Under the tower, a
capital of the north-west pier has a granite basket roughly carved in
low relief with the bust of a man whose head is big. His right arm is
raised and his left arm is folded over his chest. An oak branch is
visible on the right. Photo by Alain Dermigny. [Alain-038]

[Illustration]

073. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. A carved capital basket. Under the tower,
another granite basket is carved with an angle hook in low relief. The
capital baskets of the north-west, north-east and south-east piers are
all adorned with angle hooks of this kind. Photo by Alain Dermigny.
[Alain-039]

[Illustration]

074. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. St. Pair's sarcophagus. A stone altar dating
from the 19th century covers the shell limestone sarcophagus of St.
Pair. St. Pair (482-565) founded a chapel with St. Scubilion, the
foundations of which are still present underneath the choir of the
present church. St. Pair also gave his name to the village previously
known under the Roman name Scessiacus, or Scissy. St. Pair and St.
Scubilion's sarcophagi were found in 1875, during the excavations made
by abbot F. Baudry. Photo by Alain Dermigny. [Alain-040]

[Illustration]

075. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The plan of the oratory sketched by abbot F.
Baudry. In September 1875, during excavations in the church choir,
abbot F. Baudry found part of the foundations of the 6th-century
oratory and several shell limestone sarcophagi: the sarcophagi of St.
Pair and St. Scubilion and, nearby, those of St. Senier and St.
Aroaste. St. Gaud's sarcophagus was found in 1131 while digging the
foundations of the Romanesque tower. This plan is included in the book
of Chanoine Pigeon entitled "Vie des Saints du Diocese de Coutances et
d'Avranches" (Life of the Saints in the Diocese of Coutances and
Avranches), published in Avranches in 1888.

[Illustration]

076. Saint-Pair-sur-Mer. The foundations of the oratory. On the floor
of the second row of the present choir, the double line of black tiles
surrounded by a row of clear tiles shows the exact place of the
foundations of the old oratory. The underneath foundations form a
semi-circular apse going on as side walls that disappear in the
Romanesque building. Fortunatus (530-600), bishop of Poitiers, wrote
in his "Vie de Saint Pair" (St. Pair's Life) that the cells of the
early monks were built beside the sea. Then monks move their dwellings
on the banks of the river Saigue, at the site of the presen