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Allée Couverte de Mauny
Trip No.202 Entry No.96 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave
Country: France (Normandie:Seine-Maritime (76))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 3
Allée Couverte de Mauny submitted by TheCaptain on 6th May 2005. Mauny Allée Couverte, Eure.
Almost lost in the woods, there is however a very nice half porthole stone which can still be made out.
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Log Text: A much ruined allée couverte which can be found in woodland beside the D265 road as it climbs the hill from the riverbank below and to the east of Mauny. Almost lost in the woods and currently being used as a junk store it almost looks like its been bulldozed. There is however a very nice half porthole stone which can still be made out. The main chamber is probably about 10 metres long 1.5 metres wide and faces down the valley but most of the remaining stone slabs are just a jumble. Its very much in need of some TLC.
Vielle Cote Dolmen
Trip No.202 Entry No.95 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave
Country: France (Ile-de-France:Val-d'Oise (95))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3
Vielle Cote Dolmen submitted by thecaptain on 23rd Oct 2005. Vielle Cote Dolmen
A much ruined trench grave about 10 metres in length.
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Log Text: A much ruined trench grave about 10 metres long and 2 metres wide with an orientation of 292° looking down the hill can be found dug into the hillside in a field of crops along a lane at the top of a ridge about 400 metres south from the little lane which climbs eastwards from the village. Although marked on my ign map there are no signs or any other items to suggest its presence. Parking is available at the junction of the lane and track.
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Trip No.202 Entry No.94 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by TheCaptain on 6th May 2005. A picture of the female figure stone carving at the entrance to Dampsmesnil Allée Couverte, Eure, France.
Difficult to make out in the picture, but the necklaces and breasts are clear enough.
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Log Text: It’s easy enough to find the pathway that leads into the woods to this its signed allée couverte from several places from several miles around. However the tiny roads with cropped fields make it almost impossible to park anywhere (certainly a camper van) so it was a long walk. From the lane where the signposted track ascends into the woods its about a half kilometre walk following the main trackway up and keeping left. There is another little sign at a junction of woodland tracks where you turn left and about a further 100 metres along is this nice trench grave along with a little notice board which states that its over 4000 years old and gives descriptions of the various features. When you get there it’s a bit of a corker although falling into disrepair and in need of some affection.
The main chamber is about 10 metres long cut 2 metres deep into the hillside on an orientation of 218° looking down into the valley. There are three massive capstones each more than 3 metres long still in place and the remains of 2 more on this 2 metre wide Allée. The walls consist of large upright slabs with drystone walling between them and the whole thing ends with a massive block at the north-eastern end.
What makes this place a bit special are two features not often found elsewhere. The most obvious is the remains of the lower half of the entrance stone positioned across the chamber with it’s finely cut circular porthole entrance. The top half of the stone is missing but there is enough left to see the fine work which went into creating this entrance. It is very circular with a diameter of about 50 cm made using not just a single cut through the thick stone but a sort of double circular stepped and lipped edge.
The other special feature of this grave is found on the stone just outside the main chamber on the left hand side in front of the porthole stone and with half a capstone sat on it. On this stone has been carved the likeness of a lady (or goddess) and her two breasts can clearly be made out (although in some distant time her left one has been largely hammered away) above which are the remains of four arcs representing necklaces. I thought I could also make out some of her outline and a representation of a belt or other such item. Much of this stone is very worn and indeed I guess its only survived at all due to the presence of the half capstone and I think it said on the notice board that her face could be made out in the past. I wonder who it was.
A few other stones lie scattered about including what was probably one of the capstones which has been removed and lies partway down a steep slope several yards in front of the grave behind the notice board.
After visiting this monument I saw another one marked nearby on the map so set off to look for that. Unfortunately there was a little old narrow bridge between the two places and although my van fitted on to the bridge easily enough I had a lot of trouble getting off the other side and there was no way I was going to be able to reverse back off. After about 6 or 7 attempts to get between the protective bollards in the roadside presumably put there to protect the much wider bridge with a few scrapes down the side of my van and a broken sidelight I had discovered that the gap between the bollards was only an inch wider than the width of my van. I was obviously getting too confident about driving it around all these narrow places and will have to take more care in future.
Menhir dit Gravier de Gargantua (Chateau-Neuf)
Trip No.202 Entry No.93 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005
Menhir dit Gravier de Gargantua (Chateau-Neuf) submitted by thecaptain on 23rd Oct 2005. The Gravier de Gargantua is a big (3.5 metre tall, 2.5 m wide, 0.5 m thick) flinty chalky lump standing beside the road, near the village of Port-Mort in Eure
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Log Text: A big (3.5 metre tall 2.5 m wide 0.5 m thick) flinty chalky lump stood right beside the roadside in a little fenced enclosure. It was moved here when the road was widened and a metre or so was broken off the top while doing so.
St-Etienne-du-Vouvray burial chamber
Trip No.202 Entry No.92 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005. My rating: Condition -1
St-Etienne-du-Vouvray burial chamber submitted by theCaptain on 14th Jan 2011. any remains of this once fine trench grave, similar to Dampsnesnil, are now underneath the railway line.
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Log Text: There are no remains of this gallery grave as it is destroyed and underneath the railway line. It was once a fine trench grave like Dampsnesnil and had many finds.
Saint-Etienne-du-Vauvray Menhir
Trip No.202 Entry No.91 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5
Saint-Etienne-du-Vauvray menhir submitted by thecaptain on 23rd Oct 2005. Saint-Etienne-du-Vauvray menhir, 3.5 metrws tall.
