Serre de la Gleisa

Trip No.205  Entry No.158  Date Added: 15th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Gard (30))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 19th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Take the road towards Blandas from Montdardier, and after a few kilometres there is a big junction of ways. On the left, 100 metres or so before the junction, up the hill, can be seen this menhir, perhaps 100 metres from the road and well fenced in, so I couldn't get to it. It looks about 2.5 metres tall, and slab shaped.

Prunarède Dolmen

Trip No.205  Entry No.157  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: I thought that this was going to be an easy find, but not so. Take the road north from Saint-Maurice-Navacelles towards the Cirque de Navacelles. After several kilometres you come to the ruined farmhouse of Prunarède, at a couple of sharp bends in the road. Park here, and walk along the footpath which starts behind the farm for 800 metres until the path runs out. Easy so far. The dolmen should be there, at the end of the path. Not so easy now. Where does the path end ? and what is path and what is sheeptrack ?

I eventually found the dolmen, I had walked way past expecting it to be obvious, but it wasnt. It is well hidden in the bushes, to the right of where I had walked. Its a smashing dolmen, still with a cairn around it encircled with larger slabs of stone. The chamber is 3.5 metres long, between 1.5 and 2 metres wide, and formed with two side slabs leaning inwards onto a front and back stone. These are all fitted together so well, that even after 5000 years, there's not much more than an inch gap anywhere. There is no way into the chamber except to get a look through a gap under the capstone from one side. The capstone sits nicely on top of three of the four stones. I cannot tell where the entranceway would have been, or which is front and back.

Unfortunately, there are remnants from a fence which had been built around it in the past, in the form of a square of stones around the chamber on top of the cairn, and the remains of iron railings. The views from here would be tremendous if the scrub was cut back, but are however very limited.

Menhir du Coulet 1

Trip No.205  Entry No.156  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Three hundred metres further down the road from the previous menhirs, and in the land to the north of the road, can be found the Coulet 2 menhir. Nearly 3 metres tall, it is a nice almond shaped stone, which has been mended from two parts cemented back together, and concreted into an upright position. A nice job has been done of this.

Menhir du Coulet 2

Trip No.205  Entry No.155  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This menhir is to be found out in the land to the left of the road, at the same place as the Cisternette menhir. It is over 3 metres tall, and looks to have lost its top. Its another nicely shaped slab, flat on one face, curved on the other, and only 40 cm thick.

Menhir de la Cisternette

Trip No.205  Entry No.154  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: About 600 metres further down the road from the Levade menhir, and on the slopes to the right of the road, can be seen this menhir. At nearly 2.5 metres tall, it has been christianised by having a cross cut into its face. It’s a nice thin almond shaped stone, but has been concreted into the ground, so I cannot be sure that it is facing in its original orientation.

Levade Menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.153  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Three kilometres further down the road from the Grand Dolmen du Ferrussac, where it curves around to the right, is this 3 metre tall manhir in the field to the left of the road. It has been re-erected, and is now concreted into the ground. It looks to have been smoothed and shaped, and does not look a natural shape rock. A nice one.

Menhir de Ferrussac 2

Trip No.205  Entry No.152  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Couldn't find on 18th Sep 2005

Log Text: Between 50 and 100 metres to the northeast of the Grand Dolmen du Ferrussac, is a fallen menhir more than 3 metres in length. However, this land is fenced off, and with some pretty mean looking horned cattle in there, so I wasn't going to look too hard.

Menhir de Ferrussac 1

Trip No.205  Entry No.151  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Couldn't find on 18th Sep 2005

Log Text: Between 50 and 100 metres to the northwest of the Grand Dolmen du Ferrussac, is a fallen menhir, 1.7 metres in length. However, this land is fenced off, and with some pretty mean looking horned cattle in there, so I wasn't going to look too hard.

Grand Dolmen du Ferrussac

Trip No.205  Entry No.150  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: 300 metres further along the road to the east from the Petit Dolmen, can be found the Grand Dolmen du Ferrussac. Which compared to the others I have seen around here is a bit of a monster. It is right beside the road, again with parking and sign.

On top of a natural mound, and within its tumulus of stones, the main chamber stones tower above everything. The tumulus is about 16 metres in diameter, and has an encircling ring of large slabs. In the centre is the main chamber, 4 metres long by 1.6 metres wide, and well over 2 metres high with a massive 4.5 metre long by 2.5 metre wide capstone on top. The entry passage is at least 5 metres long, less than a metre wide and a metre high, topped with four capstones, and is largely slab sided. Between the entry passage and the main chamber is a partitioning entry stone. The entrance faces southwest, at 235°.

