St. SAMPSON

The parish of St.Sampson lies at the north-east extremity of the Island. All the lands
in it were in the hands of the Duke of Normandy, till William the Conqueror rewarded
Sampson d’Anneville with about one-fourth of the Island, among which was a part of this parish, then erected into the fief or royalty still called the fief D’Anneville. The
lands are now held by four different kinds of tenure, viz. frank-fiefs, or seigniories,
which are the most noble of all holdings under the crown, and formerly were only
bestowed on persons distinguished for their piety or skill in arms;and in later ages, on
such as are of the rank of gentlemen, and fit to attend the Sovereign in the field, in the
courts of justice, or in the cabinet. The second species of holding in the parish of
St. Sampson is called the bordages, or bordage-tenure, better known in England by the
title of villenage. There are other lands held in this parish by patent, grants, or title deeds, immediately from the crown, or from commissioners appointed by the royal
authority for that purpose; this tenure is called in the Island bail des commissaires.
The fourth and last kind of tenure in the parish of St. Sampson is freehold, or all odial
tenure,not owing to the crown,or to any feudal lord, any rent, chief rent, homage, or
acknowledgment whatever, except, as a subject, fidelity and loyalty to his prince.         The fief D’Anneville,which,it seems, was the first grant to a layman in the Island,is
the noblest tenure in it: the lord of this seigniory is next in rank after the clergy, and is
so cited in the King’s courts, which he is obliged by his tenure to attend thrice a year,
viz. at the Chief Pleas, or opening of the terms ;and he is likewise bound, when the
King comes to the Island, to attend him as his esquire during his stay. This fief
escheated to the crown about the time Geoffroy Plantagenet rescued Normandy from
King Stephen, and continued so till Henry, son of Geoffroy, ascended the throne of
England in 11 54, by the title of Henry II. who ceded the Earldom of Mortaigne to his
younger brother William, and with it gave him Sampson d’Anneville’s estate in this
Island, which consisted then, besides the present fief of Anneville and its dependencies
in the parish of St. Sampson, of what is now called the fief Le Comte, situated in the
parishes of the Vale, Catel, St. Saviour, and St. Peter, which we shall hereafter
describe. The Earl enjoyed his title and estate only till the year 1158, when dying
without issue, it again reverted to the crown. About the year 1190, King Richard
gave the Earldom of Mortaigne, and with it this estate, to his brother John,who held it
till he came to the crown, in 1199, when he granted it to Robert de Vere, ancestor of
the Earls of Oxford, of that name, for a term of years. After the expiration of this
term, it was sold by King Henry III. in the thirty-second year of his reign, to
Guilliaume de Cheney, and was inherited by his descendant, Edmond de Cheney,
Governor of this and the neighbouring Islands, in 1366; it afterwards, by marriage,
descended into the family of Willoughby, and continued in their possession till 1509,
when it was sold by Sir Robert Willoughby, son and heir of Dame Margaret de Cheney,
to Nicholas Fachin, and which sale was confirmed by  Henry VIII. the thirteenth day
of June, A.R. 38. It continued some years in this family, and then descended into
that of Andros, and is now in the possession of Thomas Fachin Andros, Esq.
What remains of the fief of Anneville unalienated is situated in this parish, and consists of seventeen bouvees of land, containing about three hundred and eighty-four
Guernsey vergees, divided, according to the last survey, among twenty-seven tenants.
This is what is called the fief or manor of Anneville, separate and distinct from its
dependencies, which are, first, the fief of Fauville, containing two hundred and sixty three vergees, five perches, divided among eleven tenants ; the fief Bouilleuze, containing twenty-three vergees, fourteen perches, divided between two tenants ;and the
fief De la Roziere, containing about two hundred and fifty vergees ; but the exact
number of acres or tenants is not known, for want of a book of measurement, or, as it is
called a livre percharge, which is properly a survey. We have therefore followed the
extent made in the reignof Edward III. which declares it to consist of the same number
of bouvees as Fauville : thus it is that the present manor of Anneville, with all its
dependencies, contains only, according to this calculation, nine hundred vergees and
nineteen perches. Most of the feudal services the tenants were liable to in the reign of
Henry IV.1406, when the above survey was taken, are now annihilated. The lord
holds a court yearly at Michaelmas, composed of a seneschal, three vavasors, a clerk or
greffier, and a provost. At this court all the tenants of the fief Anneville only (not of
Fauville, Roziere, or La Croute Bouilleuze) are obliged to appear and answer to their
names,as they are called over by the clerk ; in default of which, they areliable to a fine
of five sols tournois for each of the two first neglects; and the third time, their lands
are seized for the lord, and kept in his possession for one year. At this court, each
new tenant who has purchased or inherited any lands on the fief since the preceding
court-day is enrolled,as also his lands, for which he pays a fine of only five sols tournois,
be the quantity of land great or small. The tenants thus assembled annually choose a
provost among themselves for collecting the lord’s chief rents, which, for Anneville alone, are twenty-seven quarters of wheat, small measure, and the twelfth sheaf of every species of grain grown on the manor, which twelfth sheaf is called champart;* besides which, every house situate on the manor pays a couple of fowls, termed poulage. The revenues arising to the seigniory of Anneville from the appendages, are, for the fief Fauville, now containing two hundred and seventy-nine vergees, six perches, the champart, and a couple of hens for each of the ten houses situated in the said fief; on the fief Croute Bouilleuze, which now contains twenty-three vergees, eight perches, the rents due to the seigniory D’Anneville,are twenty-four sols tournois, four loaves of bread,four capons, and eighty eggs, together with the champart, or twelfth sheaf of corn arising from the lands. All the dues the seignior of Anneville was formerly entitled to on the fief De la Roziere inthis parish, which we have mentioned as dependent on Anneville, are lost, and the rents due to the crown thereon have not been received for many years, for want of a survey of the lands and tenements situated thereon. There were likewise two other minor fiefs or dependencies belonging to the seigniory of Anneville, called Canelly and Fantome, which like that of La Roziere, cannot be ascertained. The fief Anneville
is now reckoned to contain three hundred and sixty-two vergees and eleven perches, four
houses, and about forty tenants. Within this parish there are two other fiefs : that of Vaugrat, containing one hundred and five vergees, belonging to Mr. Samuel Hocart; and the fief Des Philippes, lately purchased by Mr. John Hubert, and measuring one hundred and three vergees. The bordage-tenures held of the fief Le Roy, are those of Testart, being two hundred and seventy-three vergees, thirty perches ; Geffrey, six hundred and ten vergees, twenty-one perches ; Fantome, two hundred and forty vergees, thirty-four perches ;besides the frank-fief Gallicien, containing two hundred and twenty-four vergees, thirty-one perches; which, together with the lands not inpercharge, viz, six hundred and forty vergees, belonging to the heirs of George Lefebvre, Esq. and fifty vergees to Mr. James Gould, make the total quantity of land within this parish to amount to two thousand nine bundled and ten vergees, thirty-seven perches, exclusive of that part of the lately recovered land at the Braye du Valle, to be considered within the parish, but not yet correctly ascertained.
In the last extent or rental of the crown made in the time of James I. the fief Legate,
extending likewise into the Vale, and dependent on the fief St. Michael, is mentioned as
being within this parish.
It is calculated there are about one hundred and twenty-five dwelling-houses within
this parish, containing a population of seven hundred and eighty-eight at least. The
number of quarters rated to public taxes is computed at three thousand and fourteen;
and the total rates to amount, upon an average, to about fifteen pence per quarter ;the
whole parish furnishing one-thirtieth of all public exigences of the Island.

