STONE WORSHIP. 2 1 257 heathenism forbidden by king Edgar in the tenth, and by Cnut in the eleventh century. In a council held at Tours in A.D. 567 priests were admonished to shut the doors of their churches against all persons worshipping certain upright stones; and Mahé states that a manuscript record of the proceedings of a council held at Nantes in the seventh century makes mention of the stone-worship of the Armoricans. These are a few of the recorded facts regarding stone-worship in the olden time; and along with the following notices, and others to be found under different heads, leave little doubt that stone-worship and some kindred forms of heathenism are not altogether extinct either in Britain or in Armorica. 3 Martin describes a stone in the island of Jura round which it was customary for the people to move deasil (sunwise).* In some of the Hebrides the people attributed oracular power to a large black stone which they approached with certain solemnities. A writer on ancient customs in the isle of Skye, in 1795, says, "In every district there is to be met. with a rude stone consecrated to Gruagach or Apollo." The Rev. Mr. M'Queen of Skye says that in almost every village the sun, called Grugach or the Fair-haired,' is represented by 1 Thorpe's Ancient Laws of England, vol. ii. p. 249. 2 Ibid. vol. i. p. 379. In the chapters "Monuments common to Indian and Celtic Nations" -"Superstitions and Customs common to Indian and Celtic Nations""Baal"-Beltane," etc. 4 Martin's Western Isles, p. 241. VOL. I. 6 5 Sir Walter Scott's note to Lady of Brand's Popular Antiquities, by 7 In the Rigveda of the Hindus, haired." S Γ a rude stone; and he further states that libations of milk were poured on the Gruaich-stones. May not the name of an island on the coast of Brittany, which was once the abode of Druidesses and still contains primitive stone monuments," be derived from this word? It is called L'Isle de Groah. 1 The finest specimen of a menhir in Britain is the pyramidal stone, which probably gave the name of Rudston to the village in the churchyard of which it is situated." It is 29 feet above, and reaches 12 feet below the surface of the ground, giving a height altogether of 41 feet 6 inches. In the absence of record or tradition regarding this monument, with the fact of pagan fanes being adopted as sites for early Christian churches, and the church at Rudston being contiguous to this obelisk, it is reasonable to conjecture that it was once an object of worship or portion of a heathen temple. 3 The great menhir at Loc-Maria-Ker, in the department of the Morbihan in Brittany (the ancient Armorica), is by far the largest monolith to be found among the primitive remains of Celtic countries. Although now prostrate and broken, it has evidently at one time stood erect; and the same force which effected its overthrow doubtless caused, along with the concussion, the three fractures which have separated this huge obelisk into four pieces. The fractures are wonderfully clean, 1 Fremenville's Morbihan, p. 28. 2 In Yorkshire. See Gibson's Camden, vol. ii. pp. 96, 110; and Illustrated England and Wales, vol. xvi. pp. 423-866, in which both the Rudston and "the Arrows," near 3 There is another of considerable size lying close to the village. 1 MONUMENT AT LOC-MARIA-KER. 259 parallel to each other and to the base. The three portions next the apex, from the position in which they lie, may have been separated by the concussion when this immense mass, calculated to weigh 260 tons, was hurled to the ground. But the fracture next above the base must have occurred simultaneously with or previously to the fall of the menhir, for the lower portion has not fallen in a line with the other pieces, but appears to have been partly turned round by the same power that overthrew the monument. It is remarkable that the base shows the same clean fracture as the other divisions; and from its appearance I would expect that sufficient examination will yet prove that beneath the soil is the original base, from which the superior portions, all that we now see, were wrenched, probably by lightning, the only force which I can imagine capable of producing such effects. The four pieces of this monument, if united, would, according to Fremenville, measure 58 French-about 61 English feet. I made the entire length nearly 63 feet.1 Looking from the site of this menhir over the promontory of Loc-Maria-Ker and its monuments, the view to the left includes a confusion of islands in the Morbihan Sea. Forward and to the right is the bay of Quiberon; and farther round the eye catches sight, at a distance of five miles, of the spire of the church of St. Michael, built on an artificial mount beside and overlooking the plain and monuments of Carnac. Some writers have suggested what seems very probable 1 Not being aware at the time of this discrepancy, I did not take any pains to verify the measurement which I made with a common tape measure. |