Dolmen de Ville Goudier

Trip No.203  Entry No.595  Date Added: 10th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 27th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Marked as a menhir on the ign maps, this large standing stone can be seen from the D.768 road across a field of wheat, about 100 metres away and underneath a pine tree near to the Trégon water tower. I could initially see no way of getting any nearer, and I estimated it to be about 2 metres high. However, I later found a way round the back.

The stone is about 2 metres tall and fairly chunky. There are lots of other large stones around here also, perhaps field clearance, or perhaps this is the remains of a tomb of some kind.

Champ des Roches

Trip No.203  Entry No.596  Date Added: 10th Jun 2020
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 27th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Just behind the churchyard to the south of the village of Pléslin and well signposted is this “field of rocks” which is kept in a nice and shady oak garden and included on a couple of signposted local walks. I didn’t know of this place beforehand despite having been near it several times before, it not being far from St-Malo, yet it is described as Brittany’s third most important site (which seems a bit over the top considering some of the other places).

What it basically consists of these days is about 70 big white quartz stones arranged in 5 lines perhaps 6 which are not quite parallel as they converge towards the east and apparently focus on a large stone of which I found no obvious evidence. It really is a nice quiet calming place away from all the busy roads and bustle of this part of Brittany.

Why are these stones here ? Well legend tells us it was the fairies who were building Mont St-Michel who got tired carrying their stones out to sea and they dropped them here.

Just to the north of the stones is an open field with various structures within it which is used for a festival each year to celebrate the stones. It’s been happening longer than anyone can tell on or around the Fete St Pierre. This year (2005) the “Fête des Megalithes” will happen on Saturday July 16th and there will be a big feast bands playing dancing and fireworks. Within this festival ground there is a large gravel circle with 8 telegraph poles arranged around the outside and then a further 4 at the cardinal points positioned outside them. Various other poles are dotted about some with white painted bottoms some with black. I like to think it is for some ancient dancing and festivity but my sister told me it was probably for a large tent. Surely any tent would come with its own poles !

As I said I didn’t know of this lovely place before I learn something every day. It had a lovely atmosphere and was very pleasant to just sit there in the shade.

Thiemblais menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.597  Date Added: 10th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 27th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: This is a truly wonderful 8 metre long granite menhir, which can be found signposted along a little track just to the east of the village of St Samson.

Although it leans at about 45°, it is beautifully shaped and has multitudes of carvings and engravings all over it. Apparently those on the flat western face are easy to see at mid day, but when I was here at 7:00pm, I could barely make anything out. I could, however, clearly see some of the carvings on the two sides, with the shadows being cast in just the right direction. All of the usual neolithic symbols are here, crosses, axes, squares, palettes and serpents.

A nice legend of the stone is that any young girl who wants to get married should climb to the top of the stone, and side down in their "birth knickers", and they will become wed within the year. It is also supposed to be one of the three menhirs that block the entrance to hell. A real fantastic find.

Thiemblais menhir

Trip No.208  Entry No.3  Date Added: 10th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 20th Mar 2008. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: My second visit to this most wonderful menhir, about 1:30pm, late March 2008, in a hazy sun, and some of the carvings on the front face can be seen. An hour or two earlier would have been better, as would a stronger sun. After a while, you "get your eye in" and more and more wonderful carvings come into view. I can see on here (with the eye of the knowing, and the full def picture) the animal (mid left, just above the quartz vein) and a couple of crosses and other bits and pieces.

Having got hold of a new book about the megalithes around Dinan, I can report that a revised picture of the carvings has been published in the last year or so, after various techniques have been used to make the carvings more prominent. These seem to agree more with what I saw several years ago and have been recorded in my photographs. Mind you, it seems that the "animal" on the mid left of the stone may have turned around, and its legs almost doubled in length !!! Now it is perhaps running to the right, rather than grazing to the left....

But to be serious for a while, this really is one of the most magnificent megalithic sites I have visited, and it has the capability of bringing emotions to the surface. Here is plain evidence of the cross symbol being used at important places 2500 years or more BC. And the importance of the animals....

