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La Granhere du Chimquiere |
Replete with 3 days of the island’s Geology, 7 of us opted for a whistle stop tour of sites of archaeological interest which Pat Straw of La Societie Gurnesiaise kindly offered to lead for the group.
First port of call was to the church of St Martin de La Bellouse in the Diocese of Winchester to see a fine example of a Statue Menhir - stone carving. Called La Granmere du Cimquiere it is a beautifully carved " Mother goddess " from a boulder of weathered, grey Bordeaux Granite, complete with shoulder length hair and a head dress / necklace. Ascribed to the late neolithic / early bronze age she is typical of the deities worshipped for fertility. The face and headdress were probably re carved in Roman times.
The menhir was originally found in the churchyard and later utilised as a gate post. It has a large diagonal crack, evidence of a churchwardens attempt to destroy it because of it’s idolatry potential. Indeed, since it’s restoration and repositioning in the church wall it does regularly attract " offerings" and garlands. Today there was an intricately tied and carefully arranged set of wild flowers placed at the base.
Pat showed us a number of black and white photographs taken in different light conditions which change the apparent expression from happy through to sinister. There is a strong tradition of witches and fairies on the island and gruesome tales of babies being thrown on fires!
George wondered if the menhir had the same effect on divining rods as the standing stones at Avebury in Wiltshire – must remember to carry some in the ruck sack!
In keeping with many churches this one seems to have been built on a former pagan site as part of a desire to Christianise it, though there is no evidence on the site that any other stones or posts ever existed.
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La Granhere du Chimquiere |
Petit Bot Bay ( "Beautiful Bay") was our next stop. At the top of the lane deeply incised into the headland was a short menhir - Le Peron du Roi ( King’s Mounting Block). A stream cascaded and followed the lane and helped cause several recent, large rock falls on it’s way down to the bay. Pat had brought us here to see some sea cliffs as opposed to the relatively flat coast line we had been looking at for most of the weekend. The bay is small, flanked by quite high cliffs and the back face was eroded into sea caves along fault lines and where large dykes had weathered out.. The country rock was granitic but with large feldspar phenocrysts.
There is an old silver mine, out of sight, further round the bay. In 1974 "The Prosperity" was wrecked on the rocks just offshore, with the loss of 18 souls and made more tragic in that they could have walked across the rocks to the shore. In the centre of the bay car park was one of the many old martello towers scattered throughout the island and utilised by the Germans in WWII.
A short drive away we trundled down a narrow track to the cliff top view point overlooking Le Tielles Bay. The road stops just a few metres short of a low wall and sheer drop to the sea about 150’ below. The gorse covered rocky headlands are a haven for sea birds many of which were seen wheeling below us. The beauty spot has a similar reputation as Beachy Head for suicide leaps - a shame that the natural beauty cannot lift the hearts and minds driven to such despair. On the cliff top to our right there was a an old Custom House – Mont Herault Watchouse over looking the Atlantic Ocean and the large rollers crashing against the base of the cliffs that have formed a spectacular sea arch. The sparse local population speak the Guernsey patois.
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The cliffs at Le Tielles |
A revisit to Lihou Island, today bathed in warm sunshine, followed and Pat recounted the history of inhabitation. There was a priory, St Mary’s , built here in 1156 and an archaeological dig by Julian Richards unearthed many intersting finds. Female skeletons dated to 12 – 14th century’s buried together with animal, bird & fish remains and some French pottery from 1250. One of the monks was murdered by a servant in 1302 and later, in 1415 the priory was sequestered by Alien from Abbey Mont St Michel.
In 16th century it was converted into a farm house but was destroyed by the attentions of the military during the Napoleonic wars. In WWII the Germans also used the island for target practice. At one stage the abundant source of seaweed allowed an iodine factory to flourish.
The priory was in part built with Caen limestone. This stone can be easily carved when freshly quarried but quickly hardens and for this reason it is usually carved and formed at the quarry site. Other building stones included the Cobo granite and Bordeaux diorite.
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German Gun Control |
On the mainland behind us was another of the German gun control and communication towers with a network of trenches and shelters leading to and from cupola gun mountings. I couldn’t help but think that any troops stationed here must have had a relatively easy time of it.
