Witchcraft

La Table des Pions and the Pleinmont Witches

Also known as: The Fairy Ring; Les Tables des Pions

La Table des Pions, Pleinmont headland, Torteval

Earthwork 18th century; tales recorded 19th century

MacCulloch's Pleinmont story is about curiosity. A lady of St Pierre du Bois wondered why her husband spent so long shut in his room, and hid there to watch. He came in, undressed, rubbed himself all over with an ointment, said "va et vient" ("go and come"), and disappeared. She did the same and found herself on the summit of Pleinmont among a large crowd, with a table laid with food. Some of the company politely invited her to eat. Before touching anything she said, as a good Christian would, "Au nom de Dieu soit, Amen". At once she was alone. All that remained were fresh marks of cloven feet pressed into the turf all around her.

The headland carries another story of a wizard named Sarre from St Pierre du Bois or Torteval, whose rector begged him to give up his magic books. A black cat began following him everywhere, and he took fright and buried the books below the low-water mark. When he got home the cat was waiting and the books were back on the shelf, perfectly dry. He sank into melancholy, wandered the cliffs, and disappeared. Some thought he had thrown himself off the Pleinmont precipices. Others said his master had come for him.

The Table des Pions is a practical earthwork from the days of the Chevauchée, but by the time Visit Guernsey and local guides began calling it the Fairy Ring it had picked up all this lore. Nobody knows how the fairies and witches came to be attached to it, and the local guides say as much. It lies on the cliff path west of Portelet harbour and is open to walkers.

On open common beside the cliff path above Portelet, Torteval.
Evidence
Long-standing local tradition
Access
Open ground
Location
49.436, -2.673 (Sited to the building or field)

Sources: Edgar MacCulloch, ed. Edith F. Carey, "Guernsey Folk Lore" (1903), Project Gutenberg [public-domain]; Visit Guernsey, "Table des Pions: The Fairy Ring" [other]; Island Families, "Guernsey's Ghosts & Legends" [other]

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