La Pierre De Len Menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.312  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: This was a tricky one to find. Not only is it in the middle of a swamp, but the road leading towards it from St-Lyphard was closed for rebuilding work. However, I persevered, expecting to find a nice big stone. But after quite some walking along farm tracks and aacross boggy marshy swampland, it was in fact quite small. It must have sunk into the swamp, which is what happened to me when I got quite near to it, and ended up with soaking wet smelly feet.

Dolmen Du Riholo

Trip No.203  Entry No.313  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a nice site, up on top of a mound surrounded by forest, although it was difficult to make out what exactly remains here. It seems to be a T shaped arrangement, perhaps an east west oriented chamber with an additional northern part ? I must try to look it up somewhere. Basically, what remains are lots of stones on top of a big mound, with one or two capstones still in place.

Roche Aux Loups

Trip No.203  Entry No.314  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: This dolmen is signposted from the main road, but when you get there down the farm track, its fenced off in a field with no access signs, but you get a good view across the field. It’s a simple dolmen with a capstone which looks to be precariously balanced on just two supports, although a view from further down the lane confirms there to be a third support stone.

Soriniere Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.315  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Couldn't find on 9th Jun 2005

Log Text: Not far from Bergnon are two dolmens marked down a little lane. I walked down the lane but couldn’t really find anything, although I was assured by a passing chap on a bike, that it is possible to access both dolmens. But the barriers, crops and hedges here made it all too much effort for probably little gain, so I didn't try too hard. The first dolmen to be accessed is on the left side of the lane under a thick hedge across a field of barley, which I wasn't going to walk through, and there was no way around.

Karlane Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.316  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 9th Jun 2005

Log Text: Not far from Bergnon are two dolmens marked down a little lane. I walked down the lane but couldn’t really find anything, although I was assured by a passing chap on a bike, that it is possible to access both dolmens. But the barriers, crops and hedges here made it all too much effort for probably little gain, so I didn't try too hard. A bit further down the lane, a few stones which are probably remnants of the second dolmen could be seen on top of a little mound across a freshly ploughed field.

Le Fuseau de la Madeleine

Trip No.203  Entry No.317  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is another one that, despite being signposted from the main road, and from several miles away, is inside a double fenced and ditched field, with no obvious access. It is a nice stone this, and must be about 5 metres high, with a possibly shaped outline, pointed at the top, and is covered in nice yellow lichens.

Dolmen de la Barbière

Trip No.203  Entry No.318  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This dolmen appears in all the tourist literature, and is signposted for miles around, yet when you get there it is fenced off in private land, although in this case easy enough to access to nearby.

As with a few other dolmens around here, I struggled to identify just what it is the remains of. There are lots of big stones on a little hill top, with one large capstone sitting on three support stones nearest to the road, but there is much more. It is possible that it was once two dolmen chambers with entry corridors. The standing capstone is covering what would have been a 3 metre by 2 metre chamber with an entrance passage to the east, but the rest is too much of a jumble to determine properly.

Revin Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.319  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 9th Jun 2005

Log Text: I found nowhere to stop near here on the horribly busy road with everyone rushing home from work in St Nazaire. However, I don’t let it beat me that easily, and eventually found somewhere to stop and wallk back to where the dolmen is marked on the map. Once I got there, I could see no way into the field, but could see lots of stones in a heap on top of a mound.

Menhir de Condé

Trip No.203  Entry No.320  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: In the midst of an industrial estate, sandwiched between a quarry and France's equivalent of Middlesbrough, with all the chemical works beside the Loire estuary, and not to forget the nearby airport and motorway, this poor stone doesn’t seem to stand a chance. However, here it still is in a hayfield amongst all the noise. The stone is probably three and a bit metres tall, with the top almost certainly broken off.

Dolmen de Méarzenne

Trip No.203  Entry No.321  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Couldn't find on 9th Jun 2005

Log Text: I had a long walk around the coastal path here, after parking the campervan for the night, but I could not find a way to access the wood within which this dolmen lives, as there are lots of big holiday homes and houses with big fenced gardens surrounding it all.

Pointe de Cofréneau cairn

Trip No.203  Entry No.322  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cairn Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Couldn't find on 9th Jun 2005

Log Text: I had a long walk around the coastal path here, after parking the campervan for the night, but I could not find any sign at all of this. It is probably in a garden or underneath lots of thick gorse and undergrowth.

