Frenchman damages two-billion-year-old rocks to have better view of sea

A resident of a seaside town in Brittany, western France, is being taken to court soon after taking a jackhammer to some two-billion-year-old rocks because they blocked his view of the English Channel.

Locquirec in Brittany AFP Photo/Photononstop/Nicolas Thibaut

The local council is suing the owner of a house by the sea at Locquierec in France’s western-most point, Finistère, after local environmentalists reported that he had chopped the top off some rare and ancient rocks with a pneumatic drill.

They discovered the damage while on a walk to view them during France’s Heritage Days earlier this month.

The man, whom they had already stopped destroying part of a nearby rock, had inherited the house from his wife and said he had had enough of living by the sea without being able to see it.

He had obtained permission to build a patio but without touching the rocks, according to the local officials, who say that the damage will be repaired.