1921 – According to the 19th June 1921 Census in Birmingham, Ernest Powell Hayes (born 1889) was a monumental mason in Smethwick, Kings Norton, Birmingham. He lived at 98, Cheshire Road and was a business owner and employer at a corner property that adjoined the house at No.97 spanning both Church Road and Rosefield Road.

1922 – At the age of 33 Ernest moved to Jersey as a monumental mason and on 22nd November purchased a property called Sea Crest in St. Clement (presumed a family home). With reference to the Jersey Public Registry, Ernest conducted six property transactions in the area over a four-year period.

1923 – Ernest started as a monumental mason renting a space from the landowner at No, 2, David Place at the time.

1926 – On 12th June, Ernest purchased land on Vauxhall Street from motor engineer, Bernard Hamilton Gregory. On 19th June he then went on to purchase 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 David Place which became the new home of Jersey Monumental.

1941 – Ernest Powell Hayes works though the Occupation as a monumental mason.

1948 – 75 years ago George Henry Reynolds purchased the property and business at 2 David Place, from Ernest Powell Hayes. Jersey Monumental Company traded from this location for 36 years, before it moved to New Street. According to records at the Jersey Archive, four years later Ernest passed away on 24th July 1952.

1962 – Jersey Monumental soon outgrew David Place and the company moved to a new purpose-built workshop and offices
at 82, New Street, a bold move at the time as there were three large stonemason’s all trading in St Helier. This coincided with his son Barry Reynolds joining the business after leaving Repton College in 1960.

The introduction of the Jersey Crematorium at Westmount opening in 1960 meant the demand for headstones changed significantly as burials started to decline therefore fewer memorials were being commissioned. As a result, Jersey Monumental started supplying and fitting natural stone tiles, marble fireplaces, tables, swimming pool surrounds and Terrazzo stairs and floors.

1963 – George and Barry foresaw the further decline of memorials and on 18th December acquired Gulliver Monumental Masons (formerly Pixley’s founded in 1823) from Malcolm Gulliver. They also purchased L’Étacq Quarry in St.Ouen.

1973 – On 13th March 1973 Jersey Monumental was incorporated as a limited company following the creation of The Companies Act No 61 of 1973. The Act was assented to on 19th June 1973, effective from 1st January 1974.

1978 – The company purchased their first letter cutting machine, a revolutionary concept at the time that sped up the whole process of adding inscriptions to stones. The traditional letter cutters of the day were none too pleased about this modern form but soon warmed to the machine as the monotonous parts of the craft were taken away.

Diamond tipped blades for water fed saws started to become the norm, reducing noise and dust, air fed chisels for carvings, diamond headed wheels for polishing marble and granite were also purchased.

This opened up all sorts of avenues for stone uses around the house, at a much-reduced cost as labour time was being considerably reduced.

1984 – At the age of 20, our current CEO, Mark Reynolds started his career at Jersey

Monumental as an apprentice letter cutter. Mark hit the ground running and learnt every aspect of the business from marble cutting to restoration work.

1990 – The business expands into
providing kitchen and bathroom worktops to compliment their offering.

1993 – On 16th April 1993 Jersey Monumental purchased F.J Carter Ltd, who had been in business since 1872. The two companies were ran as separate entities for a period of time and Mark was appointed as Managing Director of F.J Carter.

1999 – From the mid 1990’s the stone industry saw a massive leap in technology, greatly aided by the computer and microchips. At that stage Barry Reynolds, knew it was time to take a step back from the company and let his son take the
reins. Machines were being controlled by computers, stone was getting cut, milled, routed and polished with minimal manual involvement. The year 1999 also marked a milestone for the company with the purchase of their first semi-automatic saw to keep up with the growing demand for the use of natural stones in kitchens and bathrooms.

2000 – Jersey Monumental Company rebrands to simply JMCo to reflect the organic evolution of the business and to make it easy for customers to decipher what JMCo sells – not simply headstones.

2003 – JMCo purchased Jersey’s first Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) computerised saw. This machine enabled the business to program the cutting of multiple pieces from one slab, hugely increasing productivity.

2004 – Mark Reynolds becomes Managing Director of Jersey Monumental Company.

2007 – On 20th June Jersey Monumental undertakes a huge modernisation programme by way of moving its fabrication operations to new, larger premises at La Collette. This enabled the business to update and house new fabrication machinery all under the same roof. This included bespoke lifting cranes, Jersey’s first water treatment recycling plant, a Thibaut T818 machining centre and an eight metre long granite edge polishing machine.

2011 – On 31st March Jersey Monumental incorporated F.J Carter Ltd.

2015 – Purchased a new TC600 CNC saw which made the fabrication process fully automated. It has always been our goal to continuously improve fabrication times and customer service which is why we continue to strive to keep up with modern industry technologies.

2020 – Purchased new Intermac Master 38.3 Series CNC machining centre which far outweighed the previous machines capabilities thus decreasing fabrication times, costs and turn-around times for customers.

2021 – Jersey Monumental purchased the Island’s first Waterjet cutting machine. This machine can cut any material apart from diamonds and toughened safety glass. Once the word spread of the capability to cut materials other than those used for stone alone, enquiries soon came in for fabrication jobs that are outside our normal production services such as cutting aluminium manifolds for a Massey Ferguson 35 Tractor, powered by a Jaguar V12 Engine, bespoke air vents and even had an enquiry to help produce a handbrake system for a gaming chair!

2023 – The business celebrates 100 years… after 75 years, it remains in the Reynolds family with Mark Reynolds still at the helm in his role as CEO at JMCo and Group CEO at the Elme Group. After working closely alongside and under mark’s wing for the last six years, John Wedgbury has been appointed as Managing Director.