CHAPTER III.

Prehistoric Monuments; and their Superstitions.

“Of brownyis and of bogillus full is this buke.”

--_Gawin Douglas._

“D’un passé sans mémoire, incertaines reliques Mystères d’un vieux monde en mystères écrits.”

--_Lamartine._

“Among those rocks and stones, methinks I see More than the heedless impress that belongs To lonely Nature’s casual work! They bear A semblance strange of Power intelligent, And of design not wholly worn away.”

--_Wordsworth_, _The Excursion_.

The island of Guernsey still contains many of those rude and ponderous erections commonly known by the name of Cromlechs, or Druids altars. The upright pillar of stone or rude obelisk, known to antiquaries by the Celtic name of Menhir also exists among us. Many of these ancient monuments have no doubt disappeared with the clearing of the land and the enormous amount of quarrying, and many have doubtless been broken up into building materials, or converted into fences and gateposts. But the names of estates and fields still point out where they once existed. Thus we find more than one spot with the appelation of “Pouquelaye.”[50] “Longue Rocque,” or “Longue Pierre,” and the names of “Les Camps Dolents,” “Les Rocquettes,” and “Les Tuzés” indicate the sites of monuments which have long since disappeared.

The researches carried on with so much care and intelligence by Mr. Lukis have clearly proved that the Cromlechs were sepulchral; perhaps the burial places of whole tribes, or at least of the families of the chieftains. This does not preclude the popular notion of their having been altars, for it is well known that many pagan nations were in the habit of offering sacrifices on the tombs of their dead.

The following is a list of the principal Druidical structures, etc., which we can identify, with an account of the traditional beliefs attached to them of their origin, etc.:--

The large Cromlech at L’Ancresse called “L’Autel des Vardes.”

The smaller Cromlech in the centre of L’Ancresse, with a portion of another similar structure to the east of it.

A small portion of a Cromlech at La Mare ès Mauves, on the eastern base of the Vardes, almost in front of the target belonging to the Royal Guernsey Militia.

“La Roque Balan.”

“La Roque qui Sonne” (destroyed).

“Le Tombeau du Grand Sarrazin,” in the district called Fortcàmp (destroyed).

“L’Autel de Déhus,” near above.

Small Cromlech at “La Vieille Hougue” (destroyed).

“Le Trépied” or the “Catioroc.”

“Menhir” or “Longue Pierre” at Richmond.

“Creux ès Fées”[51] in the parish of St. Pierre-du-Bois.

“La Longue Roque” or “Palette ès Fées” at the Paysans.

“La Roque des Fées” (destroyed).

“Le Gibet des Fées” (destroyed).

“La Chaire de St. Bonit” (destroyed).

In the Island of Herm there are six or eight mutilated remains of Cromlechs. In Lihou, none are left. In Sark, none are left.

It will be seen that the druidical stones are believed to be the favourite haunt of the fairy folk, who live in the ant hills which are frequently to be found in their vicinity, and who would not fail to punish the audacious mortal who might venture to remove them.

[50] The name of “Pouquelaie” given in various districts of Normandy, and in the Anglo-Norman Isles to megalithic monuments appears to be composed of two Celtic words, of which the latter, the Breton _lee-h_ or _lêh_ means a flat stone. The former of these words--_pouque_, some etymologists say is derived from a Celtic word meaning, _To kiss_, or _adore_--and thus “Pouquelaie”--_the stone we adore_; but many others think with equal probability that _Pouque_ is derived from the same root from whence we get _Puck_, the mad sprite Shakespeare has so well described in his “Midsummer’s Night’s Dream.” The _pixies_, or Cornish and Devonshire fairies, and the _Phooka_, or goblin of the Irish, are evidently of the same family.

[51] EDITOR’S NOTES.--In _Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute Bretagne_, M. Paul Sebillot, says:--“En général les dolmens sont appelés _grottes aux fées_, ou _roches aux fées_; c’est en quelque sorte une désigation générique (p. 5). Les noms font allusion à des fées, aux lutins, parfois aux saints ou au diable. Comme on le verra dans les dépositions qui suivent, c’est à ces mêmes personnages que les paysans attribuent l’érection des Mégalithes (p. 8.), etc.”

In _Croyances et Légendes du Centre de la France_, par Laisnel de la Salle, he says, Tome I., page 100:--“Les fées se plaisent surtout à errer parmi les nombreux monuments druidiques … ou se dressent encore les vieux autels, là sont toujours présentes les vieilles divinités.”

“L’AUTEL DES VARDES” AT L’ANCRESSE.

This consists of five enormous blocks of granite, laid horizontally on perpendicular piles, as large as their enormous covering. Around it, the remains of a circle of stones, of which the radius is thirty-three feet, and the centre of which coincides with the tomb. Mr. Métivier says in his “Souvenirs Historiques de Guernesey” that this “Cercle de la Plaine,” in Norse _Land Kretz_, on this exposed elevation, could not fail to attract the attention of the Franks, Saxons, and Normans, and thus gave its name to the surrounding district.

In it were found bones, stone hatchets, hammers, skulls, limpet shells, etc., etc.

It is perhaps to this latter fact that we must attribute the idea which is entertained by the peasantry that hidden treasures, when discovered by a mortal, are transformed in appearance by the demon who guards them into worthless shells.

