Dolmen des Grès de Linas

Trip No.204  Entry No.250  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Ile-de-France:Essonne (91))
Visited: Couldn't find on 6th Aug 2005

Log Text: I spent ages looking for this. I can only assume it is somewhere in the very dense fenced off woodland, in amongst the open fields. I am getting fed up of all this again.

Grosse Pierre d'Ymorville

Trip No.204  Entry No.253  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 6th Aug 2005

Log Text: This stone is about 500 metres from the road, according to the map, but I could see nothing obvious. There are no features around to help find it, in the middle of this massive industrial farming area. Perhaps it is in a field of maize. Perhaps I saw a large stone in a field of stubble. All very frustrating. Onwards towards Chartres.

Mevoisins menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.263  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Modern Stone Circle etc Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 7th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This lovely 3 metre tall menhir can be seen from miles around, beside the D.329 road up in the hills between the two villages of Mevoisins and Yermenonville. It’s a gorgeous angular lump of flinty sarsen, but it turns out that it was erected only 5 years ago to mark the turning of the millennium. It seems that there was a big party to celebrate putting the stone up, using only manpower, logs and ropes.

This had me fooled into thinking it was the Pierre-qui-Vire, which is supposedly to be found in the community somewhere. So as not to fool anyone investigating this stone in the future, there is buried under the stone a computer, a mobile phone, some money and a listing of all the people living in the community.

Pierre Fritte de Yermenonville

Trip No.204  Entry No.264  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 7th Aug 2005. My rating: Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: In the village of Mevoisins I saw a sign pointing to Dolmen de la Pierre Fitte, so I stopped and went for a look. Little did I realise that I would be walking 2.5 kilometres to it, at 7:00pm in the evening ! And when I finally got there, I couldn't even see the dolmen, as it was undergoing excavations by Archaeo, and enclosed in a tent. There were all sorts of tents and equipment, but nobody around at this time on a Sunday evening, so I left one of my cards. There was a pile of stones on old tyres in one part of the site, and I wondered if these were the dolmen stones. From what I could see through small openings in the big tents, there were no large stones to be seen, just sort of trenches etc, I guess the stones have been moved out of the way. While I was at Mevoisins menhir I had seen a row of cars slowly driving across the fields, and this must have been the archaeologists leaving for the day. While I was walking back, two cars drove past, and on up to the tents. I had missed them by 5 minutes, and might have got a guided tour of the site. Pity its so late, and that I ought to stop.

Petit Menhir (Changé)

Trip No.204  Entry No.258  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 7th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: A large slab of the grey stone stands just outside the remains of the two dolmens. It is about 2 metres tall, but was leaning against a wooden post to hold it upright when I visited, due to the excavations going on here.

Petit Dolmen (Changé)

Trip No.204  Entry No.257  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 7th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: About 5 metres to the north of the Le Berceau dolmen, and also being excavated, are the remains of the Petit dolmen. This one has a chamber about 4 metres by 3 metres, with many side slabs to be seen but no capstone. Before the current excavations, there was probably very little to be seen of this.

Le Berceau

Trip No.204  Entry No.256  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 7th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: The Dolmens de Chagné were undergoing excavation when I visited, and were fenced off and enclosed, but from what I could see, this includes 3 dolmens and 2 menhirs, which were apparently re-used for burials by the Merovingians from about the year 500BC. The dolmens can be found in a field beside the river Eure to the north of the village of Chagné. Le Berceau dolmen is not the portholed dolmen I thought it may have been, but the reason that I knew of it is for the carvings upon its stones.

This is a large dolmen undergoing excavations, and well worth a look. The chamber is about 5m by 4m, with a single large, but broken capstone. It was difficult to make any details out with it being fenced off.

Le But de Gargantua

Trip No.204  Entry No.255  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 7th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: In a field to the east of the Dolmens de Chagné can be found the But de Gargantua. This seems to be two menhirs, one a large grey slab about 2.5 metres tall and the other a bit smaller. I wonder if it is the remains of what was once a dolmen. I couldn't get a close look as the stones are in a field of horses, but they are easily visible from the roadside.

Dolmen de la Grenouille

Trip No.204  Entry No.259  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 7th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: The remains of the Dolmen de la Grenouille are the most obvious of all the Dolmens de Chagné here beside the river Eure to the north of the village of Chagné, and stand only a few metres from the village sign.

It is a broken dolmen with two side slabs and a leaning capstone that does indeed look like a frog sticking its head out of water. The chamber is 3 metres in width, but hard to tell how long it would have been, although the capstone is about 6 metres in length. The opening was probably to the southeast, where the capstone sits on the ground.

La Mère aux Cailles

Trip No.204  Entry No.260  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 7th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Marked on my ign map near to the village of Ymeray is the Dolmen de Chantecoq. I had a good look around, but could find no obvious signs to a dolmen of any kind, but there was a trackway called "Sentier des Roches" which I found near to the railway bridge, so I went for a walk up there. After several hundred metres was a little area being turned into a little public parkland, with picnic tables etc. Here there is a big natural outcropping of rocks, which may have been used for dolmen making. There is lots of it, and it makes very good slabs, and in many ways reminds me of the rock outcrops / quarries at Tinkinswood. A bit further up the track, in a private orchard, is what I assume is a menhir, at least there is a 2.5 metre tall slab of rock standing upright. But without any more information, it was difficult to know exactly what there is here.

