Menhir du Tertre Gicquel

The Menhir du Tertre Gicquel (also called Menhir de la Cohardais ) is on the D 1 road south of Lusanger , near Châteaubriant in the Loire-Atlantique department in France .

The approximately 2.0 m high, 1.5 m wide and 1.0 m thick menhir made of quartz sandstone is slightly inclined. The presence of scattered blocks on the floor shows that the place has apparently been very disturbed.

Destruction of menhirs

The stone cult was condemned at several councils . Synodal resolutions such as those of Arles (452), Tours (567), Nantes (658) and Mainz (743) warned against the sin of sacrificing the stones. There were even threats of excommunication. At the Council of Nantes, instructions were given to dig up the pagan stones and make them disappear. Many stones were destroyed, damaged or buried by priests.

Before 1872 there was another menhir about 3.0 m high and 2.5 m wide in Lusanger. On the initiative of Abbé Jacques Cotteux (1835-1905) he was brought to the Calvary in Louisfert . A first attempt to move the block failed in 1872. A year later the block was taken away in a cart . The convoy used up to 20 oxen . The 12 km drive took three weeks and was fraught with incidents. The wheels broke twice.

The megalith was erected at the southern gate of the Calvaire mégalithique (Louisfert) , where the bust of the pilgrim Jacques de Compostela stands today.

Nearby is the 2.75 m high Pierre du Hochu

literature

Jean L'Helgouach, Mégalithes en Loire-Atlantique, Nantes, Association d'Études Préhistoriques et Historiques des Pays de la Loire, 1996, ( ISBN 2-905407-01-8 )
Jean-François Polo, Élizabeth Santacreu, 100 menhirs & Dolmens en Presqu'île Guérandaise & en Brière, Guérande, Presquîle Éditions, 1990, p. 53 ISBN 2-906580-02-3

Individual evidence

↑ The Calvary in Louisfert was built in the 19th century from 28 megaliths from the region, including authentic menhirs and dolmens : "to make the traces of earlier bloodthirsty cults disappear". At the end of his life, which ended in suicide, he went mad. Today's archaeologists would not have allowed this massacre.

Web links

Description Engl. and picture description

47.6698 -1.581Coordinates: 47 ° 40 ′ 11.3 " N , 1 ° 34 ′ 51.6" W.

[1] The Calvary in Louisfert was built in the 19th century from 28 megaliths from the region, including authentic menhirs and dolmens : "to make the traces of earlier bloodthirsty cults disappear". At the end of his life, which ended in suicide, he went mad. Today's archaeologists would not have allowed this massacre.