“LA ROQUE BALAN.”

“La Roque Balan” was situated at the Mielles, in the Vale parish. It is supposed by some to have taken its name from Baal, Belenus, (the Sun God), the Apollo of the Gauls, whom the Thuriens, a Grecian colony, called _Ballen_, “Lord and King,” and to whom they dedicated a temple at Baïeux. The custom of lighting fires in honour of Bel or Baal continued in Scotland and Ireland almost to the beginning of this century. In Guernsey, at Midsummer, on the Eve of St. John’s Day, June 24th, the people used to go to this rock and there dance on its summit, which Mr. Métivier describes in 1825 as being quite flat. The refrain of an old ballad proved this:

_“J’iron tous à la St. Jean_ _Dansaïr à la Roque Balan.”_

Some people conjecture this rock to be the base of a balancing, or Logan stone, and others again that it was the site where Dom Mathurin, Prior of St. Michel, weighed in the _balances_ the commodities of his tenants. But the most probable supposition is that it was named after the _Ballen_ family, former residents of this neighbourhood.

Near this rock stood

“LA ROQUE QUI SONNE.”

This was the name given by the peasantry to a large stone which formerly stood on the borders of L’Ancresse, in the Vale parish. There is no doubt that it formed part of a Cromlech, and it is said that when struck it emitted a clear ringing sound. It was looked upon in the neighbourhood as something supernatural, and great was the astonishment and consternation of the good people of the Clos du Valle, when Mr. Hocart, of Belval, the proprietor of the field in which it stood, announced his intention of breaking it up in order to make doorposts and lintels for the new house he was on the point of building. In vain did the neighbours represent that stone was not scarce in the Vale, and that there was no necessity for destroying an object of so much curiosity. No arguments could prevail with him, not even the predictions of certain grey-headed men, the oracles of the parish, who assured him that misfortune was sure to follow his sacrilegious act. He was one of those obstinate men, who, the more they are spoken to, the less will they listen to reason, and finally the stone-cutters were set to work on the stone.

But now a circumstance occurred which would have moved any man less determined than Hocart from his purpose. Every stroke of the hammer on the stone was heard as distinctly at the Church of St. Michel du Valle, distant nearly a mile, as if the quarrymen were at work in the very churchyard itself![52] Orders were nevertheless given to the men to continue their work. The stone was cut into building materials, and the new house was rapidly approaching completion without accident or stoppage. Hocart laughed at the predictions of the old men, who had foretold all sorts of disasters.

At last the day arrived when the carpenters were to quit the house. Two servant maids,--or, as others have it, a servant man and a maid,--were sent at an early hour to assist in cleaning and putting things to rights for the reception of the family, but at eight o’clock in the morning a fire broke out in the house, and its progress was so rapid that the poor servants had not time to save themselves, but perished in the flames. Before noon the house was one heap of smoking ruins, but it could never be discovered how the fire had originated.

Hocart’s misfortunes, however, were not at an end. Some part of the rock had been cut into paving stones for the English market, and the refuse broken up into small fragments for making and repairing roads. In the course of the year the one and the other were embarked for England on board of two vessels in which Hocart had an interest as shareholder, but, strange to say, both vessels perished at sea.

Hocart himself went to reside in Alderney, but was scarcely settled there when a fire broke out and destroyed his new dwelling.

He then determined on returning to Guernsey, but when close to land a portion of the rigging of the vessel on board which he sailed, fell on his head, fractured his skull, and he died immediately.[53]

There is another instance given of the ill luck which waits on those who interfere with the Cromlech and disturb the repose of the mighty dead[54] in the “Legend of La Haye du Puits,” which is drawn from an ancient chronicle and published in versified form by “M. A. C.,” with extracts from Mrs. White’s notes. The legend runs thus:--

In the reign of Henry II. of England Geoffrey of Anjou raised a rebellion against him in Normandy. Not wishing to be a rebel, Sir Richard of La Haye du Puits, a noble Norman knight, fled from thence to Guernsey, and landed in Saints’ Bay. He settled in Guernsey and proceeded to build himself a house, which he named after his Norman mansion “La Haye du Puits.” Unfortunately for himself, in so doing he destroyed an old Cromlech. All the inhabitants told him that he would in consequence become cursed, and a settled gloom descended upon him. Nothing could cheer him; he felt he was a doomed man. At last he thought that perhaps by resigning the house and dedicating it to God he might avert his fate. So he gave it to the Church, and turned it into a nunnery, making it a condition that the abbess and nuns should daily pray that the curse might be removed from him.

He then set sail from Rocquaine Bay, for France, the rebellion being over, and his wife, Matilda, awaiting him in their old home. But on his way his ship was captured by Moorish pirates, and he was taken as prisoner to Barbary. When there, his handsome presence made so much impression on the governor’s wife that she entreated he might be allowed to guard the tower where she resided with her maidens.

What was his astonishment when one of them looked out, and, recognising a fellow countryman, called out and told him that she was Adèle, daughter of his old friend and neighbour, Ranulph. She also had been taken prisoner by these pirates, by whom her father had been killed; she implored him to effect her escape. She handed him her jewels, and with these he bribed their jailers, and he, she, and her nurse Alice, all managed to escape to France. He took her to the Norman “Haye du Puits,” and there, according to the old chronicle, he found his wife, Matilda, and all “in a right prosperous and flourishing condition.” From there Adèle married a Hugh d’Estaile, a young Norman knight, high in the favour of King Henry.