It's not perfect, there has been a lot of restoration and concrete, including half of the western sideslab, but its a pretty impressive monument. There are supposedly a couple of fallen menhirs between 50 and 100 metres to the south of the dolmen, but this land is fenced off, and with some pretty mean looking horned cattle in there, so I wasn't going to look too hard.

Petit Dolmen du Ferrussac

Trip No.205  Entry No.149  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: A kilometre or so to the southeast of La Vacquerie, at a place called Trivalle, take the road east signposted to Dolmen du Ferrussac. After a couple of kilometres, while descending through an oak wood, you will see a little gate on the left, with label Petit Dolmen. There is a place to park, and the dolmen is just 20 metres beyond the gate, at the top of a higher bit of ground.

The chamber is 2m by 1m and still partly within its mound, with an entrance opening to 235°. The capstone sits on top of two sidestones and a backslab, with some degree of restoration involved. A very pleasant little place.

Coste-Caude menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.148  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Modern Stone Circle etc Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Just below the top of the hill below Coste-Caude dolmen 1, there is a track to the west, with what looks like, and is marked on the maps as a menhir. It is however a sculpture of a prehistoric man from about the year 1910, and his features can be made out when looking closely. This stone is about 2 metres tall, and whether it was carved and then put here, or carved on an original menhir I do not know, but its nice to look at.

Coste-Caude Dolmen 2

Trip No.205  Entry No.147  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Less than 100 metres away from Coste-Caude dolmen 1, to the southeast, can be found another dolmen. I just walked about a bit, and there it was. It still has a large pile of stones surrounding it, and the chamber has its side stones and backstone, but no capstone. The chamber is 2.5 metres by 1.5 metres, and also opens up to the southwest at 220°. I suspect there are several more dolmens around here.

Coste-Caude Dolmen 1

Trip No.205  Entry No.146  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Leaving St Pierre towards La Vacquerie, take the first left after a kilometre, and then left again with signs towards a council works area. After 1.5 kilometres, the road gets to the top of a hill. Just below the top of the hill, there is a track to the west, with what looks like, and is marked on the maps as a menhir. It is however a sculpture of a prehistoric man from about the year 1910, and his features can be made out when looking closely.

About 150 metres along the track, it turns to the left, and on the top of the hill is this nice dolmen, restored in the 1970s. Still within its mound of stones, its a sort of double decker, with a high main chamber preceded by a lower entry corridor. The main chamber is 3 metres long, 1.5 metres wide and high enough to stand in. It has two good side stones, a nice back stone and a lovely overhanging capstone on top. In front of theis is a 4 or 5 metre long entry passageway, 0.5 metres wide and 1 metre high, and capped with two capstones. It opens towards the southwest at about 220°. A nice place to visit up here in the empty causse.

Gallardet Dolmen

Trip No.205  Entry No.145  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: This really was a bugger to find, but when you find it, you wonder why.

Initially I went to where it is marked on the map, there's a big farm there called Ferme-le-dolmen, but no obvious sign to it. Reading my book says that go to the town centre and follow signs from there. I eventually found the town centre but missed any signs, so I had a second go. The roads are tiny, and no way the camper van will get through there, and probably not a car either. Perhaps its a park and walk job, but I could find nowhere to park. Oh well, maybe tomorrow, time is getting on and I don't know where to camp for the night.

The next day, on my third attempt to find it, it took me half an hour to park in the village, then over an hour to find the dolmen, having asked several people. The trick is not to miss the right turn on the road out of the village, and keep going almost to the end of the ridge, above the farm.

The dolmen has been much restored, but it is well worth the effort to get here. It is completely within its mound, and the access corridor, which is 5 metres long and between 1 and 1.5 metres wide, leads to an outside chamber 2.5 metres long and 2.5 metres wide. This leads on to a wonderful oven door stone, which has been put back together from three pieces. The stone is 2 metres high, and has a door 1 metre wide and 1.2 metres in height cut into it.

Beyond this is the main chamber, 6 metres long and up to 4 metres wide, and easily high enough to stand up in. It is constructed with a sort of barrel vaulting, and then capped with large slabs, three of which are in place (of a probable four). There is a lovely shaped backstone. Unfortunately the chamber fills with rainwater and mud. All of the three parts of the passage are dry stone walled, there are no upright slabs except to divide the sections. The entrance passageway opens towards the west, at 232°, with a slight uphill slope.

