Forty-five places where Guernsey’s old stories are still attached to the ground, and a map that needs your help to grow.
Every Friday night, the witches met on the Catioroc. A headless black dog ran past the elms of the Ville-au-Roi. Fishermen rounding Jerbourg raised their hats to a rock shaped like an old monk, and threw him a drop of cider for luck.
These stories were once told by the fireside in Guernsey. Many of them are tied to real places you can still visit: a dolmen, a lane, a cave, a rock off the coast.
The Quarry's Folklore Map brings together 45 places across Guernsey and Sark.
They are drawn from Sir Edgar MacCulloch’s Guernsey Folk Lore, collected before 1874 and published in 1903, from John Linwood Pitts’s transcripts of the island’s witch trials, and from Guernsey Museums’ retellings of Marie de Garis’s Folklore of Guernsey.
Each entry gives the story, the parish and its sources, and some include photographs of the places as they looked in 1903.
Seven walks link the sites along real roads and paths, from a short loop at St George to an 8.5 km route round the Catioroc and L’Erée.
This is where you come in
MacCulloch wrote that much of this lore had already perished, and that what remained was disappearing every day. He was right, but not all of it has gone. Stories still pass down through families, and you may know places and paths better than any book.
We want this map to be built by the island, not just by us. You can help by:
- Walking a route and telling us what you find. Are paths closed or overgrown? Is there a better way round? Is a stop on private land?
- Checking the pins. Some locations are approximate. If you know exactly where they should be, please tell us.
- Sending your stories. If your grandmother warned you about a lane after dark, or your family has a tale about a stone or a field, we want to hear it, and who told it to you.
- Sending your photos. Pictures of the sites today, and especially old family photographs of them.
Every site and walk on the map has a “Tell us” link, or email [email protected]. We read everything before it is added, and we will credit you unless you’d rather stay anonymous.
Many of these places are on private land, so please keep to public roads and paths. If you cross to Lihou, check the safe crossing times first, and be extra careful on the cliffs.
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