Ensemble mégalithique dénommé menhirs des Pierres Chevêches
MonumentHidden Treasure
Ensemble mégalithique dénommé menhirs des Pierres Chevêches, located in Saint-Just (Département 35), is a historic monument. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Location
- Saint-Just, Département 35, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.7780, -1.9653
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00090790
In the heart of the Breton moorland, the menhirs of the Pierres Chevêches have been standing silhouetted in schist for over 5,000 years, silent witnesses to one of the densest Neolithic settlements in Armorique.
History
A few kilometres from Redon, on the wild heights of the Saint-Just commune, the Pierres Chevêches megalithic site rises from the moor like a thousand-year-old dialogue between stone and sky. These menhirs planted in the purplish schist of inland Brittany belong to one of the best-preserved megalithic complexes in Ille-et-Vilaine, a region where the density of Neolithic monuments rivals that of neighbouring Morbihan. What makes the site truly unique is its integration into a landscape of gorse and heather moorland that has withstood the agricultural consolidation of the 20th century. The stones, the largest of which are one to two metres high, emerge from the uneven ground as if the earth itself had built them. Their arrangement in partial alignment evokes the great ceremonial compositions of the Armorican peninsula, without however reaching the scale of the Carnacan ensembles. It is precisely this intimacy that is their charm: you approach each block of sandstone and shale as if you were talking to someone. Naturally, you can visit the site on foot, following the signposted paths that wind between the standing stones and link the Pierres Chevêches to the other megaliths on the Saint-Just plateau - dolmens, cairns and standing stones make up one of the most beautiful megalithic circuits in eastern Brittany. Allow a good hour to enjoy the site without rushing, and even longer if you want to link the site to neighbouring monuments such as the Croix-Saint-Pierre cairn or the Moulin alignments. The natural setting heightens the emotion: at sunrise or late afternoon, the low-angled light makes the schist vibrate with golden reflections, revealing veins and mineral inclusions invisible in broad daylight. Photographers and geology enthusiasts will find the terrain here as rich as it is for archaeologists.
Architecture
The Pierres Chevêches are menhirs carved out of Armorican schist and sandstone, rocks that are ubiquitous in the subsoil of the Saint-Just plateau. These local materials, quarried a short distance from the site, vary in colour from bluish-grey to purplish-brown depending on the outcrop, with iridescent highlights due to mica and chlorite inclusions. Some blocks still show traces of extraction or rough shaping, testifying to the regularisation work carried out before transport and dressing. The blocks vary in height, from a few decimetres for the most modest to around two metres for the best-preserved elements, with the bases buried to a depth of up to a third of the total height, ensuring stability simply by being embedded in the ground. The cross-section of the shafts is irregular, generally prismatic, with surfaces left rough or slightly regularised by staking. No inscriptions or engraved ornamentation have been reported on these stones, unlike some of the megaliths in Morbihan. The spatial layout of the menhirs - grouped together in a coherent whole covering a few hundred square metres, with a partial orientation that could correspond to an alignment or a cultic arrangement - is characteristic of the megalithic monuments of eastern Brittany. The site is part of a wider network of prehistoric structures on the Saint-Just plateau, where isolated menhirs, covered walkways and funerary cairns stand side by side, forming a veritable Neolithic ritual landscape.
Related Figures
Populations néolithiques du plateau de Saint-Just (bâtisseurs, 4e-3e millénaire av. J.-C.)Érudits de la Société Archéologique d'Ille-et-Vilaine (premiers recenseurs, XIXe siècle)Chercheurs de la Direction des Antiquités Préhistoriques de Bretagne (fouilles et protection, XXe siècle)Charles-Tanguy Le Roux (préhistorien breton, autorité sur le mégalithisme armoricain)
Tags
Nearby castles
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Ensemble mégalithique dénommé menhirs des Pierres Chevêches located?
Ensemble mégalithique dénommé menhirs des Pierres Chevêches is located in Saint-Just, Département 35 department, Bretagne region, France.
Is Ensemble mégalithique dénommé menhirs des Pierres Chevêches open to visitors?
Ensemble mégalithique dénommé menhirs des Pierres Chevêches is currently closed to visitors.
