Pastoral Island

By graniteman

Statue Menhir

This evening I took a blip of a menhir from the Megalithic period. The silhouetted trees were unintentional, that's just how the picture appeared. This menhir is situated in the grounds of the Castel church which is near the center of the island on the crest of a hill with fine views over the island. Here are some details which I have found about it.

The two metre statue-menhir stands at the west entrance to the church that almost certainly replaced a very important Neolithic site. Rescued from the ground in 1878, she was found within the chancel at about equal distance from the north and south walls about a foot below the surface. The statue-menhir was lying east-west and turned over on the left side and found damaged according to the proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries Jan 30th 1879. She was possibly buried to rid the site of its pagan links, or added to the fabric of the new church making it easier for the early islanders to convert to the new religion.

She was more than likely buried in the sixth century when the first church was built. She was found with her feet facing the east, the same alignment as many passage graves. The statue-menhir shares features - breasts, necklace and a belt - with freestanding stone statues in northern Africa and the Tresse and other regions of northern France and also those found in Corsica. This suggests that the early people of Guernsey may have shared a common religion with their neighbours of the European continent.

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