La Villiaze Abreuvoir

La Villiaze Lane, St Andrew, GY8

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Accessed via a track between La Villiaze Road and La Villiaze Lane; has an inscribed stone recording the founders and the date 1899.

More than 140 abreuvoirs were built in Guernsey during the 19th Century and the start of the 20th to provide drinking water for the island's many herds of cattle.

Generally made from granite they often have the names of the parish officials, in office when they were built, carved into them.

They were built where a spring comes up or a stream passes near to a road and a trough would collect the water.

The majority of abreuvoirs were built in the South because there was more dairy farming here, compared to the North which was mostly horticultural farming.

Those that sit on parish borders are generally grander than the others as they had contributions and feature the names of officials from several parishes.

With water being piped directly to farms and the increase in the amount of traffic on the roads public abreuvoirs are rarely used in the 21st Century.

 

Roadside water trough with associated walls and paved area. Situated on the east side of Rue de Heche. Dated 1898.