Chantecoq dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.261  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 7th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Marked on my ign map near to the village of Ymeray is the Dolmen de Chantecoq. I had a good look around, but could find no obvious signs to a dolmen of any kind, but there was a trackway called "Sentier des Roches" which I found near to the railway bridge, so I went for a walk up there. After several hundred metres was a little area being turned into a little public parkland, with picnic tables etc. Here there is a big natural outcropping of rocks, which may have been used for dolmen making. There is lots of it, and it makes very good slabs, and in many ways reminds me of the rock outcrops / quarries at Tinkinswood. It looks like there are soon to be some interpretive signs put here, but without any more information, it was difficult to know exactly what there is here.

Within the soon to be grassy area is a slab of rock, half on the ground, half on another stone, which may be the remains of a dolmen. At the top of this stone are four grooves and a little basin, where it has been used as a polishing stone.

Musée des Sciences Naturelles et de Préhistoire

Trip No.204  Entry No.254  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Couldn't find on 7th Aug 2005

Log Text: The picture I have seen of the Maison de l'Archaeologie has a dolmen in the front yard, so I go for a look. But it's moved ! I found where the museum was, but its now a private residence. I have no way of knowing where to, so this must go down as the first museum I have failed to find ! Wonder what happened to the dolmen in the yard outside the museum when it moved.

Menhir dit la Roche

Trip No.204  Entry No.262  Date Added: 9th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Couldn't find on 7th Aug 2005

Log Text: I had a good look around, but could not find this

Dolmen de Prunay

Trip No.204  Entry No.281  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Loire-et-Cher (41))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Near to the road running south from the village of Tripleville towards Prunay can be found this dolmen, about 50 metres from the road across a field. It's not much more than a large stone on a slight raise in the land, but there may be more below. Its about 3m by 3m and rounded in shape, and very thick, perhaps 1.7 metres.

La Mouïse-Martin Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.283  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Loire-et-Cher (41))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: To the northeast of the village of Tripleville, the Mouïse-Martin dolmen can be found in a field of tall sweetcorn just to the east of the little lane leading up to Mouïse-Martin farm. Its about 80 metres from the road, and the capstone can be seen covered in grass high above the sweetcorn, so it's either sitting on some good support stones, or on a fairly big mound. The capstone looks to be roundish, about 3 metres in diameter, and fairly thick.

As I was writing this, a farmer drives by in his tractor, and stopped for a chat with me. He told me that if I wanted to walk to the dolmen it would be OK. I couldn't quite see how I was going to be able to do this without either pushing through all the maize, or I would have to go to the far end of the field and then a long walk between the rows. Time was getting on, so I decline his kind offer. What a nice attitude most of the farmers and landowners in France seem to have.

Baignon dolmens (1)

Trip No.204  Entry No.275  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: To the south of the lovely old walled and moated town of Bonneval, along the D.144 road, can be found the dolmens de Baignon. They are easily found in a field beside the river near to Memillon Chateau. There are remains of five dolmens, and I will number them in the order in which I visited them, which was roughly in an east to west direction.

Baignon 1 is all a bit overgrown, in some wasteland at the corner of the field by a little fishing lake. There is a capstone sitting on top of two side supports, about 2 metres apart, with some other large stones, one of which I assume to be another part of the broken capstone.

This could do with a tidy up, and would then be a nice feature beside the lake.

Baignon dolmens (2)

Trip No.204  Entry No.276  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Baignon 2 is in the middle of the cropped field, but which had been recently harvested when I visited. Again it is seemingly not much more than a large pile of stones in amongst the nettles and brambles. It probably has a rectangular chamber, 4m by 3m, with a single, now broken, capstone.

Baignon dolmens (5)

Trip No.204  Entry No.279  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: Baignon 5 is another completely unrecogniseable pile of stones in the field. Mostly lumps of puddingstone, there is one lump of sarsen like slab. These last two dolmens really are in a bad state, and have been ploughed right up to the edges, with the stones just heaped up into as small an area as possible.

Baignon dolmens (4)

Trip No.204  Entry No.278  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Baignon 4 really is no more than a small heap of stones in the middle of a field. Actually, there is one stone still standing, but that’s it. Its all a nice puddingstone though, so it does have its good points.

Baignon dolmens (3)

Trip No.204  Entry No.277  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Baignon 3 initially looks again like a heap of rocks in the middle of a field, and this impression is not helped by there probably being loads of field clearance stones dumped around it. Closer inspection reveals remains of an Angevin dolmen with a rectangular 4m by 3.5m chamber with its entrance porchway at the southeast. Many side stones and the broken capstone still remain in place, although the back end has collapsed.