Megaliths in Brittany
France boasts the densest collection of prehistoric monuments in the world, centred in and around the Gulf of Morbihan in Brittany. Hewn from local granite, they were erected by the pre-Celtic people between 5000 and 6500 years ago to form monuments as impressive as Maes Howe, Avebury or Knowth. Parts of at least one of the oldest standing stones were reused in the construction of later dolmans and tumuli. Most of the tomb carvings bear similar motifs to those at Irish sites in the Boyne Valley or at Loughcrewe.
picture: the Gulf of Morbihan in south Brittany (image Plages TV)
The major sites in the gulf are Carnac and its environs, Locmariaquer peninsula (within a 40-minute drive of Carnac), Rhuys peninsula and the Isle of Gavrinis.
Most people are familiar with the amazing rows of standing stones at Carnac – three ‘fields of menhirs’ contained thousands of them in orderly lines at Menec, Kermario and Kerlescan. They are within a few kilometres of each other with smaller sites close by, forming a line over 4 km. Within a circle of about 7 km around them are numerous dolmen, tumuli and other menhirs.
When I visited the alignments at the end of the 1980s, it was possible to wander freely among the stones. Since then, the numbers of visitors have shot up, with busloads coming in. Responding to the demand and the damage done by some many feet, a Visitors Centre was built and the stones are now protected by fences. A new road cuts through them and with viewing platforms at intervals to enable tourists to gain a glimpse of size of the site. Even so, Carnac is worth a visit.
picture: some of the standing stone alignments at Carnac (photo by Pinpin, Wikimedia Commons)
Nearby Locmariaquer has a Visitors Centre of its own, though it only covers the main sites on the peninsula. One of those is an immense menhir, now broken into four pieces. In its day it stood 20 metres tall and weighed nearly 330 tonnes. Even so, it was smaller than the ‘Great Menhir’ which once stood nearby and appears to have been deliberately torn down by the makers of the passage tombs at Locmariaquer and Gavrinis to supply a capstone to the central chambers in those tombs.
picture: relative sizes of some menhirs in Brittany, (image by K & J Antonsen, Wikimedia Commons)
How do we know? Well, the Great Menhir was carved with images of oxen with large horns and what may be a plough. These broken drawings match their other halves on the capstones at the Table des Marchands in Locmariaquer and the tomb on Gavrinis. In addition, a large triangular stele decorated all over with the crozier (shepherds’ crooks) design that once stood in the open, is now part of the great central chamber of the Tables des Marchands. The Table has been carefully restored by placing small stones around the main uprights and all over the tomb to reconstruct the cairn which was once there.
picture: carvings in the walls and capstone of Les Tables des Merchands in Locmariaquer, (photo by Myrabella, Wikimedia Commons)
From the Visitors Centre, it’s a short drive down the peninsula to Pierres Plates, a massive passage tomb built below ground. Only the great, flat stones covering the passage can be seen at ground level.When I visited, it was completely accessible at all times. I found its atmosphere strangely deserted, like the other monuments we visited at Locmariquer. It’s something I’ve come to associate with the presence of too many humans who visit without respect for the spirits of these places.
picture: Pierres Plates in Locmariaquer (by Jean-Charles GUILLO, Wikimedia Commons)
A ferry runs hourly from Locmariaquer to the Isle of Gavrinis. The 20 minute trip was accompanied by a running commentary on the gulf and its islands, which is very useful if you have fluent French. Perhaps, these days, translations are provided. On the island, visitor were channelled to a reception area and had to leave all their bags and cameras in a locked box. Photographs were not permitted. Once released from the shelter, the guide gave a 20 minute talk (also in French) about the tomb. It was all worth it, because this tomb is the Breton equivalent of Newgrange in Ireland or Meas Howe in Scotland.
The stones used to build it were chosen or cut to fit exactly, which is unusual. Like Newgrange (and most other Amorican tombs) it faces towards the rising sun of the winter solstice, though it doesn’t share the accuracy of Newgrange, so the advancing sun never reached small chamber at the long of its long passage. The tomb seems to have been closed sometime around 3000 BCE, when the light wooden structures which had previously stood outside it were burnt and the passage inside packed with loose stones. Following that, the whole facade was buried in stones.
picture: Gavrinis passage. Replica in the Musée des tumulus de Bougon, France (by Ismoon, Wikimedia Commons)
The cairn is well preserved because the island has long been in private hands, though it’s now in the ownership of the regional authority. This means the carvings inside Gavrinis are perfectly preserved. They cover almost every stone, some with symbols seen at Newgrange, some seen elsewhere: axeheads, wavy lines, whorls, crosiers, zigzags, ‘serpents’ and chevrons. The chamber capstone from the Great Menhir has its ox. The whole tomb seemed to me to be occupied to me by a spirit, but I had no chance to explore this as we were hurried out to catch the ferry back to the mainland.
Can there be anything to rival Gavrinis? I’d say yes. France’s equivalent of Stonehenge lies to the south east of Rennes near the village of Esse. This is the Roche Aux Fees.
The Regional authority has landscaped the site so that it has a car park and toilets, but these are far enough away to allow visitors approach the megalith with respect and in peace. The Rock of the Fairies is an enormous dolmen constructed of fat slabs of reddish stones lying on a small summit in the middle of the countryside. It’s over 19 metres long, with an entrance I had to crouch to pass through. Past that, there’s enough room to stand. The only other visitor at the time was silent, removed his sandals to enter, and sat quietly inside for 20 minutes or so.
picture: author’s copyright
The site speaks clearly of a presence, which might be the one I felt in the chestnut tree beside it. I left a gift (perishable, of course) for the local wights. Go there if you wish to visit something which has a living presence.
Alexa Duir © 2004