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Stone Circles, a Modern Builder's Guide to the Megalithic Revival

Stone Circles, a Modern Builder's Guide to the Megalithic Revival

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Thiemblais menhir - Standing Stone (Menhir) in France in Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22)

Submitted by TheCaptain on Friday, 20 March 2015  Page Views: 14395

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Thiemblais menhir Alternative Name: St Samson menhir, Tremblais menhir, Tiemblais menhir
Country: France Département: Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22) Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Nearest Town: Dinan  Nearest Village: St-Samson-sur-Rance
Latitude: 48.494400N  Longitude: 2.0182W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
5 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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I have visited· I would like to visit

trylondm would like to visit

brianlavelle visited on 2nd Sep 2023 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 4 Access: 4

oldman visited on 1st Sep 2018 Truly impressive Menhir.

thereddragon visited on 20th Feb 2015 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 4 Access: 4 On the way to Corseul museum decided to check it out. Glad we did. Arrived at midday hoping to see some of the artwork but sadly it was a grotty day with bad light :(

TheCaptain visited on 20th Mar 2008 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4 My second visit to this most wonderful menhir, about 1:30pm, late March 2008, in a hazy sun, and some of the carvings on the front face can be seen. An hour or two earlier would have been better, as would a stronger sun. After a while, you "get your eye in" and more and more wonderful carvings come into view. I can see on here (with the eye of the knowing, and the full def picture) the animal (mid left, just above the quartz vein) and a couple of crosses and other bits and pieces. Having got hold of a new book about the megalithes around Dinan, I can report that a revised picture of the carvings has been published in the last year or so, after various techniques have been used to make the carvings more prominent. These seem to agree more with what I saw several years ago and have been recorded in my photographs. Mind you, it seems that the "animal" on the mid left of the stone may have turned around, and its legs almost doubled in length !!! Now it is perhaps running to the right, rather than grazing to the left.... But to be serious for a while, this really is one of the most magnificent megalithic sites I have visited, and it has the capability of bringing emotions to the surface. Here is plain evidence of the cross symbol being used at important places 2500 years or more BC. And the importance of the animals.... And the shaping of the stone - look how flat the main face is, and how straight the upright edges are, even after about 5000 years of erosion. And this surely couldn't have been a one off ? Surely many more of these wonderful menhirs would have been carved and patterned ? Damn all those girls and floozies who have climbed and slid down the stone in their birth knickers in the hope of getting wed. The front face is almost polished smooth, with the carvings almost rubbed smooth.

TheCaptain visited on 27th Jun 2005 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4 This is a truly wonderful 8 metre long granite menhir, which can be found signposted along a little track just to the east of the village of St Samson. Although it leans at about 45°, it is beautifully shaped and has multitudes of carvings and engravings all over it. Apparently those on the flat western face are easy to see at mid day, but when I was here at 7:00pm, I could barely make anything out. I could, however, clearly see some of the carvings on the two sides, with the shadows being cast in just the right direction. All of the usual neolithic symbols are here, crosses, axes, squares, palettes and serpents. A nice legend of the stone is that any young girl who wants to get married should climb to the top of the stone, and side down in their "birth knickers", and they will become wed within the year. It is also supposed to be one of the three menhirs that block the entrance to hell. A real fantastic find.

johnstone visited on 6th Jun 2004 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4

Chrus visited on 1st Jan 0000 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5

neolithique02 Andy B have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4.83 Ambience: 4.5 Access: 4.17

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by neolithique02 : Le menhir de Saint-Samson sur Rance (Côtes d'Armor) Site in Bretagne:Côtes-D''Armor (22) France Image copyright: Néolithique02, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)
This is a truly wonderful carved and decorated 8 metre long granite menhir, which can be found signposted along a little track just to the east of the village of St-Samson-sur-Rance, near the lovely old town of Dinan.

Although it leans at about 45°, it is beautifully shaped and has multitudes of carvings and engravings all over it. All of the usual neolithic symbols are here, crosses, axes, squares, palettes and serpents.

Apparently those on the flat western face are easy to see at mid day, but when I was here at 7:00pm, at the end of June, I could barely make anything out. I could, however, clearly see some of the carvings on the two sides, with the shadows being cast in just the right direction.

A nice legend of the stone is that any young girl who wants to get married should climb to the top of the stone, and side down in their "birth knickers", and they will become wed within the year.

It is also supposed to be one of the three menhirs that block the entrance to hell. A real fantastic find.