But the spirits of the Cromlech were not yet appeased. Sir Richard could not shake off the brooding care and haunting night-mares which always oppressed him, though he tried to propitiate heaven by building two churches in Normandy, “St. Marie du Parc,” and “St. Michel du Bosq,” “for the deliverance of his soul,” but it was of no avail, and he died, a wretched and broken-down man. Even the nuns in the Convent of the Haye du Puits were so harassed and distressed, that finally they decided to leave it; it is said that one unquiet nun haunts the house to this day. Since then it has passed through many hands, but tradition says that for many years it never brought good fortune to its possessors.

[52] I have heard that the strokes of the hammer were heard in the town when La Roque qui Sonne was broken up. A spot was shewn me some years since as the site where this stone stood. I cannot exactly define the spot, but know it was to the east of the Vale Parochial School.--_From John de Garis, Esq., of Les Rouvets._

[53] From the late Mr. Thomas Hocart, of Marshfield, nephew of the Hocart to whom these events occurred.

[54] EDITOR’S NOTE.--In _Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute Bretagne_, Vol. I., p. 32, M. Sebillot says: “En beaucoup d’endroits, on pense qu’il est dangereux de détruire les pierres druidiques, parceque les esprits qui les ont construits ne manqueraient pas de se venger.” See also “Amélie Rosquet, p. 186 of _La Normandie Romanesque_.”

“LE TOMBEAU DU GRAND SARRAZIN.”

In the district called Le Tort Càmp, near Paradis, was one of the principal Cromlechs at the Vale, now quarried away, called “L’Autel,” or “Le Tombeau du Grand Sarrazin.” Who “Le Grand Sarrazin” was, it is now impossible to say. He is also called Le Grand Geffroi, and his castle--from whence the name “Le Castel”--stood where the Church of Ste. Marie-du-Castel now stands. He must have been one of those piratical sea kings, who, under the various appellations of Angles, Saxons, Danes, and Northmen or Normans, issued from the countries bordering on the North Sea and the Baltic, and invaded the more favoured regions of Britain and Gaul. The name “Geffroy,” (_Gudfrid_, or “la paix de Dieu”) seems to confirm this tradition. As to the term “Sarrazin”--Saracen, although originally given to the Mahometans who invaded the southern countries of Europe, it came to be applied indifferently to all marauding bands; and Wace, the poet and historian, a native of Jersey, who lived and wrote in the reign of Henry II., in speaking of the descent of the Northmen on these islands, calls them expressly “La Gent Sarrazine.” Among the many Geoffreys of the North whom history celebrates, there is one, a son of King Regnar, who may be the one celebrated in our local traditions. Charles the Bald yielded to him “a county on the Sequanic shore.”

At that time the coast of Gaul was divided into three sea-borders, namely, the Flemish, the Aquitanian, and the Sequanic, called “Sequanicum littus” by Paul Warnefrid, who places one of these islands near it.

That his castle stood at one time on the site of the present church, is confirmed by the discoveries which have frequently been made in digging graves, of considerable masses of solid masonry, which appear to be the foundations of former outworks of the fortress. It is even possible that some portions of the walls of the church may be the remains of the earlier building. There are also in the neighbourhood “Le Fief Geffroi” and “Le Camp Geffroi.”[55]

[55] EDITOR’S NOTE.--Referring to “Le Grand Sarrazin,” Dupont says in his _Histoire du Cotentin et ses Iles_, Vol I., p. 140-41:--“Le personnage ainsi désigné ne peut être que l’un de ces avanturiers Norses qui furent souvent confondus avec les Sarrazins. Wace lui-même appelle les envahisseurs des îles les “_gent Sarrazine_.” Le “Grand Geffroi” était, selon toute vrai semblance le célèbre Jarl _Godefrid_ ou _Godefroy_ fils d’Hériald. Son père, après avoir détruit l’eglise du Mont Saint Michel fut assassiné par les comtes francs, et pour le venger, il se jeta sur la Frise et sur la Neustrie. Après trois ans de ravage il se fit, en 850, concéder par Charles-le-Chauve une certaine étendue de terre, que le savant danois Suhne conjecture avoir été située dans nôtre province. L’histoire générale, on le voit, confirme donc singulièrement la tradition conservée à Guernesey, en lui donnant une date précise; et cette tradition elle-même rend à peu près certain le fait fort intéressant, et si souvent obscur, d’un établissement permament des Normands en Neustrie, plus d’un demi-siècle avant sa prise en possession par Rolle; elle prouve, enfin, le rôle important que les îles du Contentin remplirent durant ces époques calamiteuses.”

“L’AUTEL DE DÉHUS.”

Quite close to where “Le Tombeau du Grand Sarrazin” was situated, close to the Pointe au Norman, in the environs of Paradis,[56] in the Vale parish, and bordering on the Hougues d’Enfer, is the Pouquelêh de Déhus. This spot, as well as some fields in the Castel parish called “Les Déhusets” or “Les Tuzets,” are supposed to be favourite resorts of the fairies.

