CLIFF REFUGES
I have divided Refuges into two classes--those that have been burrowed
under the soil, and those that open in the face of a cliff.
Occasionally they run one into another, and yet they materially differ.
The first have their entrances elaborately concealed, whereas the
latter are bare to the face of day, and no concealment is possible or
attempted. Those who had recourse to the first trusted in being able,
should the entrance be discovered or betrayed, to defend themselves by
various devices, whereas those who resorted to the latter relied on
their inaccessibility.
Where a cliff stood up precipitous or overhanging, and in its face
gaped caverns, those who sought refuge in time of danger naturally
looked to them, and contrived means of reaching them, therein to
ensconce their goods and secure their persons. They might have to
contemplate the devastation of their fields, and their farms burning,
from their eyries, but they knew that their persons were safe. There
were various ways by which these caves could be reached; one was by
cutting notches in the face of the cliff for fingers and toes, so that
it could be climbed to from below, but not accessible to an enemy
exposed to the thrust of pikes, and to stones being cast down upon him.
Or else the notches were cut laterally from an accessible ledge, but if
so, then this mode of approach was carefully guarded. A second method
was by ladders, but as some of these caves are so high up that no
single ladder could reach their mouths, a succession was contrived
notched below and above into the rock where ledges either existed
naturally or were contrived artificially, so as to enable the climber
to step from one ladder to the next. In the event of danger the ladders
could be withdrawn. A third method was by a windlass, rope and basket,
and this was employed where the ascent by finger and toe notches was
peculiarly perilous, for the conveyance of goods or of children and old
people. But cattle had also to be saved from the depredators, and in
some of the cliff refuges are stables for horses and cowstalls, with
mangers and silos; places also where the windlass was fixed and there
the sharp edge of the rock has been smoothed to an easy slope to
facilitate the landing of the beasts, that were hauled up by bands
placed under their bellies. Provision was also made for the baking of
bread and the storage of water, this latter in the same way as already
described in the account of the contrivances for permanent rock-
dwellings. These cliff refuges can have been had recourse to only on
emergencies, on account of their inaccessibility.
At Cazelles in the commune of Sireuil (Dordogne) is a cliff 1200 feet
long, and about 150 feet high. It has been worn into a deep furrow some
twenty or thirty feet from the top, horizontal and running its entire
length. The whole cliff overhangs its base. The entire groove has been
occupied as a refuge, and there have been excavations in the back of
the groove for additional chambers. In front, moreover, there must have
been a balcony of wood, sustained by beams and props. In three places
the edge of the terrace has been cut through for the convenience of
hauling up cattle and farm produce. At the time when this was in use
there was a hamlet at the foot of the cliff, as is shown by the furrows
cut in the rock into which the tile roofing was let, and notches for
the reception of the roof timbers.
No trace of a stair remains; in fact no stair could have been cut in
the face of a rock that overhangs as does this. Another very remarkable
cliff-refuge is Le Peuch Saint Sour on the Vézère. It is not mentioned
in any chronicle as having been a resort of the English in the Hundred
Years' War, and we may accordingly conclude that it was a refuge for
the inhabitants of the hamlet at its feet.
[Illustration: LA ROCHE GAGEAC. A town and castles on the Dordogne,
never captured by the English, but afterwards sacked and ruined by the
Huguenots.]
[Illustration: LE PEUCH S. SOUR. A series of refuges in the face of the
cliff. Originally a place of retreat of S. Sour, a hermit.]
S. Sorus or Sour was a hermit, born about the year 500; he set off with
two companions, Amandus and Cyprian, to find a desert place where he
might take up his abode. I will quote from the Latin life. "All at once
in their wanderings they arrived at a place in the midst of vast
forests, and dens of wild beasts, a place so barren and abrupt, of
access so difficult, that surely no one had ever hitherto ventured to
reach it either to dwell there, or for pleasure, even to visit it for
curiosity. A rock very lofty furnished him above with a shelter that
sufficed; out of the flanks of the rock issued a spring and watered the
little valley that was on the other side surrounded by the Vézère."