This is a really lovely dolmen, but thats the entire morning gone. There are gorgeous views northwards over the Hérault valley.

Bruyère d'Usclas

Trip No.205  Entry No.143  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 17th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a lovely dolmen, but was a bit of a bugger to find, despite a large signpost. Taking the road from Lodeve east to Saint-Michel-de-Grandmont, travel 800 metres further than the entrance to the priory. Here there is a junction with two large forest tracks and a parking area, with a large sign pointing down the first forest track to "Dolmen Bruyère d'Usclas".

I walked miles, and saw no evidence of the dolmen, but found three ladies sitting in the forest. I asked them and they pointed out the error of my ways - I had gone way too far and walked round in much of a big circle around the hilltop. From the parking at the junction, only walk about 200 metres (about 150m past a big tank), then look for a little path down the hillside into the forest on the left. It is marked with a little pile of stones, but I do mean little ! Fifty metres down this path through the trees is the dolmen.

It has much in common with the nearby dolmen de Coste-Rouge, a similar sized (but not so high) chamber set in a circle of stones, many of which are the red volcanic rock. The capstone, which is unfortunately broken at the back, sits on four perfectly fitted support stones, with the side stones angled inwards. The front stone does not have the oven door, but the entrance is to one side, which shows evidence of a carved and enlarged opening area. The chamber is about 2.5 m long by 2 m in width. The stones are fitted so well that almost no light gets in apart from through the entrance.

Coste-Rouge Dolmen

Trip No.205  Entry No.142  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 17th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 2

Log Text: Within the grounds of the Saint-Michel-de-Grandmont priory, in the mountains above Lodève in Hérault, this is possibly the most famous dolmen in the world. The dolmen is superbly situated on the edge of the hill, with massive views over the plains to the south.

The chamber is made on all sides with large slabs, which is covered by a large capstone which substantially overhangs on all sides. Unusually, the capstone rests on the front and back stones, rather than the two side slabs. The most magnificent thing about this dolmen though is the wonderful carved "oven door" entranceway, looking very much like a sort of Tom and Jerry mousehole.

The remains of the cairn and its entrance passageway can be seen around the dolmen, the stones of the cairn being red volcanic rocks rather than the brownish slabs of the chamber, which is from where the dolmen got its name. Around the outside of this is a surrounding peristalith of pale rocks. The chamber is about 3 metres in length, by 2 metres wide.

Within the grounds of St Michel de Grandmont Priory. There are no longer any free visits round the grounds, and I can only do the guided tour of the priory and grounds after. They say its something to do with animals in the park, and its quite disappointing. I do the full tour, its a half price day, so its €5 and 2 hours of visit. Despite being led to believe I would see all the dolmens, I only got to see the Coste-Rouge dolmen and the odd stones, and not the other two dolmens within the grounds.

Les Ecuelles du Diable

Trip No.205  Entry No.141  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Holed Stone Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 17th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: Within the grounds of the St Michel de Grandmont Priory there are many strangely shaped and carved rocks. There are stories of sacrifice, and there being channels cut in the rocks for the blood to run through. Several of the rocks seem to have been cut into what are possibly thrones. A very strange area.

Grandmont Menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.140  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 17th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: This menhir is about 1.5 metres high, 2 metres width, and standing in an area with many other strangely shaped and carved rocks.

Dolmen du Belvédère

Trip No.205  Entry No.139  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Couldn't find on 17th Sep 2005

Log Text: St Michel de Grandmont Priory visit. There are no longer any free visits round the grounds, and I can only do the guided tour of the priory and grounds after. They say its something to do with animals in the park, and its quite disappointing. I do the full tour, its a half price day, so its €5 and 2 hours of visit. Despite being led to believe I would see all the dolmens, I only got to see the Coste-Rouge dolmen and the odd stones, and not the other two dolmens within the grounds.

The Dolmen du Belvédère is somewhere near the Belvedere viewpoint, but disappointingly I didn’t see this dolmen while on my tour.

Nages menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.138  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Right outside the back of the church in Nages can be found this little menhir, planted in a little flower bed. It is about 1.4 metres tall and 0.6 metres wide, and made out of a nice dark grey, almost black stone. The front face is very smooth, but it is rough on all other sides.