Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The menhir of the Long Stone, also called Menhir Signal, is a 2.40 m high granulite block erected during the Neolithic period. Originally, it was located on a height close to the current location of the crusic blockhouses, serving as a star for coastal navigation. Its dominant position allowed to spot it from a distance, guiding sailors along the wild coast.

In 1766 Emmanuel-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, Duke of Aiguillon and Governor of Brittany, ordered his recovery after an accidental fall, in order to preserve his role as a maritime signal. In the 19th century, the clergy still denounced pagan rituals around the menhir, like dances of young girls seeking to touch its summit to promote their fertility. The stone, engraved with a cross and two hearts, bears witness to an attempt to Christianize.

During World War II, the menhir was shot down to facilitate the construction of German bunkers. It was only raised and moved to its current location near Avenue de la Pierre Longue in the early 1960s. Ranked a historic monument in 1889, it is now owned by the Croisic municipality. Sources of the 15th century evoke a second nearby menhir, now gone.

There were doubts about the authenticity of this menhir, notably by Henri Quilgars in his Inventory of Megaliths in the country of Gerande. At the time of Pitre de Lisle du Dreneuc, the stone was protected by a circular wall in rubble. However, the old photographs show no trace of the second menhir mentioned in 1475.

External links