Witches's stones (in
Jèrriais
( ; also known as the Jersey language, Jersey French and Jersey Norman French in English) is a Romance languages, Romance language and the traditional language of the Jersey people. It is a form of the Norman language spoken in Jersey, an isla ...
: ''pièrres dé chorchièrs'') are flat stones jutting from
chimney
A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...
s in the islands of
Jersey
Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...
and
Guernsey
Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...
.
According to folklores in the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...
, these small ledges were used by
witch
Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...
es to rest on as they fly to their
sabbat
The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by a range of modern pagans, marking the year's chief solar events (solstices and equinoxes) and the midpoints between them. Modern pagan observances are based to varying ...
s. Householders would provide these platforms to appease witches and avoid their ill favors.
Traditional
vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture (also folk architecture) is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. It is not a particular architectural movement or style but rather a broad category, encompassing a wide range a ...
in
Jersey
Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...
is in
granite
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...
and such witches' stones can be seen protruding from many older houses. The real origin of this architectural feature is to protect
thatch
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away fr ...
ed roofs from seeping water running down the sides of the chimney stack. Thatched roofs being thicker than tiled roofs, the jutting stones would sit snugly on the thatch – as can be seen on the few remaining thatched roofs in Jersey. When thatch began to be generally replaced by pantiles in the 18th century, and later by
slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
s, the witches' stones were left protruding prominently from the chimney stack. This either gave rise to the belief in witches' resting places, or reinforced an existing belief. Fear of witches was widespread in country areas well into the 20th century in Jersey.
The force of tradition can be seen in a number of newly constructed houses in
vernacular
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
style that sport witches' stones despite never having had a thatched roof.
Image:Witches' stones on thatched roof Jersey.jpg, The stones protect the joins of thatched roofs
Image:Witches' stones Jersey.jpg, When thatch is replaced by tile, the stones no longer serve the original purpose
Image:Witches' stones on tiled roof Jersey.jpg
Image:Witches' stones on tiled roof Jersey 2.jpg
Image:Witches' stones on tiled roof Jersey 3.jpg
Image:Witches' stones on tiled roof Jersey 4.jpg
Image:Witches' stones on tiled roof Jersey 5.jpg
Image:Witches' stones on modern roof Jersey.jpg, This modern house incorporates witches' stones in its chimneys
In England
Although not common in England, witch stones or witch seats can be found in the villages of
Feizor, near
Settle
Settle or SETTLE may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Places
* Settle, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community
* Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England
** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district
Music
* Settle (band), an in ...
, and at
Wharfe both in
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
.
See also
*
Architecture of Normandy
:''See also the Romanesque architecture erected by the Normans at Norman architecture.''
The architecture of Normandy spans a thousand years.
Vernacular domestic styles
In Upper Normandy and in the pays d'Auge, Mortainais, Passais and Avranc ...
*
Adder stone
An adder stone is a type of stone, usually glassy, with a naturally occurring hole through it. Such stones, which usually consist of flint, have been discovered by archaeologists in both Britain and Egypt. Commonly, they are found in Northern Ger ...
s, which are also called witches' stones
References
Des pièrres dé chorchièrs
Stonemasonry
Culture of Jersey
Witchcraft in England
Architectural elements
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