And the shaping of the stone - look how flat the main face is, and how straight the upright edges are, even after about 5000 years of erosion. And this surely couldn't have been a one off ? Surely many more of these wonderful menhirs would have been carved and patterned ? Damn all those girls and floozies who have climbed and slid down the stone in their birth knickers in the hope of getting wed. The front face is almost polished smooth, with the carvings almost rubbed smooth.

Champ des Roches

Trip No.208  Entry No.2  Date Added: 10th Jun 2020
Site Type: Multiple Stone Rows / Avenue Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 20th Mar 2008. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: None

Dent de Gargantua

Trip No.208  Entry No.1  Date Added: 10th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Yes on 20th Mar 2008. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This 4 or 5 metre tall white quartz menhir is contained within a private orchard near to Chablé in the community of St Suliac, near the Rance estuary south of St Malo. Although it is very close to the road, getting to see it through the hedges which surround it is not easy. Not too long ago, there was an allée couverte nearby which has now been destroyed by the farmer, and also another menhir, Le Gravier de Gargantua.

Doigt de Gargantua (Côtes-D'Armor)

Date Added: 10th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 20th Sep 1992. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Cycling camping trip round Emerald Coast, Brittany, day 3, Fort La Latte, Cap Frehel, Les Sables d’Or.

This 2.5 metre tall, thin menhir stands guard beside the footpath overlooking the splendid Forte de la Latte, at the headland of the same name to the east of Cap Fréhel.

Temple de Mars

Date Added: 10th Jun 2020
Site Type: Ancient Temple Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 1992. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Cycling camping trip round Emerald Coast, day 2, Dinan, Corseul, St Caste. Roman tower, dolmens, Lunch at Le Guildo castle.

Having cycled to this site with the others, all I got was scorn due to the state of the remains. I think it was here that the phrase HOC was first coined. I thought it was interesting.

Menhir Bois-es-Lucas

Date Added: 10th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Couldn't find on 19th Sep 1992

Log Text: Cycling camping trip round Emerald Coast, day 2, Dinan, Corseul, St Caste. Roman tower, dolmens, Lunch at Le Guildo castle. Failed to find

Ville-Tinguy dolmen

Date Added: 12th Jun 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 1992

Log Text: Cycling camping trip round Emerald Coast, day 2, Dinan, Corseul, St Caste. Roman tower, dolmens, Lunch at Le Guildo castle.

La Hautière

Date Added: 12th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 1992

Log Text: Cycling camping trip round Emerald Coast, day 2, Dinan, Corseul, St Caste. Roman tower, dolmens, Lunch at Le Guildo castle.

Ville Génouhan allée couverte

Date Added: 12th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 1992

Log Text: Cycling camping trip round Emerald Coast, day 2, Dinan, Corseul, St Caste. Roman tower, dolmens, Lunch at Le Guildo castle.

La Ganterie

Trip No.203  Entry No.598  Date Added: 13th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 28th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Just beside the D.676 Dinan to Dol road, at the top of the hill to the east of the hamlet of La Ganterie where the road is a dual carriageway, there is a place to park. From here the allée couverte is signposted along a trackway into a wood, and just 50m along this well tended path the remains are to be found. It is almost impossible to see what is here though, as it is all totally overgrown. It might be a very long allée couverte going by the length of the bramble growth.

I find it very odd that the signposts and path are so well tended, yet the monument is so completely neglected. Never mind, it is still here with us.

Four-És-Feins

Trip No.203  Entry No.599  Date Added: 13th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Couldn't find on 28th Jun 2005

Log Text: I had a good look around for the remains of this allée couverte, but could find nothing obvious. It's somewhere to the west of the hamlet of Vieux Bourg, beside the north to south expressway.

Four-És-Feins

Trip No.209  Entry No.10  Date Added: 13th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Yes on 12th Jun 2009. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: I went and had another look for this while in the area last weekend, now knowing to look nearby to the Beillac farm. I could see nothing obvious when driving slowly down the lane past the farm, but there was an old couple out tending their wonderful vegetable garden, so I stopped and asked them if they could tell me where the dolmen was. They were interested to know what an Englishman was doing looking for the remnants of the dolmen, but were happy to help.

