Friday 23 September 2022
Agriculture, Countryside & Land Management Services are seeking expressions of interest from local companies to carry out repairs to the upper and lower glasshouses at Candie Gardens.
The two glasshouses have been surveyed and a schedule of works has been scoped by local company BHP. ACLMS now intend to appoint a contractor to carry out repair works to the upper glasshouse. Following stabilisation and further survey work of the lower glasshouse, repairs will also be required for this second structure.
To find out more information, or to express interest in carrying out the repair work, contractors are asked to contact BHP Surveyors by telephone on 01481 722122 or by e-mail at admin@bhp.gg. Registrations of interest should be submitted no later than 9am on Monday 3rd October 2022.
These glasshouses are listed buildings and hold an important place in the island's history. They are the oldest remaining glasshouses on the island, almost certainly the oldest in the British Isles, and potentially the oldest of their style in Western Europe.
The establishment of Guernsey's growing industry, which has been an important part of the island's economy for nearly 200 years, was made possible by experimentation with structures such as these in the late 18th Century. The Candie glasshouses are believed to have been built by Peter Mourant, who built Candie House (now the Priaulx Library) in 1780. Mourant was a keen horticulturalist, who made his money in wine and spirit importation. The 1787 Duke of Richmond Map indicates two buildings in the approximate locations of the current glasshouses.
