L'Ancresse is an area in the Vale, Guernsey, comprising a common and several beaches covering 737 Vergées.
History
The sea levels having risen and stabilised around 9,400 BC leaving L’Ancresse looking similar to the current day situation with the sea to the north and west. Part of a tidal island, originally separated from the rest of Guernsey by the Braye du Valle, a tidal way that could be crossed at low tide. L’Ancresse was the only part of the tidal island that did not form part of the Fief St Michel, the land granted to the Abbey of Mont Saint-Michel in the 10th century, it remained common land, belonging to the King. In the 1309 Assize Roll, a number of defendants were accused of encroaching upon the common land. The beaches at L’Ancresse comprise, Ladies Bay, Chouet, Jaonneuse, Pembroke and L’Ancresse.
Early history
The earliest evidence of human occupation comes from the Neolithic period 4,500 BC to 1,800 BC:
is located to the south west of L’Ancresse and religious activity dates from the 7th century. According to tradition, Robert II, Duke of Normandy was journeying to England in 1032, to help Edward the Confessor. He was obliged to take shelter in Guernsey in L’Ancresse Bay and in thanks for assistance, gave land now known as the Clos du Valle, to the monks. Archery practice was undertaken on the common for centuries by the Guernsey Militia, limited defences were built, the main defence for the north of the island being the Vale Castle
18th and 19th centuries
The threat of invasion from France resulted in the construction of seven Guernsey loophole towers at L’Ancresse, numbered 4 to 10, the towers originally being manned by the Royal Guernsey Militia. Other forts and batteries were also erected:
La Lochande Battery
Pembroke headland fort and the Platon battery
Pembroke star fort
Half Moon battery
Centre battery
Nid de L’Herbe battery
Fort le Marchant
Shooting ranges were established on the common in a number of locations, including an artillery range firing from close to the Vale Mill onto the common and into L’Ancresse bay.
Founded in 1890, the first Golf Club brought together a number of people interested in wielding gnarled sticks to try to send balls into holes cut in the grass. This caused several cases of litigation between 1895 and 1908 as the laws of the common forbade the cutting of grass, or the removal of turf or sand. The law was changed in 1908. A clubhouse was built in 1892. The two golf clubs, Royal Guernsey Golf Club and L’Ancresse Golf Club, pay rent, agreed in 2016 at £50,000 p.a. for the use of the land, which comprises around half of the common.
There is a diversity of plant and animal species recorded from the area. The scrub is managed to stop the gorse overwhelming different habitats and noxious weeds are removed. La Société Guernesiaise through Environment Guernsey takes an interest in the common.
Management
L’Ancresse common has been managed by the Vale Commons Council since 1875. Funding is from a grant from the States of Guernsey and from rent received. Most of the commons is now privately owned, with some owned by the council and some by the States of Guernsey. Common rights include the right of commoners to collect gorse for fuel. Grazing is currently the sole right of ‘habitants’ – residents living on or immediately adjacent to the Common. There is also rights of passage.
