<< 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 menhirCountry: 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:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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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
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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