I think that it was in the Peuch S. Sour that the hermit settled,
though afterwards through the favour of King Gontram he moved to lands
granted him at Terrasson. And now for a story. Here he resolved to live
alone, and here he parted with his companions. But before they
separated, "Let us have a love feast together," said he. But he had
with him only a bit of fat bacon. He divided it into three parts, and
gave a share to each of his companions. Now it was Lent, and one of
them was scandalized at the idea of eating bacon in Lent, so he put the
bit of meat into his bosom, where it was at once transformed into a
serpent, which enwrapped him in its coils. Terrified, he screamed to
Sour to deliver him, which the hermit did, and the monster was at once
resolved into a bit of bacon. "Eat it," said the hermit, "and remember
that Charity is above all rules."
The description of the place so well accords with the Peuch that bears
his name, that I cannot doubt but that Sour occupied for some years the
cave high up in the cliff, and only to be reached by crawling to it
sideways, holding on to the rock by fingers and toes. But afterwards it
was greatly enlarged to serve as a place of retreat by the peasants of
the hamlet below. It consists of three groups of chambers cut in the
rock, one reached by a very long, forty-round ladder, when a chamber is
entered which has a hole in the roof through which, by another ladder,
one can mount to a whole series of chambers communicating one with
another. The face of some of these was originally walled up. A second
group is now inaccessible. A third is reached by climbing along the
face of the cliff, with fingers and toes placed in niches cut in the
cleft to receive them.
[Illustration: Beginning of a Gallery.]
[Illustration: The Pick employed.]
A recess at the foot of the crag, arched above, contains three
perpendicular grooves. This was the beginning of another artificial
cave, never completed, begun maybe in 1453 and suddenly abandoned, as
the glad tidings rang through the land that the English had abandoned
Aquitaine and that the Companies were disbanded.
At the Roc d'Aucor, in the valley of the Vers (Lot), a gaping cave is
visible far above where any ladder could reach and inaccessible by
climbing from the top of the crag, as that overhangs like a wave about
to break. Nevertheless, athwart the opening are, and have been from
time immemorial, two stout beams let into the rock horizontally. Dimly
visible in the depth of the cavern is some tall white figure, and the
peasants declare that it is that of a man--a statue in marble, keeping
guard over a golden calf.
In 1894, M. Martel and three friends, taking with them Armand, the
trusty help in descending _avens_, pot-holes, and exploring the
course of subterranean rivers, resolved on an attempt at the
exploration of this mysterious cavern.
The mouth is 90 feet from the ground, and its floor is about 95 feet
from the summit of the cliff, [Footnote: Martel (A.), Le Réfuge du Roc
d'Aucor, Brive, 1895.] which is crowned by the _oppidurn_ of
Murcens, the best preserved of all Gaulish strongholds in France, and
was held by the English in 1370. The only possible way to obtain access
to the interior would be from above, as the plumb-line let down from
the summit fell 44 feet wide from the base of the cliff. Accordingly a
rope ladder was attached to a tree on the top, and Armand descended
furnished with a plumb-line, the end of which was attached to a cord.
"Having descended 77 feet, he swung free in the air at the level of the
transverse poles. Then he endeavoured to throw the lead-weight beyond
one of the poles. He succeeded only after the seventh or eighth
attempt, and was well pleased when the weight running over it swung
down to our feet, as the position of the poles and the slope of the
floor of the fissure did not allow it to rest in the cavern. 'Pull the
cord,' shouted Armand. 'What for?' 'You will soon see. Pull'--and
speedily the string drew after it one of our stout ropes. 'Now do you
understand?' asked Armand. 'I have fastened my rope ladder to the cord
that goes over the pole. Four or five of you pull and draw me in
towards that pole, and so we shall get the better of the situation.
When I have fixed the ladder to the pole you may all mount by the grand
stair.'"
