Discovering Brittany's oldest monuments
You won't have time to see them all, so since you have to choose, we recommend these 7 megaliths: a covered walkway, a cairn, menhirs and dolmens, not to be touched too quickly... So take several minutes to observe them, touch them, feel the depth of the ages in the granite.
Guilliguy covered walkway
Carn Island cairn
The Saint-Gonvel sand dolmen
The Île Melon dolmen
The menhirs of Kergadiou
The Kerloas menhir
The Kereven menhir
INESCAPABLE
Guilliguy covered walkway
Built over 5,000 years ago, this funerary monument housed collective burials. Its side entrance makes it a rare monument, andits location on the heights at the top of the Pointe du Guilliguy is certainly no coincidence! Excavations have revealed the presence of a microlith-cutting workshopas far back as the Mesolithic period (6,000 BC) .
PEPITE
Carn Island cairn
At low tide in Ploudalmézeau, you can travel back in time across the foreshore to 4,000 BC. The cairn on Carn Island is surprisingly well-preserved, despite the changing environment and rising sea levels that have separated it from the mainland. This funerary monument encloses three corridor dolmens with corbelled vaults. According to legend, it was here that a cruel horse-eared king lived! An exceptional place to discover.
Set
However sturdy they may be, megaliths are fragile. Climbing on them can cause them to loosen. To preserve them as our ancestors imagined them, just admire them, touch them with your fingertips, and engrave these moments in your memory, not on the stone.
WALKING
The Saint-Gonvel sand dolmen
On the way to the Saint-Gonvel chapel, a small path on the left leads you to the Argenton dolmen, which stands out at the top of a cypress-lined mound. It is covered by a slab measuring 3.70 m by 2.30 m, and is partly covered by sand. You can sit beside it in silence, listening to the perpetual rolling of the waves.
DISCOVERY
The Île Melon dolmen
Connected to the mainland at low tide, the small island of Melon will leave you with an unforgettable memory. Here you'll discover a large granite quarry, abandoned after years of hard work when Aber Ildut granite was highly prized. In the center of the island, the dolmen stands tall and sturdy among the wild flowers, despite the winds and tides.
LEGEND
The menhirs of Kergadiou
Legend has it that the standing menhir was stolen from a witch in Scotland. Enraged, she tried to knock it down by throwing a second menhir, but her throw proved too short by around 60 metres.
MONUMENTAL
The Kerloas menhir
Standing on the heights of the Pays d'Iroise, the Kerloas menhir measures 9m50, making it the tallest standing menhir in Europe! Made of Aber Ildut granite, it features cupules and bas-reliefs that once held a meaning. Until the 19th century, newlyweds would rub against the protuberances at the base of the menhir in the hope of a long and happy union.
VESTIGE
The Kereven menhir
This orange-coloured quartz menhir is the last vestige of two alignments of standing stones that once led to Pointe Saint-Mathieu. Around 60 menhirs were counted by an archaeologist in 1912, before they were destroyed during the land consolidation project. The Kereven menhir, encircled by a tree that seems to want to protect it, is a survivor.
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