PERELLE BAY/LIHOU ISLAND

Perelle Bay is a rocky bay on one of the most rugged parts of the Guernsey coast. It is home to a clutch of megalithic remains, such as Le Trepied Passage Grave at Le Catioroc and Le Creux es Faies Dolmen on the road to L’Eree promontory. Lihou is a small island connected to Guernsey by a stone causeway. There is a priory on the island believed to have been established in the 12th century by Benedictine monks. The local people were very wary of the monks, believing them to indulge in devil worship. In most cases this was patently unjustified, but there was one particular prior known as The Wicked Prior of Lihou who was rumoured to be in league with the devil, and who had an unhealthy interest in magic and what were referred to as The Black Books. However, legend has it that the prior was effectively destroyed by his own spells when a servant accompanying him on a visit to a nearby parish whose priest was also engaged in the Black Arts ignored the prior’s instructions not to read a book of spells the servant was carrying for him. The servant managed to cast a spell from the book which caused the sea to engulf the prior as he was crossing to the island along the causeway. There is a house on the island which was used by the Germans during the Occupation for target practice, but which is now used for accommodating school groups on educational visits.

Map of Guernsey.

Lihou Island and causeway - geograph.ci - 28. Photo by David P Howard, via Wikimedia Commons.