THE CASTEL CHURCH. 409 



quarter of the thirteenth century, a date which coincides in a 

 remarkable manner with that assigned to the building, or at least 

 to the consecration of the Church." (Proceedings of the 

 Society of Antiquaries, January 30, 1879.) 



I cannot agree with my old friend in identifying the 

 central figure with S. Thomas a Becket. The costume is not 

 like that of a bishop, nor can I imagine his carrying a chalice 

 and flagon when performing his evening devotions in his 

 cathedral. I am not sure when S. Thomas was first venerated 

 as a Saint in Normandy, but it could hardly be so soon as 

 thirty-three years after his death. It would be interesting to 

 obtain an opinion from a modern authority as to whether 

 Colonel G. H. Smith was correct in the date he assigned to 

 the dresses of the knights, which I think may be questioned. 



Sir Edgar draws attention to three large flat stones to 

 the north-west of the Church, at a spot where the feudal 

 court of the Fief Lilian, a dependency of the Fief Saint Michel 

 was held within living memory. Close by these stones stands 

 a very curious stone which was found under the floor in the 

 north chancel in 1878. " It has all the appearance of a 

 natural boulder somewhat fashioned by art, and cannot be 

 described better than by saying that it is in shape like a 

 mummy case, the back being rounded and slightly curved and 

 the front nearly flat, with the exception of two projecting 

 breasts, which seem to indicate that it was intended to 

 represent a female." This figure greatly resembles that 

 which now serves as a gate-post in the churchyard of S. 

 Martin's. I have little doubt that Sir Edgar MacCulloch 

 was right in thinking that these stones were ancient idols, and 

 that " both churches may have been built on spots which had 

 been previously set apart as places of heathen worship." 



In 1337 one Guillaume de Graillard was nominated by Sir 

 Thomas de Ferrars to the rectory of the Castel, then vacant 

 by the death of Sir Thomas Fretard. For some reason, 

 perhaps because the Abbot of Mont-St-Michel claimed the 

 patronage of the Church, the Bishop of Coutances did not 

 accept de Gaillard, but instituted Jean Viket, a Norman 

 priest, upon which the King ordered the revenues of the 

 benefice to be sequestrated. In 1478 Thomas Henry or 

 Harris was rector ; he died in 1494 and was succeeded by 

 Henry Mores, who resigned in 1496, and was followed by 

 James Olivier, who was Dean in 1507 and died in 1509. In 

 that year John Langlois became rector and still lived in 1538. 

 Sir E. MacCulloch says that Richard Le Feivre was Rector 

 in 1567, but this is a mistake due to a wrong reading of a 



