[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.”
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.
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,
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]
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]
[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.”
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]
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).”
Editor’s Notes.—These two traditions are still told by the country people in 1896.
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]
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).
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]
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.”
Creux des Fâïes.
There are many spots in Guernsey connected with stories and legends besides the Druidical remains. The caverns of the Creux des Fées and Creux Mahié; the various curiously shaped rocks, formed by the hand of Nature, or by the wearing action of the waves; the marks of footprints, whether human or diabolical, on various stones; and above all the sacred fountains, which are still regarded as medicinal, have given rise to many a tradition, which, though they lose much of their charm from being translated from the quaint Guernsey French in which they are originally related, we will here endeavour to render.
Between the bays of Vazon and Cobo is found the peninsula of Houmet, and here is situated the “Creux des Fées.” It is a small cavern, worn away by the action of the sea. The granite surrounding its mouth abounds in particles of mica, which glitter in the sun like streaks of gold. It can only be approached at low tide, and necessitates much scrambling over the rocks which are heaped round the mouth of the grotto. It is said that by a hole not larger than the mouth of an oven, you gain access to a spacious hall, hollowed out of the rock, that in the middle of this hall is a stone table on which are dishes, plates, drinking cups, and everything necessary for a large feast, all in stone, and all used by the fairies, but no one has had the courage to penetrate inside and test the truth of this assertion. It is also believed that beyond it there is a subterranean passage which leads to the bottom of St. Saviour’s Church, which is distant more than two miles. This tradition of a subterranean passage leading to a church at a considerable distance is told of other caverns in Guernsey. Of the Creux Mahié, where there is also said to be a passage leading to St. Saviour’s Church, of a large cave in Moulin Huet Bay, which is supposed to lead to a passage going straight to St. Martin’s Church, and one at Saints’ Bay, also supposed to lead to St. Saviour’s Church.
Editor’s Note.—“Le groupe le plus important de demeures de fées que j’aie rencontré est celui des Houles (l’anglais hole, caverne, grotte).” … “Elles se prolongent sous terre si loin, que personne, dit-on, n’est allé jusqu’au fond … parfois on les appelle Chambres des fées. Il y en a où l’on voit, dit-on, des tables de pierre sur lesquelles elles mangeaient, leurs sièges, et les berceaux en pierre de leurs enfants.”—Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute Bretagne, p. 84.
The whole of the southern coast of Guernsey, from Jerbourg, or St. Martin’s Point, to Pleinmont in the parish of Torteval, is extremely precipitous, but abounding in picturesque beauties of no common character. Bold headlands, with outlying granite rocks rising like pyramids and obelisks from the clear blue sea, alternating with caves and bays to which access is gained through deep glens and ravines, some richly wooded, some hemmed in on both sides by rugged hills, but through all of which a tiny rill of the purest water trickles, keeping up a perpetual verdure—slopes covered in early spring with the golden blossoms of the gorse, in summer with the purple bells of the heather, and in autumn with the rich brown fronds of the withering bracken—cliffs mantled in parts with luxuriant ivy, in other with many coloured lichens, and out of every crevice of which the thrift, the campion, and other flowers that delight in the vicinity of the sea, burst in wild profusion—all combine to form pictures which the artist and the lover of nature are never tired of studying.
The constant action of the waves for unnumbered centuries has worn out many caverns in these cliffs, the most considerable of which is that known by the name of “Le Creux Mahié,” or as some old writers wrote it “Mahio,” and it undoubtedly took its name, so says Mr. Métivier, from its ancient proprietor, the king of the infernal regions.
The Hindoos have the same name in their Maha-Dêva, a giant of the family of the dives or demons.[65] In the province of Mayo, there is a Sorcerer or Druid, the Priest of Mayo, who lives in a cavern, and is called “the King of the Waters.”
It is also sometimes called “Le Creux Robilliard,” from a family of that name on whose property it was situated. It lies in the parish of Torteval, and is reached by a narrow pathway, winding down the almost precipitous side of a steep cliff, into a small creek worn out by the sea between the headlands. The cave itself, there can be no doubt, must have been formed by the waves wearing away gradually a vein of decomposed rock, softer than that which forms the sides and roof. At some remote period a large portion of the rock which forms the roof of the cavern has given way, and has partially blocked up the entrance, leaving only a long low fissure through which access can be had to the interior, and forming a sort of platform of solid stone, which effectually cuts off any further encroachment on the part of the sea. A steep descent over broken fragments of rock leads down to the floor of the cave, which appears to be nearly on a level with the beach at the foot of the platform. A glimmering light from the entrance enables one to see that the rock arches overhead in a sort of dome, and a bundle of dry furze or other brushwood, set on fire, lights it up sufficiently to bring out all the details. It is a weird sight; as the flickering flames illumine one by one the various masses of rock that are piled up to the roof at the extremity of the cavern, and disclose the entrances to two or three smaller caves. These are, in reality, of no great depth, but they are sufficiently mysterious to have given rise to more than one report concerning them, and there are but few of the peasantry who would be bold enough to attempt to explore their recesses. It is firmly believed by them that there is a passage extending all the way under ground as far as the Church of St. Saviour’s, about a mile distant as the crow flies; and it is also affirmed that there is an entrance through a small hole to an extensive apartment, in the midst of which stands a stone table, on which are set out dishes, plates, drinking vessels, and other requisites for a well-served feast, all of the same solid material.[66]
There are obscure traditions of the cavern having been at some early period the resort of men who lived by stealing their neighbours’ sheep, and plundering their hen-roosts, but these traditions cannot be traced to anything more definite than what is commonly alleged of all such places, neither are the tales told of its having been the resort of smugglers more to be relied on. The difficulty of access to it, either by sea or land, makes it very improbable that it should have been used for this purpose; besides, in former days, Guernsey was a perfectly free port, nothing that entered was subject to any duty that it would have been profitable to evade, and before the establishment of a branch of the English Custom House, all exports could be made without the troublesome formalities of clearance and declaration now required. Of late years the smuggling of spirits into the island in order to avoid payment of the local dues in aid of the public revenue, has been carried on to rather a large extent; but this has taken place on more accessible parts of the coast. Possibly, however, tobacco made up in illegal packages, which would subject it to seizure if found waterborne, may occasionally have been deposited here for a time, until it could be carried off secretly to the French vessels passing the island in their coasting voyages between Normandy and Brittany.
In a letter dated May, 1665, to one of his friends in Guernsey, from the Rev. John de Sausmarez, who, on the restoration of Charles II., was appointed Dean of the Island, and subsequently Canon of Windsor, he alludes to “Le prophète du Creux Robilliard.” Who this prophet was does not appear, but there is every reason to believe that the allusion is to the Rev. Thomas Picot, Minister of the then united parishes of the Forest and Torteval, in the latter of which the Creux Mahié—alias Robilliard, is situated; for in the Assembly of Divines held at Westminster in 1644, articles were exhibited against this clergyman for troubling the Church discipline established in the island, preaching Anabaptist doctrines, and prophesying that in 1655 there should be a perfect reformation, men should do miracles, etc. This conjecture receives some slight confirmation from the fact that it is still remembered in the Forest parish that a Minister of the name of Picot was fond of retiring to caves on the sea-shore for meditation, and one of these caves in particular, that well known one in Petit Bot bay with a double entrance, is still known by the name of “Le Parloir de Monsieur Picot.”