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Le
Grand Menhir Brisé The complex here is open all day in summer from 10-5pm but closes at Easter between 12.30-2.00pm. Entry is 4 Euros. The site is well signposted and there is a large carpark.
The broken stone here would have been the tallest in Brittany reaching 20.3m and estimated to weigh 280 tons. It is among the largest of known stones to have been used by early man. It is also known as “Men er Hroeg” – the fairy’s stone! It is composed of orthogneiss which is not local the area and the nearest occurrence of this stone is about 4km away so transportation of this huge stone would have been a major feat. |
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The stone was originally shaped and smoothed and an axe carving is on one section. It was thought to have been toppled by lightning or an earthquake but its position suggests that the monolith was deliberately broken while still upright where the top section fell to the east and broke into three and the base section fell to the NW.
View towards the Table des Marchands burial chamber The
case for the deliberate breaking of standing stones has been made where
decorated fragments of sections from the same stone have been recycled and
used in capstones in different tombs miles apart. |
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D’Er
Grah Tumulus Just NW of the fallen stones is the 140m long mound that has been very restored. It is thought to have been constructed over one or two centuries and expanded to cover the original chamber after starting as a cairn and chamber then being extended in length.
The
edge of the long mound |
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