Dolmen dit de la Ville Tanguy
MonumentHidden Treasure
Dolmen dit de la Ville Tanguy, located in Trégon (Département 22), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Trégon, Département 22, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 48.5578, -2.1902
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00089697
A listed megalithic monument, the Ville Tanguy dolmen erects its granite orthostats in the heart of Brittany's Penthièvre region, silent testimony to a Neolithic civilisation over 5,000 years old.
History
Tucked away in the bocage of the Côtes-d'Armor region, just a stone's throw from the Penthiévrois coastline, the dolmen known as the Ville Tanguy is one of those monuments that impose humility on visitors. Its large granite slabs, assembled without mortar or metal by anonymous Neolithic builders, have stood the test of time with a serenity that defies belief. Listed as a Historic Monument since 1963, it is one of a string of megaliths dotting northern Brittany, between Trégor and Penthièvre, making this one of the richest areas of prehistoric funerary architecture in Europe. What makes the Ville Tanguy dolmen so special is, above all, its setting in an unspoilt rural landscape. Far from the mass tourist circuits, it can be discovered at the bend in a sunken path, like a mineral apparition emerging from the ferns. The top slab - a horizontal slab sometimes referred to as a "cap" - rests on its vertical supports with a precision that testifies to an astonishing technical mastery for its time, using blocks that could weigh several tonnes, extracted and transported from quarries sometimes several kilometres away. The visit is like travelling back in time. As you wander around the structure, you can imagine the funeral processions that deposited their dead here, in a collective ritual in which death was part of the cycle of life. The stone enclosure, however incomplete, retains a magnetic presence that the centuries have not altered. The golden and grey lichens that colonise the granite add an almost mystical dimension to the atmosphere. The surrounding natural setting, with its hedgerows, flower-bedecked banks and occasional unobstructed views of the Penthièvre hills, makes this stopover as much a contemplative experience as an archaeological one. For the photographer, the low-angled morning or evening light magnifies the volumes and textures of the granite, revealing unsuspected shades of colour in the crevices of the rock.
Architecture
The Ville Tanguy dolmen is typical of the single-chamber megalithic burials found in northern Brittany. It is made up of orthostats - vertically upright blocks of granite - forming the side walls and base of the burial chamber, on which rests a large horizontal covering table. This post-lintel construction system, with its unstoppable structural logic, enabled the building to withstand the millennia without the need for binders or metal joints. The granite used, the preferred material of the Armorican Neolithic builders, comes from local outcrops in the Armorican Massif. Its exceptional resistance to weathering, erosion and frost explains the remarkable longevity of these structures. The quarried slabs still bear the marks of human activity in their cleavage planes and sometimes in slight cupules - intentionally dug circular basins whose ritual significance is still debated. Like most of the dolmens in the Côtes-d'Armor region, the one at Ville Tanguy was originally covered by a mound of earth and stones, forming an artificial mound that partially concealed it and signalled its presence in the landscape. This cairn or burial mound has disappeared over the centuries as a result of ploughing, erosion and the salvaging of stones for rural construction, leaving the chamber bare today, in a structural bareness that strikes the imagination of today's visitor.
Related Figures
Bâtisseurs néolithiques anonymes (vers 3500-2500 av. J.-C.) — populations agraires du Massif armoricain, auteurs du monumentÉrudits de la Société d'émulation des Côtes-du-Nord (XIXe siècle) — premiers inventoriants scientifiques du dolmenAndré Malraux — ministre des Affaires culturelles lors du classement MH de 1963, sous l'autorité duquel le monument fut protégéProsper Mérimée — premier Inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, initiateur du recensement des mégalithes bretons dès les années 1840Paul du Chatellier (1833-1911) — archéologue finistérien dont les travaux sur les mégalithes bretons ont contribué à la mise en valeur de sites comparables
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Dolmen dit de la Ville Tanguy located?
Dolmen dit de la Ville Tanguy is located in Trégon, Département 22 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Dolmen dit de la Ville Tanguy open to visitors?
Dolmen dit de la Ville Tanguy is currently closed to visitors.
