Plate 37. Tower of the Church of Haute Allemagne near Caen.
Allemagne was one of the domains granted by the Conqueror to his abbey of St. Stephen; and in the charter, he states that he cedes it “with its dependencies.” The meaning of this latter term is explained in the subsequent charter from his son Henry, in which four neighboring villages are expressly said to be dependent upon Allemagne. Allemagne was itself also divided into two parishes, the upper and lower.
At present it is only remarkable for its quarries, from which the stones are dug, known in France by the name of Carreaux d'Allemagne, and commonly used for floors to rooms, not only in the province of Normandy, but throughout the whole kingdom. There is also a considerable export of them for the same purpose. It was in these quarries that the fossil crocodile was discovered in 1817; which, as being extraordinarily perfect, and the first specimen ever found with scales, has excited an uncommon degree of interest among naturalists.
Of the history of the parish of Allemagne, nothing is known. The portion of its church here figured, has been selected for engraving, as an instance of a Norman tower of unquestionable antiquity, and in the highest preservation. The pyramidal stone roof, similar to that of the church of St. Michel de Vaucelles, at Caen, appears to be quite in its original state. Even the small lucarne window in it looks coeval with the rest. The row of intersecting arches below is beautiful and peculiar.
PLATES XXXVIII.—XLI.
CHURCH OF ST. HILDEBERT, AT GOURNAY.
Plate 38. Collegiate Church of St. Hildebert at Gournay.
West front.
The town of Gournay is generally supposed to rival, in point of antiquity, almost any other in this part of France. Tradition refers its origin to the days of Julius Cæsar, during the latter part of whose government in Gaul, a dangerous conspiracy broke out among the Bellovaci, the Caletes, and the Velliocasses, assisted by the inhabitants of other neighboring districts. This confederacy is supposed to have given rise to Gournay.