ous pillars and there is also
a typical Norman semi-circular apse. The village, which is a very ancient
one, grew round the Benedictine convent established here by one Turstan
Halduc in 1040, and there may still be seen the wonderfully picturesque
castle with its round towers.

Following the estuary of the river from Lessay on a minor road you come to
the hamlet of St Germain-sur-Ay. The country all around is flat, but the
wide stretches of sand in the inlet have some attractiveness to those who
are fond of breezy and open scenery, and the little church in the village
is as old as that of Lessay. One could follow this pretty coast-line
northwards until the seaboard becomes bold, but we will turn aside to the
little town of La Haye-du-Puits. There is a junction here on the railway
for Carentan and St Lo, but the place seems to have gone on quite unaltered
by this communication with the large centres of population. The remains of
the castle, where lived during the eleventh century the Turstan Halduc just
mentioned, are to be seen on the railway side of the town. The dungeon
tower, picturesquely smothered in ivy, is all that remains of this Norman
fortress. The other portion is on the opposite side of the road, but it
only dates from the sixteenth century, when it was rebuilt. Turstan had a
son named Odo, who was seneschal to William the Norman, and he is known to
have received certain important lands in Sussex as a reward for his
services. During the next century the owner of the castle was that Richard
de la Haye whose story is a most interesting one. He was escaping from
Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, when he had the ill luck to fall in
with some Moorish pirates by whom he was captured and kept as a slave for
some years. He however succeeded in regaining his liberty, and after his
return to France, he and his wife, Mathilde de Vernon, founded the Abbey of
Blanchelande. The ruins of this establishment are scarcely more than two
miles from La Haye du Puits, but they unfortunately consist of little more
than some arches of the abbey church and some of the walls of the lesser
buildings.

Immediately north of La Haye there is some more heathy ground, but it is
higher than the country surrounding Lessay. A round windmill, much
resembling the ruined structure that stands out conspicuously on the bare
tableland of Alderney, is the first of these picturesque features that
we have seen in this part of the country. It is w