The Chapel of St. Germain was in the Castel parish, and its holy well, which is still regarded by some as no less efficacious than the fountain of St. George, was situated to the northward of that chapel. All traces of the building have long since disappeared, and all that we know of it is that in the Extents of Queen Elizabeth and James I. a rent payable to the Crown is described as “due on a piece of ground situated near the Chapel of St. Germain.”
There is also said to have been a Chapel of Ste. Anne, near the King’s Mills, more correctly designated as Les Grands Moulins. St. Anne also had her sacred fountain. The names of “Ste. Hélène,” at St. Andrew’s, and La Madeleine, St. Pierre-du-Bois, may also have been derived from religious buildings, but of these nothing but the names now remain.
In St. Martin’s parish there was a chapel attached to the Priory of Blanchelande, and another, Saint Jean de la Houguette, which very probably was erected on the site now occupied by the parish school.[91]
In the Extente of the Fief Anneville it is said that the lord has his “Chapelles.” It is probable that all the feudal lords who held the lands direct from the Crown had the same right of chapel. Such at least seems to have been the case in Jersey, where some still exist, and in the Clos-du-Valle, situated in the Vale parish, is a field called “La Chapelle du Sud,” west of a field called “Le Galle,” on the Crown lands. Here was probably the site of a now forgotten chapel.
Closely connected with the chapels and churches are the holy wells. Even in pagan times, before the introduction of Christianity, it is well known that a sort of worship was paid to the nymphs or deities who were supposed to haunt these fountains, and to whose interference were attributed the cures effected by the use of these waters. When a purer faith was preached, and it was found impossible to wean the minds of the people entirely away from a belief in the supernatural qualities of these springs, the early missionaries—whether wisely or not it is difficult to say—sought to direct the attention of their converts into a new channel, and bestowed the name of some saint on these hallowed spots, who thenceforth was supposed to stand in the place of the ancient local deity or genius of the well.
[81] In the Dédicace des Eglises, “Notre Dame de Lihou” is called Notre Dame de la Roche. Now the word Perelle is a diminutive of Pierre, and we know that in our dialect “pierre” and “rocque” are used indiscriminately, and have the same meaning.
[82] Editor’s Note.—The Fief St. George was bought from the Royal Commissioners by Thomas Fouaschin, Seigneur d’Anneville, in 1563, let to Pierre Massey 25th June, 1616, and bought 18th May, 1629, by Nicholas de Jersey, son of Michel, from George Fouaschin, Seigneur d’Anneville, son of Thomas. Nicholas de Jersey’s only child Marie married Jacques Guille, 2nd May, 1638, and so brought St. George into the Guille family.
[83] Editor’s Notes.
May 10th, 1292.—“Confirmation of a charter which the King has inspected, whereby Henry III. granted in frank almoin to the Chaplain of the Chapel of St. Mary, Orgoil Castle, Gerneseye, the 10th of a rent called Chaumpard in the island of Gerneseye.”
Dec. 26th, 1328.—“Grant to John de Etton, King’s Clerk, of the Chapel of St. Mary of the Marsh, in the island of Gerneseye.”