By good fortune that beam held firm, and first Armand got into the cave
and then the others mounted from below. What made the entrance
treacherous was that the floor at the orifice sloped rapidly downwards
and outwards.
When within, it was seen that the posts were still solid and firmly
planted in notches cut in the rock on both sides. In line with them
were two rows of similar notches for the reception of beams extending
inwards for about twenty feet, as though at one time there had been
rafters to divide the cave into two storeys, but of such rafters none
remained. The back of the cave was occupied by a gleaming white
stalagmitic column that certainly from below bore some resemblance to a
human figure, but the floor of the cavern was so deep in birds' nests,
and droppings of bats, leaves and branches, that it was not possible at
the time to explore it. This, however, was done by M. Martel in 1905,
but nothing of archaeological interest was found. However, he noticed a
sort of ascending chimney that extended too far to be illumined to its
extremity by the magnesium wire, and he conjectured that it extended to
the surface of the rock above, where was the original entrance, now
choked with earth and stone.
But an investigation by M. A. Viré has solved the mystery of how access
was obtained to this refuge. The beams visible from below are, as
already said, two in number. The upper and largest is square, and
measures seven by eight inches. The lower is nearly round and is four
inches in diameter, and shows distinct traces of having been fretted by
a rope having passed over it. It must have been used for the drawing up
of food or other objects likely to excite the cupidity of robbers and
_routiers_. The number of notches for beams of a floor in the
sides of the cave is remarkable, but no floor can have been erected
there, otherwise it would not have rotted away, whilst the two cross-
beams at the entrance remain sound. The chimney supposed by Martel to
communicate with the surface does not do so. Spade work at the foot of
the rock revealed the manner in which the cavern had been reached. A
tradition existed in the Vers valley that at one time there had been a
tower at the foot of the rock, and old men remembered the removal of
some of its ruins for the construction of a mill. By digging, the
foundations of the tower were disclosed. It had been square and
measured 44 feet on each side. It had stood about 60 feet high, and had
been topped with a lean-to tiled roof resting against the uppermost
beam in the cave and thereby masking it. [Footnote: "Le Roc d'Aucour,"
in _Bulletin de la Soc. des Antiquaires de Quercy_, Cahors, 1901,
t. xxvi.]
A somewhat similar cave is that of Boundoulaou in the Causse de Larzac
(Lozère). Although this has an opening in the face of the precipice,
which is partly walled up, it can be entered from another and more
accessible cave. At a considerably lower level flows a stream that at
one time issued from it, but has worked its way downwards, and now
gushes forth many feet below. However, apparently in times of heavy
rain, the overflow did burst forth from the upper cavern, for in it
were found the skeletons of a whole family that had perished on one
such occasion.
At nearly 180 feet up the face of a sheer perpendicular cliff near
Milau is the cave of Riou Ferrand, 45 feet below the brow of the
precipice. The mouth of the grotto is partly blocked by a well-
constructed wall. It has been entered from above and explored. It
yields delicately fine pottery and a spindle-whorl, so that a woman
must have taken refuge here, and here sat spinning and looking down
from this dizzy height on the ruffians ravaging the valley below and
setting fire to her house. Bones of sheep and pigs in the cave showed
that it had been tenanted for some time, and tiles of distinctly Roman
character indicated the period of its occupation. The only possible
means of entering this cavern is, and was, by a rope or a ladder from
above. [Footnote: Martel, _Les Abimes_, Paris, 1894.]
I was in the valley of the Célé in 1892 with my friend M. Raymond Pons,
a daring explorer of _avens_ and caves. There was one cavern in a
precipice on the left bank near Brengues that showed tokens of having
been a refuge, from having a pole across the entrance. M. Pons obtained
a stout rope, and the assistance of half-a-dozen peasants, and was let
down over the brink, and by swinging succeeded in obtaining a foothold
within. He there found evident traces of former occupation. But how was
it entered and left in ancient times? From below it was quite
inaccessible, and from above only by the means he employed--a rope.