M. de Villemarque, in his _Barzas-Breiz_, the work so well known to folk-lorists, tells us that the Bretons gave the imps or goblins, whom they call pigmies, amongst others the name of “Duz,” diminutive “Duzik,” a name they bore in the time of St. Augustine; and he also says that they, like fairies, inhabit Dolmens. Mr. Métivier explains the name “Déhus” or “Dhuss” as the “God of the Dead, and of Riches,” the _Dis_ of the Gauls in the time of Cæsar, _Théos_ in Greek, _Deus_ in Latin--le Dus, or le Duc. He says “Our _Dehussets_ are nothing but _Dhus i gou_, spirits of the dead and goblins of the deep.”

The exterior circle measures sixty feet in diameter, by forty in length, and the direction is from east to west. The enormous block of granite which serves as a roof to the western chamber is the most striking part of it. At the extremity of this chamber is a cell, the outer compartment eleven feet in length by nine in width. The adjoining one is of the same length. On the northern side a singular appendix in the form of a side chamber joins the two smaller rooms just described. There has also been discovered a fifth cell, the roof of which was formed of granite resting on three or four pillars, at the corner of the northern chamber. But the most interesting discovery of all was that of two kneeling skeletons, side by side, but placed in opposite positions, that is to say, one looking towards the north, the other towards the south. Besides these, bones of persons of both sexes and all ages, a stone hatchet, some pottery and limpet shells, were also found inside this place of sepulchre. It was long supposed to be haunted by fairies, imps, and ghosts, perhaps the same spirits who, in the haunted field of “Les Tuzés,” are reported to have removed the foundations of the intended Parish Church of the Castel to its present site. There is also a “Le Déhuzel” in the neighbourhood of the Celtic remains near L’Erée.

[56] EDITOR’S NOTE.--Près de Louvigné-du-Désert, est un groupe de dix à douze blocs gigantiques de granite. On a aussi donné le nom de “Rue de _Paradis_, du _Purgatoire_, et de _l’Enfer_” aux intervalles étroits qui séparent ces énormes blocs.--_Traditions de la Haute Bretagne_, par Paul Sebillot, T. I., p. 34.

“LE TRÉPIED, OR THE CATIOROC.”

This Cromlech is on a rocky promontory, south-west of Perelle Bay, in the beautiful parish of St. Saviour’s. The derivation of its name, “Castiau-Roc”--as it is properly--is from the “_Castelh Carreg_” “Castle Rock” of the Gauls. As one approaches it one is struck by the vestiges of Cromlechs with their circles, and bits of “Longues Roques.” In olden days, before so much of the surroundings were quarried away, this must have been only one among many other conspicuous objects down there. The names “La Roque Fendue,” “La Roque au Tonnerre,” “Plateau ès Roques,” “La Pièche des Grandes Roques du Castiau-Roc,” which are mentioned in various “Livres de Perquages,” are all that remain of these ancient remains. Much to be regretted is the disappearance of the “Portes du Castiau-Roc,” which might perhaps have helped us to define with some exactitude where this problematic castle once stood, and perhaps identify it with the fortified mounts of the Celts and Irish. It is noted in our island annals for being the midnight haunt of our witches and wizards. In the trials for witchcraft held under Amias de Carteret in the beginning of the seventeenth century, it was there that his trembling victims confessed to having come and danced on Friday nights, in honour of the gigantic cat or goat with black fur, called “Baal-Bérith” or “Barberi,” nowadays “Lucifer.” Near this rock was the “Chapel of the Holy Virgin” on Lihou Island, now in ruins, and it is said that the witches even defied the influence of “the Star of the Sea,” shouting in chorus while they danced,

_“Qué, hou, hou,_ _Marie Lihou.”_

This monument is like the “Tables en Trépied,” and analogous to the “Lhêch y Drybedh” of the county of Pembroke, in Wales. There were altars in this form and of this description in almost every canton of the island. One, near the Chapel of St. George, is quite destroyed, and there are now no traces left of another between the Haye-du-Puits, and the Villocq. In the environs of the Castiau-Roc bones and arms have been found.[57]

“LE CREUX ES FAÏES.”

This Cromlech is situated on the Houmet Nicolle at the point of L’Erée, (so called from the branch of the sea, _Eiré_, which separates it from the islet of Notre Dame de Lihou). This island, which once had upon it a chapel and a priory dedicated to “Notre Dame de la Roche,” was always considered so sacred a spot that even to-day the fishermen salute it in passing.

This Creux is a Dolmen of the nature of those which are called in France “allées couvertes,” perfectly well preserved, and partly covered with earth. The researches which have been made in these ancient monuments of antiquity prove them to have been places of sepulchre. This one consists of a chamber seven feet high, and covered with a roof of two blocks of granite, each fifteen feet long and ten broad. The entrance faces east, and is only two feet eight inches wide, but soon enlarges, and the interior is almost uniformly eleven feet wide.

This is, as its name would lead one to suppose, a favourite haunt of the fairies, or perhaps, to speak more correctly, their usual dwelling place.

It is related that a man who happened to be lying on the grass near it, heard a voice within calling out: “_La païlle, la païlle, le fouar est caûd_.” (The shovel,[58] the oven is hot). To which the answer was immediately returned: “_Bon! J’airon de la gâche bientôt_.” (Good! We shall have some cake presently.)

