Rambles among the Channel Islands / by a Naturalist.

Date:
[1855?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Rambles among the Channel Islands / by a Naturalist. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    151/402 (page 139)
    boisterous weather^ with the greatest safety. From the quarries to the pier an iron tramway was laid down, and as much as 600 tons of granite a-day could by this means be shipped for ex- portation. Mr. Duncan also built houses for 400 workmen, an inn, a brewery, and a bake- house, and several forges for making and re- pairing the implements used in the quarries. The granite could be raised in very large blocks, some of them exceeding, it is said, one hundred tons in weight. The stone was of the most excellent quality for all building purposes. A large mass of it was once required for a public monument. The colour desired could not be obtained at the quarries at Herm, and men were sent to search over the island in order to obtain a mass fit for such a pur- pose. Except in one situation, no mass of stone sufiiciently good could be found; and it became necessary to remove a very large stone, which, with some others in a confused heap, formed a cluster, long but incorrectly supposed to have been Druidical remains. This large stone, having long formed a conspicuous object from the sea, and assisting mariners in ascer- taining their bearings, could not be removed without permission of the States. This was granted on condition that an object equally conspicuous should be reared on exactly the