to her daughter's second husband. She had a son Philippe, who never married and left his home, Avranches Manor, to Susanne. La Haule passed to her elder son Pierre, and Avranches to his younger brother Philippe.
La Haule then passed from Pierre Maret to his youngest son Edouard, and then to his son Philippe, who built the new house. His son and heir, Philippe, was born in 1798. He left only daughters, one of whom, Julia, married a distant cousin Robert Pipon Marett, who became Bailiff of Jersey in 1880 and was knighted. Thus the house remained in Maret/Marett ownership.
- La Haule Manor, a fuller history of the property by Julia Marett.
- La Haule, pictures of the area
- Descendants of Raoul Marett
- Maretts of Avranches Manor
- Dumaresqs of La Haule