Another version from Mrs. Savidan is that some men were ploughing in a field belonging to Mr. Le Cheminant, just below the Cromlech, when the voice was heard saying “_La paille_,” _etc._ One of them answered, “_Bon! J’airon de la gâche_,” and almost immediately afterwards a cake, quite hot, fell into one of the furrows. One of the men immediately ran forward and seized it, exclaiming that he would have a piece to take home to his wife, but on stooping to take it up he received such a buffet on the head as stretched him at full length on the ground. It is from here that the fairies issue on the night of the full moon to dance on Mont Saint till daybreak.[59]

[57] See _Archæological Journal_, Vol. I., p. 202, for an engraving of this Castiau-Roc.

[58] EDITOR’S NOTE.--“La païlle à four, is, in the country, usually a wooden shovel with a long handle. It is used for putting things in the oven when hot, and taking them out when baked.”

[59] EDITOR’S NOTE.--This is still believed, for in 1896, when my aunt, Mrs. Curtis, bought some land on Mont Saint, and built a house there, the country people told her that it was very unlucky to go there and disturb the fairy people in the spot where they dance.

My cousin, Miss Le Pelley, writes in 1896 from St. Pierre-du-Bois, saying “The people still believe the Creux des Fées and ‘Le Trepied’ to have been the fairies’ houses, and as proof one woman told me that when they dug down they found all kinds of pots and pans and china things.”

“LA LONGUE ROQUE” OR “PALETTE ES FAÏES.”

In a field in the parish of St. Pierre-du-Bois, on the way to L’Erée and in the neighbourhood of the secluded valley of St. Brioc and the woody nook in which the ancient chapel dedicated to that Saint once stood, stands one of those Celtic monuments, many of which are still to be seen in Brittany and Cornwall, and which are known in those countries by the name of “Menhir.” This word in the Breton tongue, and in its cognate dialect the ancient language of Cornwall, signifies “long stone.” The name which similar monuments bear in Normandy and Brittany in this island is “longue pierre” or “longue roque,” a literal translation of the Celtic name. There must have been at one time many “longues roques” in Guernsey. Another still stands in a field near the road at Richmond. There was in 1581 “la pièche de la longue pierre, la pierre séante dedans,”--a part of the Fief ès Cherfs, at the Castel. There was also “la Roque Séante dans le courtil de la Hougue au Comte,” and the “Roque-à-Bœuf dans le Courtil au Sucq du chemin de l’église,” near St. George, but these latter have long since disappeared, though a house near the field still bears the name.

Antiquaries are very much divided in opinion as to the original destination of these singular masses of rock; it is not wonderful that they should prove a puzzle and a source of wonder to the unlettered peasantry. How were such immense blocks placed upright, and for what purpose? The agency of supernatural beings is an easy answer to the question, and some such cause is usually assigned for their origin by the tradition of the country. Sometimes they are the work of fairies, sometimes of giants and magicians, and sometimes they are said to be mortals changed into stone by an offended deity for some sacrilegious act, or heroes petrified as a lasting testimony of their exploits.

The Menhir at St. Peter’s-in-the-Wood stands in a field at Les Paysans, so called from the name of the extinct family who once possessed it. It is over ten feet in height, and about three feet wide, and the people’s name for it, “Palette ès faïes”--the fairies’ battledore,--describes it exactly. Tradition says that in former days a man who was returning homewards at a very late hour of the night, or who had risen before the lark to visit his nets in Rocquaine Bay, was astonished at meeting a woman of very diminutive stature coming up the hill from the sea-shore. She was knitting, while carrying in her apron something with as much care and tenderness as if it had been a clutch of eggs, or a newly-born babe. The man’s curiosity was excited, and he determined to watch the little woman. He therefore concealed himself behind a hedge and followed her movements. At last the woman stopped, and great was the astonishment of the countryman when he saw her produce a mass of stone of at least fifteen feet in length, and stick it upright in the midst of the field, with as much ease as if she were merely sticking a pin into a pincushion. He then comprehended that the unknown female could be no other than a denizen of fairy-land, but what could be her object in erecting such a monument? The people are at a loss in finding an answer to this question. Some say the stone was placed there by the fairies to serve them as a mark when they played at ball.[60]

There is another story told to account for “La Palette ès Faïes.” It is well known that Rocquaine and its environs was the abode _par excellence_ of the fairy folk, and in the valley of St. Brioc two of these fairies once lived. Whether they were father and son, or what other relationship existed between them, is not known, but among the human inhabitants of the valley they went by the names of Le Grand Colin and Le Petit Colin. They were fond of sports, and occasionally amused themselves with a game of ball on the open and tolerably level fields of Les Paysans. On one occasion they had placed their boundary marks, and had played some rounds, when Le Grand Colin struck the ball with such force that it bounded off quite out of sight. Le Petit Colin, whose turn it was to play, called out to his companion, with some degree of ill-humour, that the ball had disappeared beyond the bounds, on which Le Grand Colin struck his bat with force into the ground, and said he would play no more. The bat still remains in the centre of the field, and the ball--an enormous spherical boulder--is pointed out on the sea-shore near Les Pezeries, fully a mile and a half off.[61]

[60] From Miss Lane, afterwards Mrs. Lane-Clarke.