At Les Mées in the Basses-Alpes is a very similar cave, with two beams
across fastened at the ends into the rock, which is a conglomerate, at
the height of 350 feet, and quite inaccessible. They are mentioned by
the historian Bartel in 1636 as inexplicable by him, and by the
residents in the place.
A not less perplexing rock shelter is that of Fadarelles in the Gorges
of the Tarn.
Of this M. Martel writes: "In a superb cliff of dolomitic limestone of
the _cirque_ of the Beaumes Chauds, M. l'Abbé Solanet was good
enough to conduct me beneath the Baume des Fadarelles, a chasm
inaccessible, at the height of something like 1770 feet in the face of
the precipice, something like the openings of Boundoulaou, but much
narrower.
"In it one can see three coarse beams or rather trunks of trees from
which the boughs have been cut away, each about 12 feet long. As this
opening might well have been that of discharge of a stream, now choked,
for the Baumes Chauds and its adjoining fissures, one is led at first
to suppose that water had brought down these logs that had fallen into
some pot-hole. But this hypothesis is untenable, for it can be seen
that these poles have been artificially pointed at each end, and that
they have been made firm by cross pieces of metal, either bronze or
iron. This may be the remains of a roof or a floor destined to
supplement the insufficiency of the overhanging rock--and of the size
of the fissure, so as to convert it into some sort of shelter. To study
the matter, a ladder of nearly 50 feet would be needed (to be let down
from above). In the absence of all tradition, these beams of Les
Fadarelles remain a mystery. As the face of the cliff is absolutely
smooth above the opening, below and on both sides, completely devoid of
anything like a ledge by which access could be obtained to it, the
question presents itself to one for the third time, as at Boundoulaou
and at Riou Ferrand, were these cliff-dwellers in the Causses like
those in the Cañon of Colorado, or has the demolition of ledges by
weather on these limestone cliffs proceeded with great rapidity?"
Two apparently inaccessible caves, that have been the habitation of man
as a temporary refuge, and that have been explored by M. Philibert
Lalande, show that there was a way in which some, though by no means
all, were reached. The grottoes of Puy Labrousse near Brive, comprising
five or six chambers, have isolated from the rest one that opens in the
face of a sheer precipice at a considerable height above the valley. It
can be entered only from behind, by a very small oval opening, preceded
by a gallery very narrow, and masked at the entrance by enormous rocks,
and which could be barricaded by stout beams, hollows for the reception
of which are visible.
The other is at Soulier-de-Chasteaux on the Couze, an affluent of the
Vézère. Here are two caverns excavated by the hand of man. The most
curious is on the right bank near the top of a Jurassic cliff that is
absolutely precipitous, and this also can be entered _a retro_. A
narrow path leads to an opening very small, excavated in the vault of
the cavern, through which a man could squeeze himself so as to descend
into it by means of a ladder. The gaping mouth of this grotto, which is
from 15 to 18 feet square, is in part closed by a breastwork of stone.
Below this cave is a very large shelter cut out square-headed in the
cliff, but not deep; and this is used by the peasants of Soulier as a
place for stacking their hay. Square hollows wrought in the rock show
that formerly some building was accommodated to it, and the roof ran
back under it. In Auvergne are many _souterrains_ that have served
as places of concealment in times of war. The Puy de Clierson occupies
the centre of an area of four volcanoes. It is shaped like a bell, the
slopes are covered with brushwood, and a ring of broken rocks forms the
precipitous wall of the circular and flattish cap. The hill is composed
of trachyte, and the upper portion is perforated in all directions by
galleries and vaults that served formerly as a quarry for the
extraction of stone of which the Romans formed their sarcophagi, in
consequence of its powers of absorption of the moisture exuding from
the bodies laid in their stone chests. The same may be said of Le Grand
Sarcoui, shaped like a kettle turned bottom upwards. In some of the
galleries are unfinished sarcophagi. But although originally quarries,
they were used as refuges in later times. At Corent, on the Allier near
Veyre-Mouton, are refuges in caves, so also at Blot-l'Eglise near
Menat, which served the purpose during the troubles of the League.
