16 New Street

Tucked into the centre of town, 16 New Street is a Georgian merchant's townhouse preserved almost exactly as its inhabitants left it in the mid-1800s. Jersey Heritage has restored it to the period and opened it as a museum of Georgian domestic life. The kitchen, parlour, and bedrooms are arranged as if the family just stepped out, with period furniture, wallpapers, and fittings that have survived almost unaltered.

It is a small museum — you can do it in 45 minutes — but a surprisingly affecting one. The specificity of everyday objects makes the Georgian world feel immediate in a way that conventional museum cases rarely achieve. Entrance is included with a Jersey Museum ticket or Jersey Heritage pass.

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A story
The house was owned by a Jersey merchant family who vacated abruptly in the mid-nineteenth century and left almost everything behind. When it was acquired and restored, the contents — furniture, wallpapers, household objects — were found largely intact. It is one of the most complete surviving Georgian domestic interiors in the Channel Islands.