Deux menhirs de Kergoff
MonumentHidden Treasure
Deux menhirs de Kergoff, located in Boqueho (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Boqueho, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.4526, -2.9825
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089028
Two stone sentinels erected at the dawn of time, the menhirs of Kergoff have watched over the Boqueho moors since the Neolithic period. A listed megalithic duo, a rare testimony to prehistoric Breton sacredness.
History
In the heart of the Côtes-d'Armor, in the discreet commune of Boqueho, two menhirs stand side by side like immemorial guardians forgotten by written history. These granite monoliths, planted in the Breton soil more than five millennia ago, are one of the rare megalithic duos still standing in the Côtes-d'Armor department, which is nevertheless rich in Neolithic remains. What makes the menhirs of Kergoff particularly striking is their association: where other sites feature an isolated menhir or an alignment of several dozen stones, this pair of monoliths embodies a form of monumental intimacy. Their location seems to reflect a territorial or astronomical logic specific to the agropastoral societies of the Late Neolithic, who used these stone markers to demarcate sacred spaces, mark routes or celebrate solar and lunar cycles. A visit to the menhirs at Kergoff offers a rare change of scenery. Far from the overcrowded tourist sites, these standing stones can be discovered in a rural setting, surrounded by hedged farmland and sunken lanes typical of the Argoat region of Brittany. The absence of artificial staging reinforces the authenticity of the encounter: you are alone in front of these blocks of raw granite, shaped only by the hands and flint tools of their builders. The low autumn or spring light reveals the irregularities in the surface of the stones and accentuates their telluric presence. Photographers and lovers of prehistoric heritage will find here a first-rate subject, far from the crowds. Walkers looking for a getaway in deepest Brittany will appreciate the serenity of the site and the intimate connection it offers with a buried but palpable past.
Architecture
The two menhirs at Kergoff are monoliths of rough granite, a rock characteristic of the Armorican bedrock and the material of choice for Breton megalithic builders because of its hardness, availability and ability to survive the millennia without being fundamentally altered. Each block has a slender, irregular silhouette, typical of Armorican Late Neolithic menhirs: a broad base buried in the ground to ensure stability, and a shaft that gradually tapers to a generally rounded or slightly pointed top. The stones show the natural traces of age-old alteration - grey-green lichens, micro-cracks, grey patina - which accentuate their perceptible age. The Kergoff duo is part of the tradition of paired menhirs, a form of megalithic architecture less common than alignments or isolated menhirs, but attested in Brittany and other regions on the European Atlantic coast. The spacing between the two stones and their relative orientation are key factors in understanding the intentions of their builders, even if no published archaeological study has yet provided a definitive answer to the question of the axis along which they were placed or their precise astronomical orientation. The height of the menhirs at Kergoff is likely to be within the range of average menhirs in the département, between two and four metres above ground level, with the buried parts generally representing one-third to one-half of the total length of the block. This buried proportion guarantees the stone's age-old stability without the need for any additional binders or infrastructure - a simple but effective technical feat at the heart of prehistoric megalithic engineering.
Related Figures
Populations néolithiques du Massif armoricain — bâtisseurs anonymes des menhirs, entre 3500 et 2500 av. J.-C.Prosper Mérimée — inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, initiateur des premières campagnes de recensement mégalithique en France au XIXe siècleZacharie Le Rouzic — archéologue et conservateur du musée de Préhistoire de Carnac, pionnier du recensement des mégalithes bretons au début du XXe siècleAndré Malraux — ministre des Affaires culturelles sous De Gaulle, dont l'action renforça la politique de classement des mégalithes dans les années 1960, période du classement de Kergoff
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Deux menhirs de Kergoff located?
Deux menhirs de Kergoff is located in Boqueho, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Deux menhirs de Kergoff open to visitors?
Deux menhirs de Kergoff is currently closed to visitors.