EDITOR’S NOTE.--See in _Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute Bretagne_ par Paul Sebillot, Tome I., p. 10 and 11, etc.:--“Les Roches aux Fées qui sont vers Saint-Didier et Marpiré (Ille-et-Vilaine) ont été elevées par les Fées; elles prenaient les plus grosses pierres du pays et les apportaient dans leurs tabliers.… Près du bois du Rocher en Pleudihan, sur la route de Dinan à Dol, est un dolmen que les fées, disent les gens du pays, ont apporté dant leurs ‘devantières’ (tabliers).”

[61] From William Le Poidevin.

EDITOR’S NOTES.--These two traditions are still told by the country people in 1896.

“LA ROQUE DES FAÏES.”

A little beyond the village called “Le Bourg de la Forêt” there stood formerly an upright stone, which was known by the name of “La Roque des Faïes,”--the fairies’ stone. It was unfortunately destroyed when the road was improved. The people in the neighbourhood were rather shy of passing it at night, as it was believed that the place was haunted, and that fairies held their nightly revels there. Like other stones of a similar nature it was said to have been placed there by the elves to serve as a goal or mark in their games of ball or bowls; and, according to some accounts, the “Longue Roque” at “Les Paysans” in the adjoining parish of St. Pierre-du-Bois was the other boundary. It is not at all unlikely that these stones may really have served for such a purpose in days of yore, if not for the fairy-folk, at least for mortals. What is more probable than that the peasantry of the islands should have had the same games as existed until lately in Cornwall under the name of “hurling,” and in Brittany under the name of “La Soule,” as well as elsewhere, in which the young men of the neighbouring districts met at certain seasons on the confines of their respective parishes, and contended which should first bear a ball to a spot previously fixed on as the goal in each?

It is said that the spot where the stone in question stood was originally fixed on as the site of the Parish Church of the Forest; but that, after all the materials had been got together for the purpose of laying the foundations of the sacred edifice they were removed in the short space of one night by the fairies to the place where the church now stands, the little people thus resenting the intrusion on their domain.[62]

[62] From Mrs. Richard Murton, born Caroline Le Tullier.

“LE GIBET DES FAÏES.”

A Celtic monument of the kind commonly known to antiquaries by the name of “trilethon” is said to have existed formerly on the Common at L’Ancresse, near La Hougue Patris. It is described by old people who remember to have seen it in their youth as consisting of three upright stones or props, supporting a fourth, overhanging the others. It was known by the name of “Le Gibet des Fâïes.” Near it was a fountain called “La Fontaine des Fâïes,” the water of which, although not plentiful, was never known to fail entirely, even in the very driest seasons; it is said to have been below the surface in a kind of artificial cave formed by huge blocks of stone, and entered by two openings on different sides. The proprietor of the land many years ago broke up the stones for building purposes and converted the fountain into a well.[63]

[63] EDITOR’S NOTE. STONE ON LA MOYE ESTATE.

They are still firmly convinced in the Vale parish of the sanctity of Druidical stones, and various stones, which are not generally regarded as being Druidical remains, were pointed out to me by Miss Falla, (whose ancestors for hundreds of years have been landed proprietors at the Vale), as being sacred, and, she added, that her father and grandfathers would have considered it sacrilege to touch them.

Such are the large upright stones in the field Le Courtil-ès-Arbres, immediately opposite the house called Sohier, which is owned by Miss Falla, who said that her uncle, at one time, wished to quarry in that field, but was deterred by his neighbours, who pointed out to him the folly and impiety of meddling with “les pierres saintes.” Beyond the Ville-ès-Pies is a field containing large stones; it has been extensively quarried, but the stones have been religiously preserved, and are seen on an isolated hillock in the field, their height being intensified by the deep quarries round them.

The cottage which is built on the remains of St. Magloire’s Chapel, is supposed to be built on its own old foundation stone, as the workmen when building the cottage, thought it would be sacrilege to interfere with it.

There is a field called La Houmière, opposite an estate called La Moye, which also belonged to the Fallas for many generations, and is now in the possession of Miss Falla’s brother. In this field is one solitary upright stone, and to this stone a most extraordinary superstition is attached. It is a grass field and is grown in hay, but for generations the mowers have always been forbidden to cut the hay _round_ and _past_ the stone till all the other hay has been cut and carted, for if they do, however fine the weather may previously have been, it invariably brings on a storm of wind and rain! So, taught by experience, it has always been the rule, and still continues, that, though the outer edge of the field may be cut, the stone itself and its “entourage” are not to be touched till the very last, for fear of bringing on the rain in the middle of the hay making.--(_From Miss Falla_).

OLD FIGURES IN THE CHURCHYARDS OF ST. MARTIN’S AND THE CASTEL.

