Alignments of Menec at Carnac

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Our two weeks in Sizun were over – I could easily have stayed for longer – and we set off, in the mist, down the motorway for Carnac where we arrived in brilliant sunshine. The Tourist Office was very helpful and we settled down with pamphlets in the Patisserie opposite with very good coffee and yummy croissants to decide the plan. I hadn’t done my homework and didn’t realise that I was about to view c.4,000 stones!

Carnac has four major sets of ‘Alignments’: Menec, Kermario, Kerlescan, and Little Menec. We started with the Alignments of Menec – 1,050 standing stones in 11 rows, 950m in length, and dating back to between 3,500-4,500BC. The alignments are conjectured to have religious or symbolic significance, but no-one is really sure.

Information Board at Le Menec
Information Board at Le Menec
The Giant of Menec, Postcard beginning 20C (http://megalithe.over-blog.com/article-34723382.html)
The Giant of Menec, Postcard beginning 20C (http://megalithe.over-blog.com/article-34723382.html)
The Alignments of Menec, at Carnac
The Alignments of Menec, at Carnac, looking towards the Cromlech
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/sac/sac13.htm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/sac/sac13.htm

There is a Cromlech at the Western end – a burial site for cremated remains, some say a stone circle – the site certainly appears to be rounded at this end and the village is inside the stones which are closely packed, almost touching. The stones are very tall at this end of the alignment and taper down as you move away.

The enclosure in Le Menec
The enclosure in Le Menec
The village of Le Menec inside the Cromlech at the top end of the Alignments
The village of Le Menec inside the Cromlech at the top end of the Alignments
Le Menec, Carnac
Le Menec, Carnac

You may be interested in
The Menec Alignment
Cromlech
The Megaliths of Carnac
Carnac – this site has loads of information about Brittany
The Megalithic Portal for all things Megalithic!

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