Decarteret, A Family History

Part 3

Early Colonists

Among the first requirements of the colonists were houses to protect them from the elements, and Helier at once begun to build a house for himself and Margaret next to the ruined chapel of St Magloire on the site of the old Manoir. By the side of the modern Manoir building there is a long, low house; this is the original house erected by Helier and his son Philippe as their Manor house.

Having settled upon his harbour, Helier next built a windmill to grind the corn, which, as the years passed, began to be produced in greater and greater quantities on the farms. The site that Helier selected was on the western extremity of the grounds of the Manor which was the highest point in the Island. The lane which now leads from Le Manoir to the mill was not then in existence as a public thoroughfare, and access to the mill was by a lane 12 feet wide from the Grand Chemin past the front of La Vaurocque farm house.

It was a good solid structure of stone, and when it was completed a weathervane, bearing the date 1571, was placed on its summit. The mill, still surmounted by the original weathervane, stands to this day, though because the little corn now produced in Sark is sent to the Seigneurie to be ground, it is unused and is falling into disrepair. At one time, however, it was considered a very valuable asset, for the rent charged for it in 1604 was assessed at the high figure of twenty quarters.