A couple of hundred yards away from the shore there is a well maintained Dolmen - passage grave called Le Creux Es Faies "Entrance to Fairyland" or "Fairy Hole" The structure is Neolithic 3,000 – 2500 BC and has evidence of usage into late bronze age. Inside, it was interesting to note that the narrow entrance would have aligned roughly to the rising sun in summer. Lukis excavated the site in 1840 and found human and animal bones together with Beaker pottery and 2 barbed & tanged , flint arrowheads dated to 2,000 – 1800 BC Outside, I searched the horizon in vain for similar structures that I knew existed further down the coast.
The mound had well camouflaged guns and runners built by the Germans, but the only visible evidence are the air vents and escape hatches.
On the seaward side of the mound, Cunliffe excavated the low sea cliffs and found evidence of a settlement and salt pans from the manufacture of salt in briquettage. There is tantalising scatters of charcoal in the top soil layer, but given the continuous occupation of the site it is more likely of 20th century origin.
From here we travelled to the cafe at Guernsey Pearl, opposite Fort Grey for a short lunch before setting off for another passage grave, Le Trepied – "Druids Altar". This is a much smaller, bottle shaped structure ( no overlying mound) than Le Creux, which could be picked out on the horizon using the control tower as a landmark. Lukis was here also in1840 and uncovered more beaker ware and other pottery, flint arrowheads and human bones – quite likely from successive burials.
The area was featured in 17th century witch trials for it’s use for devil worship and Friday night meetings ( Sabats )
Alongside the dolmen was the remains of an old battery with the fallen bricks now neatly stacked in piles on the brick floor.
From here we tracked across the island, passing the reservoir, to visit one of the oldest chapels on the island, the 14TH century Chapel St Appolline, beautifully restored and maintained in a residential area. St Appolline was martyred in 249 AD – first she had her teeth and jaw broken before being invited to choose between death by fire or offering prayers to the Roman gods. The indomitable, elderly lady chose the former and leapt into the consuming flames before her persecuters could throw her in . She has been associated with the miraculous restoration of teeth and has since become the patron saint of dentists!
Inside the chapel there is a beautifully restored fresco depicting the last supper, a York stone floor and recently provided altar of Purbeck marble. The roof has been re tiled with Cotswold stone.
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14th Century Chapel St Appolline |
Another battery, at Mont Chincon, was our next visit and used to be manned by the Guernsey Volunteer Militia. It was in this embayment that the channel that formerly dissected the island in two was drained and back filled in 1807 to strengthen an otherwise indefensible position.
It was here that Yvonne defied the might of the arrayed cannons and marched up and down the beach bleating " vive la France". The promontory has evidence of several phases of fortification and of much earlier neolithic useage.
A lovely cream tea and apple pie in the gardens of a near by cafe, still bathed in warm sunshine, refreshed us for our last stop, on the main golf course at L’ Ancresse, for a look at another interesting passage grave – Les Fouillages. This was discovered only in 1977 and excavated from 79 –81, revealing over 2,000 years of continuous use from 4,500 – 2,500 years ago. The history of the many phases of use that have been uncovered makes it one of the most important sites in Europe. It is now seen in it’s last phase, though the covering mound has been removed. In it’s time it would have been visible from many of the vantage points we had already visited and obviously played an important role in the lives of the early inhabitants.
The megalithic monuments of Guernsey range from small, box like chambers through to enormous circular mounds with multiple chambers and narrow passages. They form part of the longest tradition of Western European people & culture which also includes standing stones and circles. They create a cultural landscape of conspicuously visible monuments at the time of their construction and use from 4,500 years ago. They were far more numerous in the past but many have succumbed to a combination of the plough and quarrying activity.
Passage graves were repeatedly accessed through narrow, single file entrances and the chambers housed corpses and bones surrounded by goods and offerings. The dead played an important part in the living community and the collection of bones were frequently used in festivals and ceremonies. The type we saw on Guernsey are typical of the distribution around the Atlantic margins where maritime / sea fishing communities flourished.
In a social context, their construction involved organisation of quarrying and transport over relatively large distances and long periods of time. It is thought provoking to consider that this culture persisted over a period of 2,500 years.
Heather Raggett