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A Guide to Stone Circles (New Edition), Aubrey Burl

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Kerloas Menhir - Standing Stone (Menhir) in France in Bretagne:Finistère (29)

Submitted by thecaptain on Friday, 23 June 2006  Page Views: 17759

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Kerloas Menhir Alternative Name: Kerloaz menhir, Menhir de Kervéatoux
Country: France Département: Bretagne:Finistère (29) Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Nearest Town: Ploudalmezeau  Nearest Village: Plouarzel
Latitude: 48.426500N  Longitude: 4.6794W
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

thereddragon Martin_L would like to visit

Catrinm visited on 4th Sep 2022 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Impressive menhir well signposted. If @thecaptain says its tallest in Europe if not the world it must be!

bishop_pam visited on 5th Aug 2019 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 4

rrmoser visited on 7th Jun 2017 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4 Wow!

Traumrealistin visited on 15th Oct 2014 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5 It is worth a visit.

TheCaptain visited on 19th Jun 2005 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4 What a fantastic stone, and easily found near to the old D.5 road to the east of Plouarzel due to many signposts to it. This is the biggest standing menhir in Europe, if not the world, at nearly 10 metres tall, and has lost the top 2 metres after a lightning strike! It towers above all around, and standing as it does on top of a hill, it can be seen from 30 kilometres away. The stone, which is not local and has been brought to this hilltop site from more than 2.5 kilometres away near the Aber Ildut estuary, has been beautifully shaped, and tapers both into the ground, and up to a point. On the two "thin" sides of the stone are round humps, about 20 cm in diameter about belly high above the ground. This stone of course has many legends, such as treasure buried beneath it, going to drink at the ocean on the strike of 12:00 on Christmas night, and that newly wed couples should come here on their wedding night to rub the stone lumps for a good future and fertility. In fact, many wedding parties still come here to this day in order to perform this ritual. It was a pity it was cold and late when I visited, and not good light for photographs. I feel I would like to stay here a while, it has a lovely atmosphere. Maybe I will come back tomorrow.

johnstone visited on 18th Jun 2003 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4

negus visited - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5

neolithique02 DrewParsons Andy B ermine have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4.71 Ambience: 4.71 Access: 4.33

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by thecaptain : This is the biggest standing menhir in Europe, if not the world, at nearly 10 metres tall, and has lost the top 2 metres after a lightning strike! The stone, which is not local and has been brought to this hilltop site from more than 2.5 kilometres away, has been beautifully shaped, and tapers both into the ground, and up to a point. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Kerloas menhir is the biggest standing menhir in Europe, if not the world, at nearly 10 metres tall, and has lost the top 2 metres after a lightning strike 200 years ago! It towers above all around, and standing as it does on top of a hill, it can be seen from 30 kilometres away.

The stone, which is not local and has been brought to this hilltop site from more than 2.5 kilometres away near the Aber Ildut estuary, has been beautifully shaped, and tapers both into the ground, and up to a point.

On the two "thin" sides of the stone are round humps, about 20 cm in diameter about belly high above the ground.

This stone of course has many legends, such as treasure buried beneath it, going to drink at the ocean on the strike of 12:00 on Christmas night, and that newly wed couples should come here on their wedding night to rub the stone lumps for a good future and fertility. In fact, many wedding parties still come here to this day in order to perform this ritual.

It was a pity it was cold and late when I visited, and not good light for photographs.

What a fantastic stone, and easily found near to the old D.5 road to the east of Plouarzel due to many signposts to it.

The Journal of Antiquities also features a page for this standing stone - see their entry for Kerloas Menhir, Plouarzel, Finistere, Brittany, which includes directions for finding the stone, together with a description, photograph and old drawing, plus local folklore and their sources of information, including Briard, Jacques., The Megaliths of Brittany (Giseserot Edition), Rennes, 2001.

Also see the Wikipedia article for this menhir: Liste des sites mégalithiques du Finistère

Base Mérimée (Historic Monument)
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Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by DrewParsons : September 2009 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Kerloas Menhir
Kerloas Menhir submitted by Catrinm : Menhir de Kerloan - Site in Bretagne:Finistère (29) France (Vote or comment on this photo)

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by Sunny100 : Site in Bretagne:Finistère (29) France. The granite Menhir of Kerloas near Aber Illdur, Brittany, stands at 40 feet high (9.50 metres), perhaps the tallest standing stone in W.Europe. The top section was broken off by a lightning strike. The menhir is estimated to weigh 150 tonnes and dates from somewhere between 6,000-2,000 BC. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by thecaptain : Kerloas menhir - so big its difficult to fit it in a photo ! (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by thecaptain : Kerloas menhir is the biggest standing menhir in Europe, if not the world, at nearly 10 metres tall, and has lost the top 2 metres after a lightning strike! It towers above all around, and standing as it does on top of a hill, it can be seen from 30 kilometres away. (1 comment)

Kerloas Menhir
Kerloas Menhir submitted by cazzyjane : Kerloas Menhir. Possibly the tallest menhir in the world. I don't like to be included in the photo's but this is the only way to show how massive this stone is! (6 comments)

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by DrewParsons : Photographed in September 2009 - the size of this menhir reminds me of the 8 metre Rudston standing stone in Yorkshire.

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by DrewParsons : September 2009

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by rw1 : 09/2007

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by rw1 : 09/2007 (6 comments)

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by rw1

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by rw1

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by rw1 : 09/2007

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by ermine : This is the tallest standing stone in Europe, according to Aubrey Burl, and would be even taller had it not been hit by lightning 200 years ago. It stands today at 9.5 m above ground.

Kerloas Menhir
Kerloas Menhir submitted by regina :

Kerloas Menhir
Kerloas Menhir submitted by karolus : Site in Bretagne:Finistère (29) France

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by KaiHofmann : Huge Kerloas Menhir. Image taken in September 2001.

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by KaiHofmann

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by postman : An absolute belter, thee big one.

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by postman : One of the bestest and mustest of sees in Brittany.

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by postman : Fertility nipple lower left of Menhir.

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by neolithique02 : Menhir de Kerloas (Plouarzel - Finistère) Site in Bretagne:Finistère (29) France Image copyright: Néolithique02, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by neolithique02 : Menhir de Kerloas (Plouarzel - Finistère) Site in Bretagne:Finistère (29) France Image copyright: Néolithique02, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Kerloas menhir
Kerloas menhir submitted by durhamnature : Drawing from "Early Races of Scotland" via archive.org, from a book in New York Libraries. (5 comments)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 3.4km NW 323° Afleurement à Cupules de Calétour Rock Art
 4.9km WNW 290° Allee Couverte De Plouarzel* Chambered Tomb
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"Kerloas Menhir" | Login/Create an Account | 5 News and Comments
  
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Re: Kerloas menhir by thereddragon on Monday, 15 October 2012
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As far as I can make out this used to be called the Menhir de Kervéatoux??
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Kerloas menhir by davidmorgan on Monday, 15 October 2012
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Yes, I've added it as an alternative name.
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Kerloas menhir by Anonymous on Saturday, 28 March 2020
    Yes - I have an old postcard c 1902 of this menhir and it is called the Menhir of Kerveatous which is almost the same.
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Kerloas menhir by TheCaptain on Sunday, 29 March 2020
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    Ah, the vagaries of spelling Breton placenames. Looking at the ign map, the nearby forest is called Bois de Kervéatouz.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Kerloas menhir by TheCaptain on Saturday, 04 February 2012
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see here on streetview

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