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The lying stele of the Sainte-Haude fountain


( Municipality of Landunvez)





GPS : 48°32'42 N  4°42'17 W


Access : Going from St-Renan to Argenton on the D68 road, pass the Plourin roundabout and, still on the same road, 3 km further, turn right towards Landunvez. Cross this village and continue towards Kersaint. After 2 km, reaching the first houses of Kersaint, turn right into rue du Viaduc. Then take the second street on the right ("Fontaine de Sainte Haude" sign). Park at 300m, where the asphalt road stops and continue on foot in the path that extends the road. 200m further, (enamelled lava sign) turn left onto the path leading to the nearby fountain. Note that access to the fountain is quite muddy during the rainy season.



It is necessary to observe the slabs surrounding this lavoir to discover the stele. When looking down the basin, it is located on the right side. This first stone, thicker and arranged at an angle, does not resemble other slabs.



   Let us look at it more closely. We can see very clearly that its edge on the basin side is a cut edge that has been chamfered.



   The stone is a classic quadrangular truncated pyramid. But we search vainly for its base plate. It has become useless here, and it appears that it was deleted when it was reused. The edge of the base is less worked than the others.
This stele is quite small. It is only one metre long. Its thickness, from 0.40 m at its base, decreases to 0.32 m at its top. Its widths at the base and top are 0.50m and 0.35m respectively.

   As with almost all Celtic steles, it can be assumed that this one has been moved. A ground as marshy as that of the lavoir is not suitable for burying funeral urns. But other steles in the Pays d'Iroise also border fountains and may have only been moved a few metres. Those of St-Ergat, in Tréouergat, of the Vieux Lavoir in Trézien or of the Dreff in Porspoder are examples of this. Used, as we know, as urns markers, it is therefore possible that they were also used to mark a source.

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