Haut De La Garenne

About Haut De La Garenne

Haut de la Garenne is a youth hostel in Saint Martin, Jersey, in the Channel Islands.

Haut de la Garenne began in 1867 as an industrial school for "young people of the lower classes of society and neglected children". The construction of the school was funded by the Assembly of Governor, Bailiff and Jurats in order to house and educate boys formerly looked after at the General Hospital in Saint Helier. On 22 June 1867, 45 boys were transferred by coach to the new institution, overseen by Jurats Neel and Aubin, Charles Simon, director of the hospital, and Mr. Higginbottom, master of the new school.

By 1900 it had become the Jersey Home for Boys and continued as a children's home for many years. In 1921 the States of Jersey took over the buildings and most of the powers of the Assembly of Governor, Bailiff and Jurats. During the German Occupation during the Second World War, the German military used the building as a signal station. Following the Liberation of 1945, the building continued as a children's home. On 17 March 1960 the States adopted an act changing the name of the institution to Haut de la Garenne. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the home received both boys and girls. After the home closed in 1986, the building was used to portray a police station in the TV detective series Bergerac.