In the 18th century, the Névez area experienced an unprecedented demographic boom. The local population’s need for food was increasing, and farmers were struggling to speed up production due to the presence of huge blocks of granite in the middle of their fields.
They tried to enlist the help of the stonemasons to get rid of them, but the sums of money involved made this impossible. The sailors who used to help them out when they weren’t fishing were interested in this granite. The construction of houses using “slices” of split granite blocks gave rise to the astonishing “standing stone” houses (men zhao), some of whose walls are made up of floor-to-ceiling vertical stones joined with cob or, later, lime.
Standing stones were used to support lean-to walls, almost 2.50 metres high and 40 to 50 cm wide. These stones were roughly split and reserved for the sides of the house that did not face south. Smaller stones were used as fences, and some had a hole in them to support a fence.
