The Megaliths of Carnac

Standing Stones / Menhirs

Single standing stones or menhirs are widely scattered over the district. Many are associated with graves, for example the menhir on the summit of the Kercado tumulus. Others are thought to be parts of sightings for determining the extreme positions of the sun and moon, for example Le Géant and Le Grand Menhir Brisé.

The following map shows the location of the major menhirs or single standing stones in the Carnac/Gulf of Morbihan area. There are many more standing stones than shown here.

Map of locations of standing stones
Le Grand Menhir Brisé
Le Grand Menhir Brisé standing stone
Le Grand Menhir Brisé standing stone
Beside La Table de Marchand and Er Grah tumuli at Locmariaquer
Broken in 4 pieces: "whole" length 20 meters, weight 350 tons
Not local rock; thought to come from Quiberon peninsula
Stone smoothed, axe-plough carved on second from bottom piece
Opinion is divided on whether the menhir was broken by lightning or an earthquake or whether it was deliberately broken
Thought by Thom (see map on Introduction page) to be central sighting for lunar observatory
Also called Er Grah like the tumulus beside it.
Le Géant
The Giant standing stone
200 meters north of east end of Kermario alignments northeast of Carnac
6 meters high, tallest still standing menhir in the district
Thought by Thom to be a central sighting of a solar observatory
Le Moustoir
Menhir to west of Le Moustoir tumulus
Menhir to west
Menhir / standing stone on top of Le Moustroir tumulusMenhir on top
About 3 km north of Carnac
One menhir on summit of tumulus and one at west side
The menhir to the west is 3.3 metres tall; the one on top is over 2 metres

About 2 meters tall
Le Champ de Menhirs
Champs de Menhirs
Between Le Géant and Le Moustoir
Several scattered menhirs about 1 metre tall in woods on line between Le Grand Menhir in Locmariaquer and Le Moustoir
Some books mention remains of a dolmen with capstone missing
Difficult to find - we didn't find the site in 1998
Found the menhirs in 2002, but didn't see anything that looked like a dolmen - very overgrown
.
Le Manio Near eastern end of Kermario alignments
Larger menhir than surrounding stones of alignments
Associated with grave
Serpentine engravings at foot of stone, below ground level
Kercado
Kercado tumulus with standing stone on top
Entrance to Kercado tumulus and menhir on top
2 km northeast of Carnac
On summit of tumulus (Stone in foreground is one of the stones in the circle around the tumulus.)
Kerluir
Kerluir dolmen with St. Michel tumulus behind
500 metres south of Kermario dolmen and west end of alignments
West of Kerluir dolmen
Behind can be seen St. Michel tumulus with the chapel on top
Crucuny
2-meter tall menhir on top of Crucuny tumulusMenhir on tumulus
One of the menhirs at Crucuny
2.5 km north of Le Menec village
Menhir on top of tumulus is over 2 metres tall
2 menhirs south of village of Crucuny, one west of village near cromlech
Le Ménec
Menhir west of Le Ménec alignments
Over 2-metre high menhir west of west end of Le Ménec alignments
About halfway between Le Ménec and the Kerderff menhirs
Krifol
Krifol menhir
Krifol menhir
Kirfol menhir
Northwest of the west end of Le Ménec alignments
2.9 metres tall
The photos show 3 sides of the same stone. Trying to identify stones from pictures in books is very difficult because the same stone looks so different from different sides. Luckily this one had a name plaque.
Top photo - looking towards Le Ménec alignments
Kerderff
Kerderff - larger of 2 menhirs
Kerderff - two menhirs
North of Kerderff, northwest of Le Ménec
2 tall menhirs in a field of thistles
The tallest menhir is 5.4 metres
Croix Julien
Croix Julien
7 km north of Carnac, just south of Le Hahon village
Looks like same stone used for menhirs
A "Christianized" menhir??
Quiberon Peninsula Several at southwest end of peninsula
One in town of Quiberon at southeast end of peninsula (lunar sighting with Le Grand Menhir)
Kermaillard Presqu1ile de Rhuys, NE of Le Net village
5-metre high menhir
Engraved

All photographs were taken by myself, during trips to the megaliths of Carnac in 1980, 1983, 1994, 1998, and 2002. All photographs are my property and may not be copied or used without my written permission.

 

Table of Contents

Introduction

Types of Megaliths
of Carnac

Databank

Links



September 1, 2003
©copyright 1999, 2003 Vicki Sherwood
E-mail: vsherwood@simon-kucher.com
This page is hypertext https://menhirs.tripod.com/menhir.html/