Unfortunately, I struggled to understand fully all they were saying, a combination of strong accent and using some words I just could not figure out. But I thought I had got enough of a lead to find it easily. Park out of the way of the farm track by the corner of the farm. Cross the field to the south on the newly cut hay at the edge of the field for 200 metres until reaching the other side. Go straight on about another 100 metres (unknown words) until I get to the big trees, and it is on the left, (some more unknown words). Put boots on if you have them. Sounds simple.

Well, it was all very simple simple, until I tried to decide which of all the woodlands were the correct big trees. However, after a few false starts, I found a place in a woodland to the left of the track, with a mound in it, and what looked to be some lumps sticking up, but it was very overgrown. It has to be this, surely. Closer inspection amongst the ivy and brambles, and there were clearly a few side set slabs sticking up through the ground, and I was pretty sure I could determine two rows of slabs about 1.5 metres apart from each other, but with no stone more than 0.5 metres tall, and most substantially lower. I reckoned that what I had found on top of the mound was about 10 metres in length, and had to be the remains of a very ruined allée couverte.

However, walking back to the car, I thought that these poor remains were not really enough to be known by the name Four-es-Feins; the Fairies Oven. Surely something with a name like that must be a grander structure. I also thought it to be too ruined to be what the old couple were explaining to me, although they did say it was just the remains of an allée couverte. I would have thought they would have told me not to bother rather than gladly give me directions.....

Upon returning to the car, I remembered I had book with description in a box in the boot. "Rectangular chamber measuring 10m by 1.5m with 6 orthostats on the south side and 5 on the north. Their length is between 1 and 1.8 metres, height about half a metre and thickness 0.3 metres. Brilliant, this all fits to what I saw. But then, the description goes on. Three cover slabs about half a metre thick, and the backstone are still in place. Around the monument, a dozen or so other stones lie scattered.

Well, I can believe the stones are now more covered by undergrowth and soil than that description, and hence seem smaller. The size, orientation and almost everything seems right, with one major exception; the three cover stones. There was nothing at all which could have been them. Read the description again and realise it has been based upon a plan and writings from 1886 and 1928. Maybe it has become much more wrecked since then, but what of the old couples talk ?

So, was this Four-es-Feins or not? If it wasn't, what had I found ? I am not sure, but like to think I did find it. Certainly until anyone proves otherwise and can show me something better I'll count it.

La Maison des Feins

Trip No.203  Entry No.600  Date Added: 13th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Yes on 28th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: This is a lovely little allée couverte, deep inside a lovely oak forest just to the east of the village of Tressé, and signposted from there. There is a parking area, and a signposted and guided walk footpath from there to find it, along with many other items of interest.

The allée is about 12 metres long, at an orientation of 155°, but it is not much more than a metre wide or high. Truly a house for the fairies. All but the end capstone are still in place, and at the back end there is a nice little additional cell. Within this cell are some exceptional carvings on the southern sidestone, of two pairs of breasts with their collars, on a cartouche giving them a big relief. There are also the remains of two pairs on the chevet stone, but these have been crudely hacked off in the past, leaving just the outlines.

Of course, there are many legends of the fairies who live here in this forest, including the story of a farmer who was given some everlasting bread by the fairies because their cow had become ill, and the farmer had helped them with it. The bread would stay fresh and last forever so long as he never told the story. Of course, one day the farmer did tell the story, and the loaf of bread turned to stone - a stone which can still be seen here today.

La Ganterie

Trip No.208  Entry No.4  Date Added: 13th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 20th Mar 2008. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Revisiting this in March 2008, and it was not so overgrown as it had been in June 2005, but it was still impossible to tell how long the allée couverte was, with the eastern end all covered in very thick brambles and other bushes. The more open western end has one or two capstones still sitting on top of their supports, with the two side walls of the allée being about 1.5 metres apart.

La Maison des Feins

Trip No.208  Entry No.5  Date Added: 13th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Yes on 20th Mar 2008. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: None

Champ Dolent Menhir

Trip No.208  Entry No.6  Date Added: 13th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Yes on 20th Mar 2008. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: None

Menhir dit la Pierre du Domaine

Trip No.203  Entry No.601  Date Added: 13th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Yes on 28th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This menhir can be found just to the west of the road around the east of Beaufort lake, a bit to the north of the Abbey. It's in a field of wheat, but can be easily seen. I estimate it to be at least 4 metres tall.