SOME HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL 

 NOTES ON THE PRIORY AT LIHOU. 



BY S. CAREY CURTIS. 



The Priory was dedicated to Notre Dame de la Roche 

 and was probably in pastoral care of the district comprised in 

 the Fief Lihou extending along the coast called Perelle, from 

 L'Eree to Rocquaine Castle, where the district of St. Brioc 

 begins. It was served by a Prior, appointed by the Prior of 

 St. Michel dn V alle, a dependency of the greater Abbey of 

 St. Michel au peril de la Mer in the Bay of Avranches. It 

 was regarded by the Breton fishermen and sailors employed in 

 the coasting trade with great reverence, and they were wont 

 to lower their topmasts when passing, and it was a favourite 

 resort of pilgrims (Guernsey Folk Lore, p. 166). 



Note. — Sir Edgar McCulloch derives Perelle not from 

 peril but from pierre, and pierre and roche are synonymous in 

 the Guernsey dialect (Folk Lore p. 341). 



History. — Very little is known historically of the 

 Priory. The early records are few and the date of its 

 foundation is unknown to us with any certainty. " The 

 Dedicace des Eglises'' gives 1114 as the date of the consecra- 

 tion, but in view of the unreliability of the whole of the 

 Dedicace, not much importance can be attached to this date. 

 It is not, however, impossible, as I shall show later in dealing 

 with the Architecture of the Priory. 



In a Bull of Adrian IV., dated 1155, the Priory (in the 

 Bull called Lishou) is scheduled amongst the Guernsey 

 possessions of the Abbey of Mont St. Michel. It was 

 dignified together with the churches of St. Saviour, St. 

 Marie de Castro, St. Peter de Bosco, and St. Michel de 

 Vallo, with the term " ecclesiam " not " capellam " which 

 would show that it was of some importance at that date. 



Note. — Incidentally, I understand from the Rev. Walter 

 Brock that the Parish of St. Peter-in-the-Wood includes the 

 Priory of Lihou, and that on the induction of a new Rector, 

 an extra fee has to be paid for the plural benefice. 



In 1443 the reversion of Lihou was granted (inter alia) 

 to the Provost of Eton College. A search among the Eton 

 College Archives might give some interesting information. 



