Teighmore and Tudor House
Teighmore, previously the home of Lady Cairns, was given to Dr Barnardo's by her niece and opened in 1879 as a convalescent home for boys of delicate health. In 1908 it became a school for farm training and by 1927 it had increased in size and accommodated 100 boys. The home even had its own private section of beach in Grouville Bay.
Although often referred to as being at Gorey, it was actually on La Rue d'Aval, midway between St Saviour's Hospital and Ransoms Garden Centre. It closed in April 1938. Teighmore still exists as Teighmore House, but Tudor House is long gone. Both properties are remembered today by the place names Tudor Close and Teighmore Park.
Resident's memories
Recollections of former resident Ted Turner
- "From 6 to 13 May 1973 I had the great joy and privilege of revisiting the beautiful island of Jersey, and staying at the Maison Gorey Hotel. This visit was of great significance to me because it was fifty years ago, 1923, that I was at Teighmore House, Gorey, when it was a Dr Barnardo Home. It brought back many happy memories, even though the home is now closed. The buildings themselves are still standing, and after much alteration and redecoration, they are now flats. However, it is still called "Teighmore House" and the adjoining land (which once belonged to the home) is called Teighmore Park. When I saw the name 'Teighmore House' in big letters, as I say, it revived many happy memories.
- "I also revisited the church we used to attend, and I was shown two boards in there, naming the different chaplains who had been in charge of the church since it was built. The present chaplain told me that these two boards had been given to the church by the Old Boys of Teighmore House, the Jersey Barnardo Home, in memory of one of the matrons of the home. There was also a plaque giving the names of Old Boys from Teighmore who had given their lives for their country. I had quite a long chat with the present chaplain and he told me that he had received a visit quite recently from another Old Teighmore Boy who was on a visit to Jersey.
- "I also spoke to a local resident, who is now living in the building that used to be the hospital for Teighmore House, and he was telling me that his mail used to be delivered by an old Teighmore boy (now deceased). This local resident asked me a question which had been bothering him for quite some time, he asked me: "When this was a Dr Barnardo home, was there a covered way, connecting the main building with the hospital?" I was able to tell him that there was one. I inquired why he asked and he told me that when he dug his garden up, he found some big round concrete blocks with metal through the centre, and the only thing he could think of was a covered pathway. I told him that there were quite a number of metal posts with a corrugated roof.
- "It is very gratifying when one can answer such questions, by casting their mind back and remembering the place as it was. I also revisited Grouville Bay, where Dr. Barnardo's had their own private bit of beach. How the memories came flooding back. We used to swim there, and I remembered one awful day, when I was thrown in the sea, beyond my depth. How I got back to shore I'll never know, but, to my shame, I have been scared of water ever since. Barring this one incident, my stay in "Teighmore" was very happy, and visiting Jersey this year, 1973, fifty years later, brought back many happy memories."
Archive article
From an article in the What's your street's story? series by Jersey Archive
Just past St Saviour’s Hospital and Queen’s Valley, on Rue d’Aval, there was a lesser-known institution at a property called Teighmore, which operated as a Dr Barnardo’s children’s home from 1879 to 1938. The owner, Edmund Alexander McNeil, offered the property to Dr Barnardo in 1878 for use as a place for convalescent or young children.
Barnardo’s accepted the generous proposal of a long-term rental of just one shilling a year and decided it would be of best use for ‘training and educating little boys, who would be kept there in a simple fashion until they were old enough to be removed to the London home’.
In 1888 Tudor House was erected adjacent to the main building to be used as an isolation hospital, following the death of seven boys from an epidemic of measles at the home.
When the home closed in 1938 the small hospital was demolished and houses were built on the site, now called Tudor Close.
1899 Evening Post advert
