Créac'h Gallic

Trip No.203  Entry No.528  Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Here are the remains of a fairly large dolmen, but it looks to be in a bit of a precarious state. Warning signs and a fence warn of climbing on or near to the stones. The basic chamber is about 4 metres by 2 metres and 2 metres high, with a single capstone resting (just) on three support stones. It looks like a fourth support has recently broken and fallen, and it looks most precarious and that it could fall at any time.

Strangely there are many large slabs around the outside, making a sort of wall, I cannot really make this out at all. Seems it was once a large allée couverte with a peristalith surrounding its mound, some of which still survives. But its a bit difficult to fully make out and understand, and has no doubt been damaged in the past with the construction of the farms and the lanes.

There are many other large stones laying around, I need to try and look this one up. Now I know what it is, it seems obvious what the remains are.

Croazou chapel stèles

Trip No.203  Entry No.525  Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: This is an odd little place where many thousands of years of ritual and worship can all be seen together. In the middle of a fairly busy road junction is built a little chapel which is said to be the smallest in Finistère.

This chapel has been built onto a stèle with it still standing there at one of the back corners about 2 metres tall. Outside the back wall are three medieval crosses positioned on top of a fallen menhir supposedly in all being in their original positions. Around the outside of the chapel is also a fairly recent collection of other crosses from the region which includes one intriguing cross which has been mounted on the top portion of what was obviously once a lovely iron age stele with wonderful shaping and patterns carved into it.

Croazou chapel menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.526  Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is an odd little place where many thousands of years of ritual and worship can all be seen together. In the middle of a fairly busy road junction is built a little chapel which is said to be the smallest in Finistère. This chapel has been built onto a stèle with it still standing there at one of the back corners about 2 metres tall.

Outside the back wall are three medieval crosses positioned on top of a fallen menhir supposedly in all being in their original positions. Around the outside of the chapel is also a fairly recent collection of other crosses from the region which includes one intriguing cross which has been mounted on the top portion of what was obviously once a lovely iron age stele with wonderful shaping and patterns carved into it.

Croazou chapel

Trip No.203  Entry No.524  Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is an odd little place where many thousands of years of ritual and worship can all be seen together. In the middle of a fairly busy road junction is built a little chapel which is said to be the smallest in Finistère. This chapel has been built onto a stèle with it still standing there at one of the back corners about 2 metres tall.

Outside the back wall are three medieval crosses positioned on top of a fallen menhir supposedly in all being in their original positions. Around the outside of the chapel is also a fairly recent collection of other crosses from the region which includes one intriguing cross which has been mounted on the top portion of what was obviously once a lovely iron age stele with wonderful shaping and patterns carved into it.

Trouble is while I was there it must have been going home time and the junction was very busy and stopping and getting pictures was very difficult having enough time to stand in the road and get a photo without getting run down.

Men-Marz

Trip No.203  Entry No.527  Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: What a wonderful and fantastic menhir this is easily found to the north of Brignogan-Plage village by following plentiful signs. Men-Marz (the Miracle Stone in Breton) or Men-Bras (Grand Stone) is now set in a nice little area a previously close built house having been bought and demolished by the state and has a good information centre across the road with lots of informative boards.

At between 8.2 and 8.5 metres high depending upon where it is measured on the sloping ground it is said to be the fourth largest menhir still standing in France. It is a strange shaped beast as are the natural rocks around here and looks to be a thin and straight beast when seen from front and back but is a sort of triangular shape when seen from the sides with multiple cavities and ledges in the sides.

The stone has suffered from Christianising vandalism on at least two occasions as it not only has a granite cross mounted on the top but there is also an engraved cross on the south-eastern corner about 1.5 metres from the ground.

This stone has many legends attached to it which seem to get a bit mixed up and confused. There is a fairly flat ledge high up on the south side with several loose stones sitting on it. There seems to be two stories attached to this and the habit of throwing up pebbles onto it. One of the stories has it that young girls wanting to get married go to the stone and throw up a pebble. If the stone lands on the ledge and doesn’t fall down then she will be married within the year. This story is also told in a slightly different form in that young newly wed couples go to the stone and throw up a pebble and if the pebble lands and stays on the ledge then they will have an heir before the year is out. One throw only obviously. To this day newly wed couples come to this stone straight after the service.

While there I took my chances and threw a stone up and it did indeed stay up on the ledge. I do not know what this now has in store for me !

Goarivan Menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.523  Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a nice 4 metre tall menhir in a field just to the north of the hamlet of Goarivan, which can be reached along a farm track round the back of the houses. It's got a very curious thing near the base of its northern side, which looks like a marble in a case. There is a rounded white quartz lump which has been worn away from the grey surrounding granite and smoothed spherical. It looks like it should rattle around in the hole, but unfortunately it doesn't. I have no doubt that there are some stories and legends associated with this, but I do not know of any.

Grouanec stèle

Trip No.203  Entry No.521  Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is a fantastic iron age stèle by the D.32 roadside just to the east of the village of St Groanec, which has been christainised and turned into a roadside cross. The stèle is about 3.5 metres tall with an extra metre on top for the cross. It is tapered towards the top and carved into an octagonal shape, with each of the faces concave. What a super find.

St Grouanec well

Trip No.203  Entry No.522  Date Added: 28th May 2020
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: At the site of the St Groanec chapel there are many wells and springs gushing forth. The water is just flowing out of the ground here. It is no wonder the ancient chapel was built here.

