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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Lech de Men-er-Menah, also known as Kegil Berhed or "Brigitte Quenouille", is a megalith located in Locoal-Mendon, Morbihan. This monument of the Iron Age consists of three stacked elements: a truncated cylindrical base of 2.68 to 3 meters, a cut stone representing a Christ in cross, and a conical sommital stone. The whole reached between 3.50 and 4 meters high. It is 400 metres northeast of the hamlet of Plec and 350 metres west of Istrec.

The lech dates from the Iron Age (Xth century BC) but was Christianized much later, probably in the 17th century, when the nearby Chapel of St.Brigitte was built. This religious re-appropriation is accompanied by a local legend: Saint Brigitte, a figure associated with the healing of women's ills, would have left here his "punt" before leaving the Earth. The phallic form of the monument and its name evoking a spinning tool make it a symbol of fertility, linked to the cult of the saint.

Ranked a historical monument by decree of 13 May 1937, the lech illustrates the superposition of pagan and Christian beliefs in Brittany. Its listing in the heritage inventory (reference IA56005711) underlines its archaeological and cultural importance. The site is part of a dense megalithic landscape, characteristic of the Morbihan, where the lecs often mark places of worship or collective memory.

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