Site: Le Plec

Name:Le Plec CISP No:LPLEC
Place:Le Plec Grid Ref:187.95 2316.42 (FR)   Map
Parish:Locoal-Mendon (Lokoal) Stones:1
County:Morbihan (Mor-Bihan) , France Saint(s):Brigitte
Site Type:Indeterminate

Site Notes

Davies et al/2000, 235: `The hamlet of Le Plec lies in the water-dominated landscape of the Etel River, at the northern end of a peninsula which is 6km long, 2km wide at its broadest part, joined to the mainland on the eastern side of the estuary by a sandbank -- covered only at exceptionally high tides;...access to the site would not therefore have been easy by road before the 19th and 20th centuries and it was not a focus for major settlement. The chapel site is 6m above sea level and the bedrock is granite. The coast lies 8.5km to the south and the Prostlon stone [LCOAL/1] just over 2km to the south east, though much farther by road.

At the time the cadastral map of 1845 was drawn the settlement was slightly larger, with two rangées west of the chapel, but still small; it was mostly surrounded by meadow, although there was some arable land-use (unlike its current uncultivated or rough pasture character) (ADM 3P439 du Plec, section A5). There is a cross marked on the chapel; given that this surveyor was meticulous in marking (largely road-side) crosses, and did not normally mark churches and chapels in this way, it is possible that the cross denotes the boulder [LPLEC/1].

The chapel, the fabric of which is early 17th century in date, is dedicated to Sainte Brigitte. Other monuments in the neighbourhood also share the association with Brigit: the 3m-high Quéguil-Bréhet `Brigit's distaff' on the causeway and, nearby, a smaller stone Gourhet-Brehet `Brigit's spindle'. However, the origin of these associations is unclear and they throw no light on the early medieval context of the site'.

References

Stones