La Pierre Blanche (Trehiguier)

Trip No.203  Entry No.323  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Trehiguier menhir, or Pierre Blanche, is a large white quartz block found down Allée de Megalithe, and at the left just before the end of the road at a boatyard, or fish factory. It is about 2.5 metres high, and 1.5 metres square at the base.

About 10 metres away is a large grey slab with some holes, and many other stones. I dont know whether these other stones are the remains of anything ancient or not. It looks to me like it could be two fallen menhirs, or else a menhir and a tomb of some kind.

Dolmen de la Pointe du Scal

Trip No.203  Entry No.324  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This site, nearby the Pierre Blanche, is now marked by the ign as a seperate burial chamber besides the Pierre Blanche menhir.

Trehiguier menhir, La Pierre Blanche, is a large white quartz block found down Allée de Megalithe, and at the left just before the end of the road at a boatyard, or fish factory. It is about 2.5 metres high, and 1.5 metres square at the base. About 10 metres away is a large grey slab with some holes, and many other stones which are the remains of megalithic tomb of some kind.

Dolmen du Crapaud

Trip No.203  Entry No.325  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Perched on its clifftop, overlooking the sea and a nice sandy beach, from certain angles this does indeed look like a toad poking its head up. Much of the original tomb is no longer with us due to erosion of the cliffs, and what remains is a capstone perched on top of a few small uprights. The capstone is less than 2 metres by 2 metres, but it is in a really splendid position.

The dolmen can be found by walking to the east along the coast path from the big carpark near the beach at Penlann headland.

Dolmens des Grays

Trip No.203  Entry No.326  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Walking to the west along the coast path from the big carpark near the beach at Penlann headland, and you get to the remains of this large cairn after about 500 metres. It is difficult to make anything out nowadays, other than there are lots of large rocks on the remains of a large mound, overlooking the Villaine estuary. Closer inspection shows this to have once been a large 30 metre diameter cairn, with at least three passage tombs within it, two of which still have a few capstones in position.

Dolmen dit Lannek-er-Men

Trip No.203  Entry No.327  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a little dolmen sat on a green area outside a very pretty house. It has a little oval chamber, 3 metres by 2 metres, with an entrance to the east where there was perhaps once an entrance passageway. The two capstones sit on several side slabs, and the floor is paved with large stones also, but it is only about half a metre in height.

Kermaillard Menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.328  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This 5.2 metre tall menhir, which was re-erected in 1988, stands in a pleasant little grassy area with an information sign. The stone is flat on one side, rounded on the other, and has been shaped to a point at the top. There are carvings on the stone, many small cupules, and near the base of the flat side, a very clear square with a crescent shape protruding from one corner, which reminded me of a saucepan.

Tumiac tumulus

Trip No.203  Entry No.329  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: As driving towards this from the east, it suddenly appears from behind something, before you arrive at the parking area and information sign beside the road. Whoooa, it’s a biggun ! It is said in legend that it is the place from where Caesar watched a great naval battle out to sea to the south of here, but there is not expected to be any truth in this, although from the top there is a tremendous view all around.

The mound is 86 metres in diameter and 20 metres in height, but it only has a single 4 metre by 2 metre magalithic chamber within it, which has been dated to 4700 BC. The insides of the monument are no longer open to public viewing.

Dolmen du Grah-Niol

Trip No.203  Entry No.330  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This initially looks to be an allée-couverte type monument, but which has been dated to about 5000BC, so is much older than a standard allée-couverte. It is still largely within its mound, but was restored in 1936 with the help of lots of concrete.

It is about 11 metres long, and has a stele placed outside of it near to the entrance which is at the east. There is a large end chamber at the west, and also a side chamber. Many of the upright stones have carvings and markings on them, Axes, Palettes, U shapes and squiggles, some of which were clear in the sunlight coming in through a hole in the roof. It seems that many of the stones are supposedly re used from elsewhere, and perhaps the large capstone on the side chamber was once a menhir.

Er Lannic

Trip No.203  Entry No.331  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 10th Jun 2005

Log Text: I took a walk out to the Pointe de Penbert, from where the entrance to the Golfe de Morbihan can clearly be seen, and all the many islands within the gulf. It is a smashing day with a good breeze, and lots and lots of sailing boats are out having fun. There's a cracking tacking duel going on between two large single handed craft as I was writing. It all looks lots and lots of fun. Just offshore can be seen the islet of Er Lannic, with its double cromlech. Many of the stones stand proud of the island, and indeed the sea, where these half submerged circles are situated, and can clearly be seen from here.