Allée couverte de Kernescop
MonumentHidden Treasure
Allée couverte de Kernescop, located in Lohuec (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Lohuec, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.4555, -3.5361
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089313
Nestling on the moors of Lohuec, the covered alleyway at Kernescop is a silent witness to the Breton Neolithic: a funerary corridor of massive stones over 5,000 years old, listed as a Historic Monument.
History
In the heart of the Côtes-d'Armor region, in the discreet countryside of Lohuec, the covered alleyway of Kernescop stands out in the landscape like a secret snatched from prehistory. This megalithic monument, built over five millennia ago by settled Neolithic communities, belongs to the family of funerary architectures that dot Brittany with their enigmatic mineral silhouettes. Far from the crowds that flock to Carnac or the Crozon peninsula, Kernescop offers an intimate and striking encounter with the first stone builders. The covered walkway differs from traditional dolmens in its elongated shape: a veritable corridor demarcated by orthostats - large vertical slabs planted in the ground - and topped by horizontal covering tables. At Kernescop, this complex is part of the tradition of collective burials that characterise the Final Armorican Neolithic, between 3,500 and 2,000 BC. The agrarian communities of the time deposited their dead here over the generations, making these monuments the first true memorial architecture of European mankind. To visit Kernescop is to immerse yourself in a radically different time. Visitors can walk right up to the stones, feel their granite texture, and guess at the titanic logistics involved in moving these blocks without metal, wheels or beasts of burden. The silence of the surrounding moors and the low-angled morning and evening light accentuate the almost cosmic dimension of the site. Photographers and geology enthusiasts will love it here, as will families keen to awaken their children's curiosity about prehistory. The natural setting enhances the atmosphere of the site. Lohuec, a village in the Côtes-d'Armor region of Brittany, is part of this little-visited hinterland that boasts an unsuspected wealth of heritage. The fields, hedgerows and iodised air rising up from the interior create a setting that is unchanged in its essence, as if the landscape itself had kept pace with the age of the monument. It's a stopover that you'll leave with regret, but from which you'll leave with the certainty of having touched on something essential.
Architecture
The covered alleyway at Kernescop is typical of the morphology of the megalithic burials of the Final Armorican Neolithic: a straight or slightly trapezoidal corridor, delimited by a double row of vertical granite slabs - the orthostats - planted directly into the ground to a depth of several dozen centimetres. These uprights, which are generally around 1.20 to 1.80 metres high in monuments of this type, support horizontal covering tables that create a dark, confined interior space, ideal for funerary rites. The total length of the corridor can be estimated at between six and twelve metres, in line with the average for covered walkways in central Brittany. The only material used is local granite, the dominant rock of the Armorican massif, which is exceptionally solid and resistant to erosion, which explains the monument's longevity over more than five millennia. The surface of some of the slabs shows signs of polishing or wear from handling during construction. It is possible that engravings or cupules - common ornaments in contemporary Breton covered walkways, such as those at La Roche-aux-Fées or Gavrinis - adorned some of the walls, although their current state of preservation means that this cannot be confirmed with certainty. The orientation of the monument, as is often the case with this type of burial, seems to have been determined in relation to astronomical or topographical landmarks specific to the site. Originally, the whole complex lay under a mound of earth and stones, which concealed it completely, leaving only an entrance at one end of the corridor to allow successive deposits to be made. The gradual uncovering of the megaliths, now exposed in the open air, has given the site its current architectural legibility.
Related Figures
Bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes de la culture Sein-Kerugou (vers 3500-2500 av. J.-C.), communautés agropastorales du centre-BretagneProsper de Valence, archéologue breton du XIXe siècle ayant contribué à l'inventaire des mégalithes des Côtes-du-NordPaul du Châtellier, archéologue finistérien (1833-1911), figure majeure de la préhistoire armoricaine et référence pour l'étude des allées couvertes bretonnesZacharie Le Rouzic, archéologue (1864-1939), conservateur du musée de Carnac, dont les travaux sur les mégalithes bretons éclairent le contexte de KernescopInspecteurs des Monuments Historiques ayant instruit le dossier de classement, finalisé par l'arrêté du 25 janvier 1964
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Allée couverte de Kernescop located?
Allée couverte de Kernescop is located in Lohuec, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Allée couverte de Kernescop open to visitors?
Allée couverte de Kernescop is currently closed to visitors.
