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 worth mention also on
account of the fact that it was at St Sauveur-le-Vicomte, only about seven
miles distant, that the first recorded windmill was put up in France about
the year 1180, almost the same time as the first reference to such
structures occurs in England. St Sauveur has its castle now occupied by the
hospital. It was given to Sir John Chandos by Edward III. after the Treaty
of Bretigny in 1360, and that courageous soldier, who saw so much fighting
in France during the Hundred Years War, added much to the fortress which
had already been in existence since very early times in the history of the
duchy.

A road runs from St Sauveur straight towards the sea. It passes the corner
of a forest and then goes right down to the low sandy harbour of Port Bail.
It is a wonderful country for atmospheric effects across the embanked