Guernsey Folk Lore: a collection of popular superstitions, legendary tales, peculiar customs, proverbs, weather sayings, etc., of the people of that islandMacCulloch, Edgar, Sir
History
Guernsey Folk Lore: a collection of popular superstitions, legendary tales, peculiar customs, proverbs, weather sayings, etc., of the people of that island
MacCulloch, Edgar, Sir
Folklore -- Guernsey
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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