Ancient Jersey · 12 places
La Hougue Bie
A Neolithic passage grave built between roughly 4000 and 3500 BC, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids, beneath a mound twelve metres high.
- Parish
- Grouville
- Type
- Neolithic site
- Rarity
- Rare
- Tide
- Not tidal
Featured in: Jersey in two days · Jersey’s history in twelve places
The story
A Neolithic passage grave built between roughly 4000 and 3500 BC, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids, beneath a mound twelve metres high. The passage is aligned so that at sunrise on the equinoxes light reaches the chamber at the far end. The Société Jersiaise excavated the mound in 1924 and became the first people to enter in some five thousand years. Medieval chapels stand on the summit. In 1792 Philippe d'Auvergne, a Jersey-born naval officer who ran a spy network into Revolutionary France, built the Prince's Tower over the chapels and used it as a signalling station; it was pulled down in 1924. A German command bunker is cut into the flank.
Notes checked with the Société Jersiaise - History Section ↗
