Castel - Ste Marie

There are ten parish churches in Guernsey - and it is my ambition this holiday to visit each one and photograph it. Four done - six to go.

They are, as you might imagine, brimming with history and stories.

The parish church of Castel - dedicated to St Mary - is a good example. It was mentioned in a papal bull of 1155 as a possession of the Abbey of Mont St Michel in Normandy.

This fresco is early thirteenth century. That almost makes the hair on the back of my neck rise! It show three kings riding in from the right hand side. They are about to meet three dead kings! The message is clear - the fragility of human life, and the mortality that stalks us all. The fresco - discovered in the 19th century - is entitled "Les trois rois morts et les trois rois vifs".

It was a close call as to whether or not to blip this lady.

She is probably 4,500 years old. A neolithic statue discovered under the altar - probably to mark a place of great religious significance. Later Christians obviously felt threatened, and knocked her right breast off. Which to say the least was not gallant!