Meschers is a village in Charante Inférieure, lying in the lap of a
chalk hill that extends to a bluff above the Gironde. This cliff is
honeycombed with caves, excavated perhaps originally as quarries, but
several certainly served as habitations; the several chambers or
dwellings are reached by a ledge running along the face of the cliff,
but the chambers of each particular cave-house have doors of
intercommunication cut through this rock. The Grottes de Meschers are
said to have been used by the Huguenots at a time when it was perilous
to assemble in a house for preaching or psalm-singing. But it is also
quite possible that they served as refuges as well to the Catholics,
when the Calvinists had the upper hand; as, indeed, they had for long.
Their attempts at proselytising was not with velvet gloves, but with
fire-brand, sword, and the hangman's rope. In that horrible period,
exceeding far in barbarity that of the _routiers_ in the Hundred
Years' War, it is hard to decide on which side the worst atrocities
were committed.
[Illustration: CAVES OF MESCHERS. In these caves overlooking the
Atlantic, the Huguenot refugees congregated to hear their preachers.
During the Revolution and Reign of Terror they were occupied by priests
and Royalists.]
[Illustration: CAVE REFUGE AT SOULIER DE CHASTEAU, CARREZE. This refuge
is accessible by a secret way opening on to the plateau above. Below
are indications of buildings having been constructed against, and in
part into the rock.]
Later still, in the Reign of Terror, the grottoes may have harboured
priests and nobles hiding for their lives. But now they shelter none
but the peaceful dreamer, who sits there at eventide looking out over
the yellow waters of the Gironde, ever agitated by the tide, at the
setting sun that sends shafts of fire into these recesses--and sets him
wishing that the light would reveal the details of tragic stories
connected with these caves.
In the department of Ariège are a vast number of natural caverns, many
of which have served as places of retreat for the Albigenses. Between
Tarascon and Cabannes are some that were defended by crenellated walls,
and are supposed to date from the Wars of Religion, but probably go
back beyond the time of the English occupation. It is also said that
the Huguenots met in them for their assemblies. In the country they go
by the name of _gleizetos_, or _petites eglises_. They are found on
the left bank of the Ariège. In the fourth century the Priscillianist
heretics expelled from Spain settled in the mountains on the north slope
of the Pyrenees, and propagated their doctrines throughout the country
and among the population more than half pagan, and this explains the
spread of Albigensian Manichaeism later. In 407 the Vandals, Suevi and
Alani, during three years in succession swept the country, committing
frightful ravages, as they passed on their way into Spain; and no doubt
can be entertained that at this time the numerous grottoes were used by
the natives as refuges. In 412 there was another influx of barbarians,
this time Visigoths; their king Walla made Toulouse his capital, and
gave over two-thirds of the land to his followers. After the battle of
Voulon, in 507, Clovis took possession of Toulouse. In 715 the Saracens
poured through the gaps in the Pyrenees, occupied the basin of the
Ariège, and destroyed the city of Couserans. In 731 more arrived in a
veritable invasion of multitudes, and ravaged all the south of France.
Again the caves served their end as places of hiding. The south of
France, rich and dissolute, was steeped in heresy. This heresy was a
compound of Priscillianism, the dualism of Manes, Oriental and Gnostic
fancies, Gothic Arianism, and indigenous superstition, all fused
together in what was known as Albigensianism, and which was hardly
Christian even in name. The terrible and remorseless extermination of
these unfortunate people, who knew no better, by order of Innocent III.
and John XXIII., presents one of the most horrible passages in history.
The country reeked with the smoke of pyres at which the heretics were
burnt, and was drenched with their blood. In 1244 their last stronghold,
the Montsegur, was taken, when two hundred of them were burnt alive.
Only some few who had concealed themselves in the dens and caves of the
earth survived this terrible time. The last heard of them is in 1328,
when some of the proscribed took refuge in the grottoes of Lombrive,
when 500 or 600 were walled in and starved to death, as already related.