Île Carn cairn

Trip No.203  Entry No.514  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Access 2

Log Text: Just offshore is this little island which can be reached a low tide, with a massive cairn containing three dolmenic chambers. There are also some WW2 gun emplacements and lookouts which spoil it a bit. The cairn is massive, and looks like its been quarried into, and from the shore the entry to one of the chambers can be seen. Its a pity I cannot get out to have a look. Should I borrow a boat ?

Île Melon Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.501  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: This is frustrating. There is only 15 metres of water between me and the island from where I sit, but the tide is coming in and the island is not going to get any nearer. The dolmen is on top of the island and looks a nice one, its capstone sitting on at least four support stones. There are also at least two menhirs further down to the south of the island, and looking towards the shore. Perhaps a swim is needed !

Kergadiou Menhirs

Trip No.203  Entry No.500  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The two menhirs of Kergadiou are a fine place to visit, and fairly easily found in a field a couple of kilometres north of the Aber Ildut estuary. From these two giant menhirs, it is possible to see the Kerloas menhir when the modern trees are not in leaf, and the sightline over the Kerloas menhir is perpendicular to the midsummer sunrise. Coincidence ?

Kergadiou menhir 1 is a really magnificent monster menhir, 8.8 metres tall, and the most beautifully and perfectly smoothed and shaped menhir there is. Just 80 metres away to the northeast is its neighbour, another king sized menhir which unfortunately is not standing upright, but leaning at a very shallow angle. It is perfectly smoothed into an extremely flat face on its upper surface, while the lower surface is still rough, which leads to conjecture that it has perhaps never stood, and is left here unfinished. An alternate viewpoint is that it stood as a rough stone, and fell while being pounded into its smoothed and flattened shape, perhaps in preparation for some carvings. This menhir is 11 metres in length, so would have probably stood to the same height as its neighbour.

What a tremendous place.

Pointe de Guilligui allée couverte

Trip No.203  Entry No.512  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is an unusual allée couverte, not quite at the top of the Guilliguy headland, overlooking the ocean where the Amoco Cadiz was wrecked, and the little port of Portsall. This is a place which has been revered over the millennia, and still serves as a place for thought by the big cross, and the views are fantastic.

The allée couverte was built in the neolithic, but much altered during the bronze age. It is now an L shaped tomb, the main part being 6 metres long by 2 metres wide with a couple of capstones still in place. At the eastern end an extra chamber has been built onto the south side, about 4 metres in length and still with one capstone. There is a nicely carved entrance stone between the two. It looks to me like the main chamber has been shortened here when this extra chamber was made, and a couple of stones still survive to the east.

Kerivoret Menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.503  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: About 50 metres away from the Kerivoret dolmen is a nice menhir, which looks to have been shaped with a slanted top. It's about 3.5 metres tall.

Kerivoret Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.504  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This is a nice looking dolmen sitting in a pleasant field behind the houses. It is signposted from the roan, and has a path to it from behind the houses, where there is room to park. The chamber is about 3 metres long, less than 2 metres wide, and created with a good back stone and two large side slabs each side. There are other stones at the open end, perhaps an entry corridor or a broken front slab. The capstone is a nice piece of granite, and overhangs the sides considerably in places, being about 4 metres across in each direction.

Saint-Denec Alignement de Menhirs

Trip No.203  Entry No.508  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: The two St Dénec menhirs are standing in a field near to the farm of St Dénec. Both are about 3.5 to 4 metres high, but they are not nicely shaped and smoothed like most of the menhirs around here.

There is also a rather large menhir like stone laying at the foot of one of the menhirs, and there are other large stones laying in the fields nearby. I wonder if there was once a lot more here in the way of alignements?

On closer inspection of the fallen stone it can be seen that it has carvings on it. Two axes and a couple of the bishops crook shaped symbols (crosses). I was glad I went back for a second look after missing this first time round.

Mezdoun menhirs

Trip No.203  Entry No.507  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Two menhirs in a field of growing sweetcorn, so getting close enough to get details was not easy. These two menhirs are both between 4 and 5 metres tall, and have been shaped. The further east of the two looks to have been broken and was possibly once much bigger. They are about 60 metres from each other, on an east to west alignment.

Dolmen de Men-Milliget

Trip No.203  Entry No.510  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Men Milliget or the St Gonvel dolmen is a pleasant little dolmen living on the landward side of a headland sticking out into the ocean. It's 3 metre by 2 metre chamber is made with a large backstone and two side slabs, with remains of other stones, but it is partially buried in the dunes. The strangely shaped capstone is known as Men Milliget (Roche Maudite, Bad rock).

Saint-Gonvarc'h menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.511  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 3 Access 2

Log Text: The Pierre de St Gonvarc'h, or Mez menhir, can be seen across a couple of fields, and is another of the monster menhirs of this region (Leon). Comparing it to a nearby cow for size, it must be a good 6 metres tall, and has been beautifully shaped.

Menhir de Kerhouézel

Trip No.203  Entry No.509  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The Kerhouézel menhir is another fantastic monster menhir, just inland from Porspoder and signposted. It must be eight metres high and is fantastically smoothed and shaped. I just love these massive stones. I've go to give it a hug ! It is possible that there is a carved symbolon the upper part of the southern face.

Île Melon menhirs

Trip No.203  Entry No.502  Date Added: 27th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 20th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 5 Access 2

Log Text: This is frustrating. There is only 15 metres of water between me and the island from where I sit, but the tide is coming in and the island is not going to get any nearer. There is a dolmen on top of the island, and there are also at least two menhirs further down to the south of the island, and looking towards the shore. I believe that there was once a large menhir here also, which was blown up during the war. Perhaps a swim is needed !