Dehus Dolmen

Le Dehus is a passage grave in the north of Guernsey, a long low chamber under a mound with side cells opening off it, and on the underside of one capstone is Le Gardien du Tombeau, a human figure with a face, arms and what is read as a bow, carved into the rock and picked out when the lights are angled correctly. The switch inside works the lighting that reveals it.

History

The name probably comes from the Old Norse dys, a dolmen. The tomb is mentioned in 1753 as the "altar of the Dehus", and in 1775 John de Havilland bought the site to save it from further destruction. The archaeologist Frederick Corbin Lukis dug it between 1837 and 1848, finding human skeletons, bones, worked stone, bone tools and pottery in the oldest layer, and more excavations followed in 1898, 1915 and 1932; the tomb as you see it today dates from the 1932 restoration (Wikipedia, Déhus Dolmen).

Highlights

• The Gardien du Tombeau - the carved figure on the underside of a capstone.
• The passage and chamber - the long low grave under its mound.
• The side cells - the smaller chambers opening off the passage.
• The lighting switch - the angled lights that make the carving visible.

When to go

Year round; the site is open and unstaffed. The carving needs the lights to be seen at all. It is dry inside in any weather.

Before you go

The chamber is low and requires stooping throughout. The carving is genuinely hard to make out without the lighting and some patience. There are no facilities and parking is roadside.

Nearby

Bordeaux harbour is beside it, and Vale Castle is south.

Key facts