Timeline

Heritage classified

Origin and history

The Bennefraye alignment, also known as the Bennefraie alignment, is a megalithic site located in the delegated commune of Freigné, now integrated in Vallons-de-l'Erdre (Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire). Originally made up of several white quartz menhirs, it remains today only six, extending about 450 meters to the top of a hill. Some missing blocks would have been reused to build the base of the Pine Calvary, a local building. A straightened stone, perhaps natural, marks the end of alignment, near chaos of smaller blocks.

The Menhirs of Bennefraye were classified as historic monuments on March 8, 1978, recognizing their heritage value. According to a local oral tradition, the most imposing of the menhirs would house a clock ringing midnight, while the stones would be known as "growing" as plants. These beliefs illustrate the mystical aura often associated with megaliths, although their exact function (ritual, astronomical or funeral) remains debated by archaeologists.

The site is representative of the Neolithic constructions of the region, during which the agro-pastoral communities built stone monuments to mark the territory or honour cults. The presence of white quartz, a rare and symbolically charged material, suggests particular importance. Today, alignment is protected and accessible to the public, although its precise location (5007 Bennefraye) is sometimes difficult to identify without GPS markers.

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