St Peter Port (St PP) St Saviours (St Sv) St Sampsons
(St S) Castel (C) Vale (V) St Andrews (St A) Torteval (T) St Peter in the
Wood (St P) St Martins (St M) Forest (F)
An architectural feature of a few old Guernsey houses that will be
of interest to Family Historians are datestones, sometimes referred to
as Marriage Stones. They are by no means as common as in Jersey,
Guernsey granite being that much harder to work.
The initials of husband and wife and a date were often carved on a piece
of granite and used as a lintel above the front door. Sometimes the two
names have between them a heart, which is where the description marriage
stone comes from. These stones rarely commemorate a marriage however, but
usually mark the inheritance, construction or alternation of a building.
The couple concerned may have married many years before (see GS & EFL).
Left: ICH 1758. La Petite Câche, Landes du Marche (V)
Jean Cohu.
More frequently than in Jersey there are many stones which only feature
the name of the head of the household. The initials are often (but not
always) based on syllables, so the name Cohu would be carved as CH, Lenfestey
as LFT and Falla as FL. Initials of Christian Names utilised only the first
letter - with the letter J often carved as an I, and H as a W. The husband's
name is on the left of the stone. Sometimes the initials come from other
areas in the building, a gate, beam or pump for instance. See the entries
for Jean Ozanne (IOZ) .
Apart from private property, there are a few plaques around the Island
marking Parish boundaries, road improvements and official buildings, which
contain names. They appear in date order at Official
Stones. Here is a link to the Société
Guernsiaise site about Abreuvoirs
- many of which have names inscribed on them.
This list comes from John McCormack's The Guernsey House
(Pub. 1987 Phillimore & Co) and is used with permission. There
are a few of my own and contributions from others on the Internet. If you
need more information about this publication check Charles Picot's
Books about the
Channel Islands. If you need a look up visit John Fuller's Volunteers
Page. Copyright © remains with John McCormack, unless indicated
by an asterick (*).
The list is in alphabetical order by first letter on datestone. Anyone
visiting this page who would like to e-mail glen@itl.net
details or photographs of their ancestor's datestones will receive due
credit here.
Updates will appear at New
Items and Updates. Items marked
have never been on the list
before. Items marked 
have pictures or identifications added.
Links
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Datestones
Channel Islands Introduction
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Datestones