Mystères d’un vieux monde en mystères écrits.”
—Lamartine.
“Among those rocks and stones, methinks I see
More than the heedless impress that belongs
To lonely Nature’s casual work! They bear
A semblance strange of Power intelligent,
And of design not wholly worn away.”
—Wordsworth, The Excursion.
The island of Guernsey still contains many of those rude and ponderous erections commonly known by the name of Cromlechs, or Druids altars. The upright pillar of stone or rude obelisk, known to antiquaries by the Celtic name of Menhir also exists among us. Many of these ancient monuments have no doubt disappeared with the clearing of the land and the enormous amount of quarrying, and many have doubtless been broken up into building materials, or converted into fences and gateposts. But the names of estates and fields still point out where they once existed. Thus we find more than one spot with the appelation of “Pouquelaye.”[50] “Longue Rocque,” or “Longue Pierre,” and the names of “Les Camps Dolents,” “Les Rocquettes,” and “Les Tuzés” indicate the sites of monuments which have long since disappeared.