In the course of some works recently (1878) undertaken for reseating the Parish Church of Ste. Marie-du-Castel, two discoveries were made, which are of great interest. One is a sort of oven or furnace, which was found below the surface of the floor of the church, and immediately under the apex of the westernmost arch, between the nave and the south aisle. It lies north and south, extending into the nave; but what appears to have been the mouth does not reach southward beyond the arch, no part of it being in the south aisle. If this aisle is really a more recent addition to the original building, the mouth of the furnace may have been at one time in an outer wall. The whole length is eight feet, the width two feet three inches, and the depth three feet six inches. The sides are roughly masoned and the northern end slightly rounded. A length of about three feet at the south end is arched over with stones, which have evidently been subjected to great heat. This part is immediately under the arch between the nave and the south aisle. The remaining five feet of the excavation retain no traces whatever of an arch, and are situated entirely in the nave. The floor of the excavation is of hard compact gravel, covered with ashes, among which were several pieces of charcoal and a few small fragments of brass, perhaps bell-metal. The northern end seems to have been used as a sort of ossuary, into which the bones dug up in making fresh interments in the church were thrown pell-mell, the remains of no less than nine skulls, mingled with other osseous remains, having been found here. These bore no marks of fire, from which we may conclude that the place had ceased to be used as an oven or furnace when they were deposited there. I had forgotten to mention that at the south end of the excavation was found a tile of about one and a-half inches in thickness, twelve inches in length, and nine inches in width, with a notch in it for the fingers, such as we see in the sliding lid of a box. A few fragments of moulded tiles were found mingled with the earth, which the architect believed to be Roman. With the exception of a few coins, no other Roman remains have ever been found in Guernsey. The nave of the church and the westernmost bay of the aisle had, in olden days, been walled off from the rest of the building, and served as a sort of vestibule and place where the cannons and other military stores belonging to the Militia or trained bands of the parish were kept. Perhaps the furnace may have been used for casting balls, of which one at least has been found in the building. Some think it may have been used for the casting of a bell, but the bells at present in the tower throw no light on the subject, having been re-cast in England about the beginning of the nineteenth century. There is no appearance of any chimney or flue leading from the furnace ever having existed, and the reason of its position within the church, and the use to which it was put, must, we fear, ever remain an enigma.

After this long digression we will go on to the other discovery made at the same time; which presents another puzzle equally unsolved.

Just within the chancel, at about an equal distance from the north and south walls, about a foot below the surface, was found a mass of granite, lying east and west, and turned over on its left side. It has all the appearance of a natural boulder somewhat fashioned by art, and cannot be described better than by saying that it is in shape like a mummy case, the back being rounded and slightly curved and the front nearly flat, with the exception of the upper portion of the figure, which indicates that it was intended to represent a female. The total length is six feet six inches, the width across the shoulders two feet three inches, and the portion corresponding with the head one foot three inches from the top of the forehead to the shoulders. It tapers slightly towards the foot. On each side of the head, extending from the forehead to the breast, are two ridges raised above the surface of the stone, which may have been intended to represent either a veil or tresses of hair. There are no traces of any features remaining, but what should be the face bears evident marks of having been subjected to the action of a hammer or chisel, as also does the right breast.

The stone is altogether too rude and mis-shapen to warrant the supposition that it can have been intended to cover a grave, although its place in the chancel, and its lying with its head to the west, may appear to favour this idea; but what renders the discovery of this stone more interesting and gives rise to conjecture, is the fact that in the churchyard of St. Martin-de-la-Beilleuse another stone of about the same size, precisely similar in outline, but in a far better state of preservation, exists in the form of a gatepost. In this last the features, very coarsely sculptured, and only slightly raised on a flat surface, are distinctly visible; a row of small knobs, intended either for curls or a chaplet encircles the forehead, and a sort of drapery in regular folds radiates from the chin to the shoulders and breasts, which are uncovered, leaving no doubt that in this case, as in the stone found in the Church of Ste. Marie-du-Castel, a female figure was intended to be represented. A confused idea exists among the parishioners of St. Martin’s that the stone in their churchyard was once an idol; and it is not many years ago that a puritanical churchwarden was with difficulty dissuaded from having it broken up, lest it should once more become an object of adoration. In fact the stone was broken in half by his orders, and had to be cemented together again.

The Church of St. Martin’s is called St. Martin-de-la-Bellouse or Beilleuse, a name which an adjoining property bears to this day. The meaning of this word “Bellouse” or “Beilleuse” is unknown; but if, as some have asserted, the early inhabitants of the British Isles worshipped a deity of the name of Bel, it is not impossible that there may have been some female divinity, with a name derived from the same source.

It is certainly somewhat remarkable that two stones, so very similar in character, should exist in connection with two churches in the same island, and that one of them should have been found in so singular a position. One is tempted to believe that both churches may have been built on spots which had previously been set apart as places of heathen worship, and that in the case of Ste. Marie-du-Castel the idol had been defaced and buried in the earth to put a stop to the adoration paid to it.

It is well known that up to the end of the seventeenth century the inhabitants of a district in the Department du Morbihan, in Brittany, adored with superstitious and obscene rites a rude stone image commonly known as “La Vénus de Quinipilly,” and which was certainly not a Christian image. May not the stones here described have served also as objects of worship? The substitution of the Blessed Virgin for a female divinity is what one may reasonably suppose to have taken place, and the continuance of superstitious practices in connection with the idol may have led to its defacement and concealment below the floor of the sacred edifice.[64]

[64] The Antiquarian Society. Proceedings 1879.

EDITOR’S NOTES.

This old figure is still regarded with peculiar affection by the people of St. Martin’s. “_La Gran’mère du Chimquière_,”--“the Grandmother of the Churchyard,”--they call it, though I have heard one or two very old people call it “St. Martin,” evidently regardless of sex, regarding it as the patron saint of the parish.