In Derbyshire are numerous caves--at Castleton, Bradwell Eyam, Matlock,
and Buxton--but they are all natural, except such as are old mine-
workings.
Poole's Hole, the Buxton cavern, may be traced underground for the
distance of something like half a mile. It is now lighted with gas, its
inner ways have been made smooth, and it is even possible for invalids
in bath-chairs to enter. But it was at one time the haunt of an outlaw
named Poole, in the reign of Henry IV., who made it his home, and here
accumulated his stores. But it was inhabited long before his time, and
proves to have been a prehistoric dwelling-place, and was later
occupied by the Romans.
Reynard's Cave is high up on the Derbyshire side of Dove Dale, and the
way to it is steep and dangerous. It is approached through a natural
archway in a sheer cliff of limestone, about 20 feet wide and twice as
high, beyond which a difficult pathway gives access to the cave itself.
Near it is a smaller cavity, called Reynard's Kitchen. This cavern has
undoubtedly served as a shelter, it is said, to persecuted Royalists.
Here it was that the Dean of Clogher, Mr. Langton, lost his life a
century ago. He foolishly tried to ride his horse up the steep side of
the Dale to the cave, and carry a young lady, Miss La Roche, behind
him. The horse lost its foothold among the loose stones, and the rash
equestrian fell. The Dean died two days afterwards, but the young lady
recovered, saved by her hair having caught in the thorns of a bramble
bush. High up, among the rocks on the Staffordshire side in a most
secluded spot, is a cleft called Cotton's Cave, which extends something
like 40 feet within the rock. Here it was that Charles Cotton, the
careless, impecunious poet, the friend of Isaac Walton, was wont to
conceal himself from his creditors. On the top of Lovers' Leap, a sheer
precipice, is what was once a garden where the two anglers sat and
smoked their pipes. Close by is an ancient watch-tower, from which was
seen Cotton's wife's beacon-fire lit to announce to him that the coast
was clear of duns, and to light him home in the black nights of winter.
Thor's Cave is in a lofty rock on the Manifold River. The cliff rises
to an altitude of four or five hundred feet, terminating in a bold and
lofty peak; and the cave is situated about half-way up the face of the
precipice. The cave is arched at the entrance, a black yawning mouth in
the white face of the limestone. It is a natural phenomenon, but
appears to have been enlarged by cave-dwellers. It has been explored by
a local antiquary, and has yielded evidence of having been inhabited
from prehistoric times.
The name of Thor's Cavern carries us back to the time when the Norsemen
occupied Deira and Derbyshire, and Jordas Cave in Yorkshire does the
same--for the name signifies an Earth-Giant.
In the crevices of Bottor Rock in Hennock, Devon, John Cann, a
Royalist, found refuge. He had made himself peculiarly obnoxious to the
Roundheads at Bovey Tracey, and here he lay concealed, and provisions
were secretly conveyed to him. Here also he hid his treasure. A path is
pointed out, trodden by him at night as he paced to and fro. He was at
last tracked by bloodhounds to his hiding-place, seized, carried to
Exeter and hanged. His treasure has never been recovered, and his
spirit still walks the rocks.
At Sheep's Tor, where is now the reservoir of the Plymouth waterworks,
may be seen by the side of the sheet of water the ruins of the ancient
mansion of the Elfords. The Tor of granite towers above the village.
Among the rocks near the summit is a cave in which an old Squire Elford
was concealed when the Parliamentary troopers were in search of him.
Polwheel in his "Devon" mentions it. "Here, I am informed, Elford used
to hide himself from the search of Cromwell's party, to whom he was
obnoxious. Hence he could command the whole country, and having some
talent for painting, he amused himself with that art on the walls of
his cavern, which I have been told by an elderly gentleman who had
visited the place was very fresh in his time." None of the paintings
now remain on the sides of the rock.
The cave is formed by two slabs of granite resting against each other.
It is only about 6 feet long, 4 wide, and 5 feet high, and is entered
by a very narrow opening.