Star.
London, England, 1828-01-02 00:00:00

ANTIdUITIES IN GUERNSEY.
At a I.te Meeting of the Bristol Philosophical and
Literary Sociiny. was read a paper communicated to
the Society by Mr. Meterier, " On the CrOmlechs,
Barrows, And pre-aimed Danish Entrenchments of the
Island of Guernsey." Mr. M. stated that the object
of his paper was to supply a clue to the antiquary who
may honour the island of Guernsey with a visit. " Our
earliest accounts of the islands in the English Channel
and the Bay of Biscay," says Mr. M. " are of a mytho-
logical nature. These islands are, however, mentioned
as immemorially sacred both by Christian and Hea-
then writers. Their primitive inhabitants are said-to
have been Druids or Druidesses, each island being de-
dicated to a peculiar deity, or at leist to one of the
-ICedeirn, or deified heroes. Some of these islands were
indeed singularly calculated to allure and Oe those
gloomy losers of solitude and repose'; having but tew
accessible points, their precipitous shores_ being girt on
almost every side with rocks of trernendous.aspect ris-
ing abruptly from the sea, or, with their pointed sum-
mit: concealed under water, running out to a great
distance from the shore, and presenting the most formi-
dable barriers to approach ; the difficulty and danger.
of which being increased by the impetuosity of the nu-
merous currents that flow in the neighbouring straits
in continually varying directions.
0 The present object of our attention, the island of
Guernsey. one of the small islands in the British Channel,
is not the least distinguished for such natural and atilti
ins features: towards the south and south west the
lead Is high, and full of abrupt precipices; as it ap-
proaches the coast, it is intersected ist numerous deep
chasms and ravines—here the granite clifs assume a
picturesque form, amounting almost to sublimity. With
the exception of a few small valleys, a continued cliff,
or cewas, peolelgs itself over the southern parishes, the
wagon, and part of the eastern shores ; hence the de.
•oonsination of Haat Pays. But the northern parishes
• are lowlands, if we except a few slight elevations called
bongoes or knolls ; these parisheslorm k pays-bas. Mr.
• • 114., considered that, at a remote period, the thin pope-
- btionaif these islands consisted chiefly of Britons; and
• !soft various historical fragments bearing on the sub-
, .-jest. he inferred, that even from the 6th to the 10th
century the language spoken there was a dialect of the
&kW'.
*. 41 In some of our ecclesiastical records,* continued Mr.
"the honorary title bestowed on the sister isle of
Jersey is the Holy Gate; and on Guernsey, the Holy,
Blessed, and Fortunate Island—the Monastic Elysium.
..:former island, so late as the close of the 17th •ekri-
e, Oily, abounded with religious monuments, supposed to
beef Gaulish, British, or Danish might : may mot there-
.dore the latter island lay a fair claim to its proportionate
share of csont-lkcltaa, circular temples, giants' graves,
.AICC ?, Some specimens do indeed remain, notwithstanding
..the ,ravages of time, and the ignorance of ancient stone
,catiett and modern roadnrakers."
Mr. Metevier, taking an orderly and accurate coarse
touted the island, beginning at Jezbourg, the south-east
.litesienity, and proceeding westward, entered into a del
...tailed enumeration and description of its cromlechs,
bermes, &c. We lament that our limits permit us to
lay berate our readers but a few of his numerous and
interesting accounts.
" Near the column raised in memory of Sir J. Doyle,
considerable ancient entrenchments occur, which re-
mind us of the huge mounds said to have been thrown
up in various places by the piratical Dines for the pro-
tection of their boats. The manner in which these
works are constructed, and the nature of the depreda•
tious carried on by these northern corsairs, plainly prove
that they must have foimed these works; for the trench
is toward the land, and the inner rampart, next the sea,
more elevated than that without it—a circumstance
shewieg that the enemy expected was from the land',
seek Walesa% therefore, could not be of Much use t 6
the, natives, thongh very proper for invaders. A little
north ofJerbourg Point, at Moulin-Hoet Bay, a rock;
cur ioe'sly •
eauenc bee, and encompassed with relics of
citculirwalls, overhangs a precipice; another, similar
to it; acctirs at Tito) Bay, a little to the west. Of the
very ancient religious foundation of Saint (or " Seing,'?
as formerly written) close to Saint Bay, there remains
now but a ruin, a tradition, and an emphatic mono-
syllable. It was in this religious retreat that Kluge'',
Prillaite of Normandy, and uncle to William the Con•
cluesor, was doomed to pass a kilig exile. The limited
ikeatry'af these environs is delightful ; verdant cliffs,
rising to a majestic glevatien, here and these a solitary
rock emerging from the basin, the meadowy slips, 'the
setinoth winding paths affordieg :in easy cksceatao the
beach; the peatly whiteness of the sand, the sombre tinge
'Of fantastic rock ; all here is calculated to inspire
abstraction and repot*.
°' In the same parish, near the Forest Main Road, are
the remains of an artificial mound, or barrow; it is said
di be do'the most'elevated spot in theisland.Sepukhral
urns, at-wine telluric period, appear to have been de.
!Aileen k; for Mr. M. says that be was told, by a
oetietilthle eye witness, of its partial demolition; that
ft*kithils of strange old pitchers, and huge stone slabs,
• lied been foetid within it. In insular records, and in
tfie neighbeuthood, the barrow is called La Hougue
Ifiltelay: a !topic, or boag. being a blunt earthen
pyramid. The obsolete "ho,"or 44 bow," of the county ,
of Norfolk is, according to Do Cange, the boghia, or
Itilkickiate base Latin of out Hiugue (Hoog), so corno
trithein old English documents, signifies a mound, ot
tumulds. Though it was usual for the Danish Chief.;
tailialo be buried in a as How,* yet from the very ele-
vated situation of La,Hougue Hasteney, it is most pro-
bibbahltt, tlltt dietatalonian Atalayes or Speen'n, it
was used for'Matingaignals by fire. We know that the
telegraidif4'iyitiriation of these earthen mounds hat
least 'as ancient as Homer. La Hengist Fonque, pro-
bably Euko's barrow, ;in St. Saviour's parish, differs
little in sittiatiou or form from that just described.
Uktif itionCeetts, onetwelve inches in length, have
been dug up in the Forests and some at Vau Kedor, id
St. Andrew's Parish.' Mr. M. stated a variety of opi=
pions respecting the origin and purpose of them Celts;
which be some we considered as weapons of war, by
others wait k men% tools(
Towardethe south-west of the island there is stave
at the foot of a tacky stetp, off a wad with the sea, and
above 200 feet in depth ;• from w interlace of us feet id'
heigbt, it extends to a fieigtit of so'-of 60 feet;teresi:
mato%sa glasliue char. From thile Wins. Of the insular
apostle WOW, or Magloir, it has' its picket dank;
Crews Nadler. Several smillet caverns otettisomewhat
tailor west.

. „ -

Kars t-
ilt It the petit& of St. Peter, :ad Mdse 'to tha maim
Mai; Wane* frith as spright,stotie or tettviri Recipe
dfitoothrorati Le Addis es' failes; the/Pa/4. eboit
12 lott. With 00bari• fivir twirl& At• eakitititi3 are'
block, ol: some seattered awned) Waal
heaps. fotasibg Cyciatratt fiat* which tlitt: OPT
de eramiaatrit lift 4 fait,amitempiete with, tato-.
tlgratiiiii probably Itioarraka touted U. 44
t " • (4- sate ittlisaffelrtfri elate tibia;
ninikoodet. .M: infetslitiOth'shd

...,- ;.-!

..:

.