The Church, which has all the appearance of antiquity, was the first erected in this
Island;the consecration took place on the twenty-second day of May,1111,*by Anthony
de Suson, bishop of Coutance, in presence of brother Claude Panton, hermit of Erm, and
his holy brotherhood, the high and puissant Prince Juillien du Praile, governor and
lord of the Isles, Sire Richard d’Anneville, governor of the parish, Enoch Dupre, his lieutenant, and the principal parishioners. It stands on the south side of the harbour,
which,since the erection of the pier adjoining the town, has not been much used, except
for the loading of granite paving stones, quarried near, the only article of exportation
(save a few cows and a little cider) that can be considered the production of the
Island.
The parish officers in this and the other parishes, are two curateurs, or church-wardens,
one procureur despauvres, or manager for the poor, four collectors, two constables, and
twelve douzainiers, whose official duties have already been explained.

The following inscription is taken from the only monument within the Church:

Icy proche repose le Corps
d’Eleazar Le Marchant Esquier
en son vivant l’un des Magistrats dela
Com* Royalle de cette Isle de Guernezey
Lequel en fut appointe Bailly par sa
Majeste la Reine Anne suivant Ordre
donne aS’James le 7me jour du Mois de
Mars Anno Domini 1703.
II deceda a son Doinicille aux grandes
Maisons en cetteparoisse de S’ Sampson
le 30rae jour du Mois de November An :
Dom: 1716 Aage de 67 Ans et 9 Mois.

* Champart, as the word itself implies, seems to have been the ancient original reserved rent of part of the produce of the field when first brought into tillage or cultivation,before any fixed annual value could be set on the lands thus granted;and the poulage rent is perhaps of equal antiquity, though the latter, it is thought,might originally have been an allowance for the governor’s table.