Rousse Headland

Turn into the headland by the Peninsula Hotel. Take the road left of the tea room to the car park at the end.  Perry’s Guide Ref: 33 F2

On Monday 10th April 1916, Col. T W M De Guérin received a telephone call from a Mr. Le Tissier of St. Magloire to inform him of the discovery of a cist down on the beach to the north west of Rousse Tower.

They arranged to meet on the Thursday afternoon along with Mr. Le Tissier’s workmen, who removed about six inches of sand and pebbles to expose the small cist whose covering stone had disappeared. The cist was formed of six uprights, two at each side and one at each end. Four uprights formed a semi-circle to its south. The following Tuesday, now joined by Major Carey Curtis and Mr. Collenette (all stalwarts of La Société), they started to excavate the interior of the cist.

That day they noticed another circle and dug in its centre exposing a large flat stone 4 feet 6 inches square, covering another cist.

Nothing of any consequence was found in either of the cists apart from small fragments of rotten pottery, charcoal and some very decayed bone. The cists are placed on the same deposits as L’Islet which would have been at a much higher level to Neolithic man. The discovery that the cists contained what appeared to be their original loam filling suggests that the area was forest, much like L’Ancresse Common when the area was first cleared to site Les Fouaillages though these cists would be of a much later date.

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