Undoubtedly superstitious reverence used to be paid to it to within comparatively recent times, which probably accounts for the churchwarden wishing to have it removed. An old Miss Fallaize, aged eighty, told me that when she was a child the “old people” had told her that it was “lucky” to place a little offering of fruit, flowers, or even to spill a little drop of spirits in front of it, for it was holy--“c’était une pierre sainte” as she expressed it; and an old man named Tourtel, well over eighty, said that when he was a boy it was feared--“on la craignait” much more than they do now.

There is a stone face, very much the same type as that of this figure, over the door of a house at the Villette. It is a house in the district called “La Marette,” and belongs to some old Miss Olliviers. They can offer no explanation to account for its presence, but said that the house was covered with creepers, and it was only when some myrtle which covered it was blown down in a gale that it was discovered by their father to be there. Of course it may have belonged to some other old idol which was broken up, and afterwards used for building purposes, but no tradition lingers to account for it in any way.

The earliest account of the Guernsey Cromlechs was contributed to _Archæologia_, Vol. XVIII, p. 254, by Joshua Gosselin, Esq., as follows:--

“AN ACCOUNT OF SOME DRUIDICAL REMAINS IN THE ISLAND OF GUERNSEY, BY JOSHUA GOSSELIN, ESQ., IN A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR JOSEPH BANKS, BART., K.B., P.R.S., F.S.A.

“Guernsey, November 9th, 1811.

“MY DEAR SIR,--A small temporary redoubt was constructed some few years back, on a height near the shore, on the left of L’Ancresse Bay, three miles from the town in this island. The ground on which this redoubt stood, being composed of a sandy turf, was by degrees levelled by the wind, and the edges of some stones were thereby discovered, which, upon inspection, I immediately knew to belong to a Cromlech or Druidical Temple. I send you a drawing of this Temple (plate 18) as it appeared after the sand, which had covered it to the depth of three or four feet, was removed.… The largest of the stones weighs about twenty tons. They are supported by stones of the same kind, the highest being about six and a-half feet above the ground. The temple slopes from west to east; the length of it is thirty-two feet, and the greatest width between the supporting stones is twelve feet. The soldiers, who were employed in clearing away the sand, have assured me that there was a stone which closed the entrance into the temple, that some steps led down into it, and that there was a pavement of small pebbles, but I cannot vouch for the truth of these particulars. When I saw the Cromlech there was certainly no vestige of any steps or pavement. There was, however, a quantity of human and different animal bones found in it, likewise some broken pieces of coarse earthen vessels, together with some limpets, such as are on the rocks in the bay, a few cockle shells and land snails. These last might have been blown into it by the wind, when it filled with sand, as there are plenty of them on the adjoining common. Some of the fragments of vessels seem to have been blackened with fire, and bear the appearance of antiquity; a vessel of reddish clay was found whole, which held somewhat more than a quart, and was of the shape of a common tea cup. A flat circular bone of some fish, of the shape of a disk, and about nine inches in diameter, was discovered, together with an old fishhook, the former of which was given by the soldiers to Sir John Doyle. I was only able to procure for myself some of the fragments of broken ware. About eighteen feet distance from the foot of the temple there are remains of a circle of stones which probably surrounded it; they are placed about a foot above the ground, and in general about two feet distant from each other. At about forty-two feet from the temple there appears to have been another circle of stones of a larger size than those of the inner circle, but there are very few of them remaining. As this temple stands upon the top of a hill, it is the intention of some gentlemen in the island to have so much of the sand on each side of it removed, as may render it visible to all the surrounding country.

“We have three more such temples in this island, but not so complete, nor so large, as the one I have just described. One of these is situated near Paradis, at the Clos of the Vale, and is called ‘La Pierre du Déhus.’ It stands on a rising ground, and slopes towards the east-north-east. The stones are of a grey granite. The supporting, or upright stones, are two and a-half feet above the ground in the inside, and could not be more, as the bottom is rocky; they form a parallelogram in the inside of twelve feet broad.

“Another of these temples is seen at the Catioroc, at St. Saviour’s, and the third is situated between L’Ancresse Bay and the Valle Church, and is partly concealed by furze.

“Some years ago I discovered a very large Logan or rocking stone, or a rock at the opposite side of L’Ancresse Bay, which could easily be rocked by a child; but within these three years it has been entirely destroyed, and no vestige of it now remains. An ancient manuscript says that this island was originally inhabited by fishermen, who were Pagans, and used to place large stones one upon another, near the sea shore, on which they performed their sacrifices. The stones of this kind, which are now extant, are certainly all situated near the sea shore, and this circumstance so far corroborates the information given in the manuscript.

“I have the honour to be, Dear Sir,

“Your obliged and very humble servant,

“JOSHUA GOSSELIN.”

This article is illustrated by plates drawn by the author, viz., “Temple of L’Ancresse in the Valle Parish, Guernsey,” “Plan of the surface of the Temple at L’Ancresse,” “Views of the Temple” called “La Pierre du Déhus,” from the W.S.W. and the E.N.E. “Plan of the surface of Déhus,” North and South Views of the “Temple at the Catioroc,” and “The Temple among the Furze between L’Ancresse Bay and the Valle Church.”