National Trust of Guernsey are building a ford across Rue de Quanteraine, St Pierre du Bois, in a bid to reduce flooding in the valley.
This is a landmark project which has not been attempted in Guernsey before but repeated flooding of the trust's properties has made the scheme vital. The three homes and a barn, comprising the main stay of the hamlet, were bequeathed to the trust in 1989. The houses are rented out and the first floor of the newly re-pointed barn is a storage facility for many of the trust's artefacts.
Whenever there is heavy rain, the stream running through the valley rises and floods. Our trust co-ordinator, Tim Spencer explains: "There is a large field owned by La Societe Guernesiaise and at the top is a big pond. When it rains, it overtops and flows down here. Flood waters have been known to reach two feet high on the walls of the barn."
The road is slightly higher than the houses, meaning that flood levels currently have to get quite high before water can flow over the road, down the valley and on to the reservoir. This pooling phase of flooding is when damage occurs to the nearby properties.
The soon to be completed ford will help the passage of water across the road and into a field with water courses down to the reservoir. Work starts on Monday 17 November and we will be regularly updating the website with "work in progress" reports. We hope work will be finished before Christmas. CCD are NTG's architects and Granite Le Pelley has been contracted as stonemasons.