THE GARENNE D'ANNEVILLE Probably very few of our readers have ever set eyes upon or ever heard of the Garenne d'Anneville. Situated in the Vale parish, it lies a little to the east of the road leading to Pecheries Bay, shortly after passing the crossroad from Sausmarez to the Vale. The Garenne is by no means an imposing object, but it is a veritable monument of antiquity, well deserving of a passing notice. Shortly before the Restoration, Charles Andros, brother of Amias Andros, so celebrated in the history of Guernsey for his devotion to the Crown during the great rebellion, took unto himself, as a second wife, Alice Fashin, daughter and sole heiress — "as the Andros pedigree states" — of Mr. Thomas Fashin, Seigneur of Anneville. Family records further inform us that Alice brought her lord "a small portion of the Manor of Anneville." It could only have formed a very small part of the original Manor, for Anneville was the largest, as well as the noblest and the most ancient fief in Guernsey. It was granted in 1061, by Duke William— soon to acquire the title of Conqueror —to his valiant Squire Sampson d'Anneville. This Sampson, who appears to have been equally strong by name and by nature, was sent over from Normandy by the Duke in command of a body of troops to rescue the natives and the monks residing on the island from the attacks of a horde of pirates who had forced them to flee to their refuge castles "for safety and for succour." Sampson made short work with the invaders, and but few escaped with their lives. Duke William rewarded Sampson by bestowing upon him a large tract of land in Guernsey, comprising about one-fourth of the whole island, which was thereafter known as the Fief or Manor of Anneville. Then the Duke gave other fiefs to certain of his Norman subjects, and the Manors of De Sausmarez, Mauxmarquis, Canelly, Fantome, etc., were then established. Thus the Fief d'Anneville is the oldest in Guernsey. The Seigneur had the power of life and death in common with the Abbot of St. Michael, who also possessed a fourth part of the island, his territory lying principally in the Vale, while the d'Anneville grant which then included the Fief Le Compte, was situated partly in the Vale, St. Sampson's, St. Peter's, St. Saviour's, and the Castel. The manor was subdivided by Sampson and parcelled out in different tenements and finally escheated to the Crown through the extinction of the d'Anneville race in 1143. The fief subsequently passed into the hands of the Earl of Mortaigne and the family of de Vere and was granted in 1247 by Henry III to one Guillaume de Chesneye from whom it descended to Sir Robert Willoughby who disposed of the fief in 1509 to Nicholas Fashin (or Fachion as it is sometimes spelt), a gentleman usher to Henry VIII. It continued in the possession of the Fashin family for upwards of a century and a half, and then, as before stated, came into the possession of the Androses in whose hands it has ever since remained. Berry informs us that what was left in 1815, unalienated, of the Fief at St. Sampson's consisted of 384 Guernsey vergees, divided among 27 tenants, exclusive of its dependencies, La Roziere, Bouilleose, and Fauville, amounting to 536 vergees. This brings up the Anneville Manor to 920 vergees which, though but a remnant of the original amounting nearer to 9,200 vergees, would still form a very snug little property in Guernsey today. Far from possessing hundreds of vergees, however, the present worthy Seigneur of Anneville, Captain Andros, R.N., holds not a rood of land upon his famous fief beyond the Garenne, above alluded to. It has gone centuries ago to the Le Marchants, the Blondels, the Priaulx, and others; and all that the present Seigneur derives beyond the honour and glory of being Seigneur of an eight hundred-year-old fief, which has been in his own family for over two centuries, consists of an income derivable from certain chief rents, champarts, poultages, sola tour-tuna, loaves of bread, capons, eggs, and fees on every house erected on the manor, and his Lordship also possesses the inestimable privilege of giving a banquet once a year to all his "tenants," as they are jocularly termed. Such is a very cursory and imperfect glance at the history of the fief, and we now return to the garenne — the only bit of ground still remaining in the actual possession of the direct successors of doughty old Sampson d'Anneville. A quadrangular patch of furze brake, some 70 or 100 yards square, slightly elevated above the neighbouring fields, surrounded by a broad deep moat brimming with water, and accessible only by an entrance at the south-east angle — such is the garenne d'Anneville. This quaint little plot of uncultivated, almost valueless ground, is in its way almost as great a curiosity as the cromlechs in the vicinity, and is probably over 500 years old. 

We have previously recounted how the fief was acquired by William de Chesneye in 1247, awarded to him by Henry III through a charter sealed by the Great Seal of England. Prince Edward, in 1260, further granted de Chesneye a charter, allowing him the rights to a warren in both Guernsey and Jersey. It's highly likely that the Garenne we discuss is the very warren established by Chesneye under this grant, as no other warren exists in Guernsey. The current owner possesses several ancient documents relating to this warren, possibly including the original charter by Prince Edward, though we've had no chance to examine these fascinating historical records. The warren stands as it did nearly three centuries before the Andros family arrived in Guernsey, a unique snapshot of the island six hundred years past, preserved from development and, unless future ownership changes, likely to remain so.

When William de Chesneye first established the warren, the surrounding area was devoid of the now-familiar fields, hedges, stone walls, roads, lanes, and farmhouses, consisting solely of furze, brake, and briar. Today, agricultural fields encircle it, creating a stark contrast with its wild, furze-capped appearance and densely reeded moat, serving as a refuge for herons and water-rails. This patch of land stands as a tangible link to the middle ages, a journey back to a time when the Garenne was first enclosed, transporting us deep into the annals of history.

It was the mid-13th century, a period nearing the end of the Crusades, an era celebrated for its chivalric valor, rich in events that have fueled countless tales and legends. The subsequent centuries would witness significant shifts, including the fall of Greece and the dawn of a new era of civilization. Europe was in turmoil; the Greeks reclaimed Constantinople from the French, and the Ottoman-Turkish Empire had yet to emerge. Louis IX of France was planning his final, ill-fated crusade, while Germany was fragmented by civil strife, and Spain battled the Moors. Italy thrived as a powerful nation, with Venice, Genoa, and Pisa at their zenith. Meanwhile, Scotland faced Norwegian invasions, and Wales remained unconquered. England, in a state of disarray in 1260, saw King Henry effectively abdicating in favor of the clergy and barons under Lancaster's pressure, setting the stage for his son Edward to reclaim the throne, marking a pivotal transition from bondage to freedom, with many "villains" gaining their liberty. Norman French dominated the courts, the church, the law, and the newly established Commons.

The arts and sciences lagged behind, with significant inventions like gunpowder, oil painting, the mariner's compass, and printing yet to come. America's discovery lay two centuries ahead. Guernsey's landscape, dotted with newly constructed Vale Castle, Ivy Castle, Jerbourg Castle, and parish churches (except for St. Andrew's Church and the Town Church, which were unbuilt), along with existing chapels and the Priory of Lihou, presented a vastly different picture from today. The island's population was sparse, with most living in poverty near the sea.

Such was the backdrop when William de Chesneye chose a knoll in the Vale and encircled it with a moat, establishing a quaint game preserve that has withstood the passage of time, initially serving its purpose for rabbit rearing and possibly fish breeding in its surrounding moat. The methods de Chesneye employed for hunting in this unique environment remain a matter of speculation, as do the characteristics of medieval rabbits compared to their modern counterparts.

The Garenne's more recent history includes "old Crackaway," a renowned sportsman who rigorously maintained the warren, allegedly using a fiddle to enchant the rabbits before hunting them, though ultimately, every rabbit vanished, leading to the warren's abandonment as a game preserve. Today, it stands as a natural sanctuary, a relic of Guernsey's history and a curious remnant of a bygone era.