Base Mérimée (Historic Monument)

Note: Some recent pictures in, which start to show the carvings on the front face. More to come in the next few weeks.
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Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thecaptain : The entrance to Hell ? or is it just the wonderful carved Tiemblais menhir, St-Samson-sur-Rance, just a few kilometres off the ferry at St Malo? This was about 1:30pm, late March 2008, in a hazy sun, and some of the carvings on the front face can be seen. An hour or two earlier would have been better, as would a stronger sun. Can't have everything. But after a while, you "get your eye... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thereddragon : It had to be done. Samson ideed! :)) (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by Jimwithnoname : Said to be the gateway to hell... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thecaptain : The left hand side of the front face at the quartz vein, and the animal can be seen facing to the left above the vein. To the left, beow the animals legs, a beautifully well defined "crosse" can be seen atop a "cartouche". (2 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thecaptain : The right hand side of the front face at the quartz vein, and a "crosse" atop a "cartouche" can clearly be seen, almost as if it is hanging from the line. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thecaptain : The very wonderful Thiemblais menhir, seen here from the roadside in its setting at the edge of a little wood.

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thecaptain : The most wonderful Tiemblais menhir, St-Samson-sur-Rance, just a few kilometres off the ferry at St Malo. This was about 1:30pm, late March 2008, in a hazy sun, but some of the carvings on the front face could be seen. An hour or two earlier would have been better, as would a stronger sun. But after a while, you "get your eye in" and more and more wonderful carvings come into view. I can s...

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thecaptain : The southern side of the marvellous Thiemblais, or St-Samson, menhir, near to th elovely old town of Dinan. Many of the superb carvings can clearly be seen. (3 comments)

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thecaptain : Thiemblais, or St-Samson, menhir, near to Dinan. The evening sun was drowning out the carvings on the flat, western face, but those on the southern side can be seen. (8 comments)

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thecaptain : The southern side of the menhir in the evening sun. A couple of "palettes" a couple of "crosses" and many other carved symbols can be seen (some in relief).

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thecaptain : Thiemblais, or St-Samson, menhir, near to Dinan. An almost perfect "crosse" can clearly be seen on the northern side.

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thecaptain : Thiemblais, or St-Samson, menhir, near to Dinan. The signpost. From what I saw of the carvings on the south side of the menhir in reality, the drawings on the signboard do not do it justice.

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by greywether : 6m tall but leaning considerably. Contains art which is difficult to see.

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by oldman : Site in Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22) France. Trying for some of the detail ….

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by oldman : Site in Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22) France. …. and from the other side.

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by neolithique02 : Le menhir de Saint-Samson sur Rance (Côtes d'Armor) Image copyright: Néolithique02, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by thereddragon : 41 - Le Menhir de Saint-Samson (C.-du-N.) Côtes-du-Nord was renamed Côtes-d'Armor in 1990.

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by neolithique02 : Le menhir de Saint-Samson sur Rance (Côtes-d'Armor) Image copyright: Néolithique02, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by neolithique02 : Le menhir de Saint-Samson sur Rance (Côtes d'Armor) Site in Bretagne:Côtes-D''Armor (22) France Image copyright: Néolithique02, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Thiemblais menhir
Thiemblais menhir submitted by Andy B : Vintage photograph from the 1927 book Menhirs et Dolmens Bretons by Paul Gruyer

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"Thiemblais menhir" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Re: Thiemblais menhir by TheCaptain on Friday, 04 April 2008
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After my recent second visit to this most wonderful menhir, and having got hold of a new book about the megalithes around Dinan, I can report that a revised picture of the carvings has been published in the last year or so, after various techniques have been used to make the carvings more prominent. These seem to agree more with what I saw several years ago and have been recorded in my photographs.

Mind you, it seems that the "animal" on the mid left of the stone may have turned around, and its legs almost doubled in length !!! Now it is perhaps running to the right, rather than grazing to the left....

But to be serious for a while, this really is one of the most magnificent megalithic sites I have visited, and it has the capability of bringing emotions to the surface. Here is plain evidence of the cross symbol being used at important places 2500 years or more BC. And the importance of the animals.... And the shaping of the stone - look how flat the main face is, and how straight the upright edges are, even after about 5000 years of erosion.

And this surely couldn't have been a one off ? Surely many more of these wonderful menhirs would have been carved and patterned ?

Damn all those girls and floozies who have climbed and slid down the stone in their birth knickers in the hope of getting wed. The front face is almost polished smooth, with the carvings almost rubbed smooth.
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Re: Thiemblais menhir by Martin_L on Tuesday, 04 March 2008
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Great site!
A frottage of the stone would be most interesting, but unfortunately this technique is often neglected by professional archaelogy. Although it is the most objective method which is nearly non-intrusive (if carried out carefully).
For example: The invention of frottage-technique as regular method in Scandinavian rock-art research lead to amazing new discoveries, even at well-known sites. It often proved traditional tracings to be not detailed enough or subjective. And your photos definitly show, that the drawings on the signboard are not perfect.

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