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Log Text: About a 3.5 metre tall menhir found right beside the roadside between St Etienne and Louviers. Once the road is found the menhir is easy ! The menhir has been moved from its original position which was where the railway now is on the other side of the road.
Allée Couverte de Pinterville
Trip No.202 Entry No.90 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th May 2005
Log Text: Despite driving around this village and its environs thoroughly and looking at the village map and having the ign 1:25000 map I could find no signs of this.
Menhir dit le Caillou de Gargantua
Trip No.202 Entry No.89 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd May 2005
Log Text: I spent ages driving round all the roads of this hilltop village high above the river Eure (mostly because I could never find anywhere to turn a campervan) but could find no evidence of this menhir. The double village has no signs or anything to signify the presence of a menhir but hey are obviously very proud of their water tower and a bit of roman road.
Pierre Frite de Breuilpont
Trip No.202 Entry No.88 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd May 2005
Log Text: As for the other menhirs in this river valley I could find no evidence of this menhir. The roads are terribly kept and there are almost no places to turn a campervan so I travelled over much more roads than I would have otherwise done.
Garennes-sur-Eure Menhir
Trip No.202 Entry No.87 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd May 2005
Log Text: Despite a good look around I could find nothing. I drove around many roads looking all over the place but it was a nasty busy road alongside the river at going home time which didn’t help.
Dolmen dit Gravier de Gargantua 2
Trip No.202 Entry No.86 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd May 2005
Log Text: Despite a good look around I could find no evidence of either of these. Why oh why do these villages in Normandy not look after and promote these sites ? Not even a map of the area in the village which makes these sites in Eure even more difficult to find than those in the rest of Normandy.
Dolmen dit Gravier de Gargantua 1
Trip No.202 Entry No.85 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd May 2005
Log Text: Despite a good look around I could find no evidence of either of these. Why oh why do these villages in Normandy not look after and promote these sites ? Not even a map of the area in the village which makes these sites in Eure even more difficult to find than those in the rest of Normandy.
Fort Harrouard
Trip No.202 Entry No.84 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 3rd May 2005
Fort Harrouard submitted by thecaptain on 10th Nov 2005. Fort Harrouard seen above the river Eure.
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Log Text: This ancient defended settlement is positioned on a steep hillside high above the river Eure near the village of Marcilly-sur-Eure.
Dolmen de la Ferme Brûlée
Trip No.202 Entry No.82 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 3rd May 2005
Dolmen de la Ferme Brûlée submitted by thecaptain on 10th Nov 2005. La Ferme Brûlée dolmen.
Just to the south of Fort Harrouard neolithic settlement, on the banks of the river Eure, is another of these dolmens inside a private garden with lots of keep out signs and security fences. However, it can be seen over the gate, down at the end of the driveway.
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Log Text: Down by the banks of the river Eure are marked on my map a dolmen and polissoir. I couldn’t park close so parked and walked back from some distance away during which time I got soaked by a torrential downpour. I eventually found a house called Le Dolmen but with lots of keep out signs and security devices. Down the far end of the driveway I could see the dolmen and managed a long distance photo of it part hidden by a van. There was no way I could get any sight of the polissoir which was a shame.
Alignement des Bruyères
Trip No.202 Entry No.81 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd May 2005
Alignement des Bruyères submitted by HOMER27000 on 21st Apr 2011. Alignement des Bruyères
Site in Normandie:Eure (27) France
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Log Text: I carelessly missed this alignment of three menhirs by not looking carefully at all the information I had with me. I looked in the village for details but there were none I could find. It is supposedly in a field down near the hamlet of Les Bruyeres. So much for my thinking that some unknown being was helping me out today !
Dolmen de l'Hôtel-Dieu
Trip No.202 Entry No.80 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 3rd May 2005
Dolmen de l'Hôtel-Dieu submitted by thecaptain on 19th Oct 2005. Pierre des Druides, or Hotel Dieu dolmen, near to the village of Les Ventes, seen in its field on a terribly wet morning in May.
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Log Text: Seen a couple of hundred metres away in the middle of a field just to the northeast of the crossroads at La Trigalle It looks fairly similar to the nearby Pierre Courcoulée.
La Pierre Courcoulée (Ventes)
Trip No.202 Entry No.79 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Yes on 3rd May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4
La Pierre Courcoulée (Ventes) submitted by thecaptain on 19th Oct 2005. La Pierre Courcoulée, which can be found in the forest near to the village of Les Ventes, in Eure.
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Log Text: This dolmen consists of a giant flinty puddingstone capstone sitting on 4 support stones with a couple more fallen inside. The capstone is about 4 metres by 2.5 metres and well over a metre thick.
It is marked on my ign map but there are no signposts at all on the face of the world. Park where the road from the village of Ventes meets the D60 at Le Haut Bois – there’s plenty of space just to the west of the road at a big entrance area to the forest. Do not walk straight into the forest but take the track to the left (southeast) behind the houses. I just followed this track for about half a mile following my nose at each of the junctions and found the dolmen easily enough. Perhaps some unknown power was guiding me after all my recent failures. After my visit just after I got back into my campervan the heavens opened up and there was a massive thunderstorm. Somebody is on my side today.
Menhir dit la Pierre de Gargantua (Neaufles)
Trip No.202 Entry No.78 Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 3rd May 2005
Menhir dit la Pierre de Gargantua (Neaufles) submitted by thecaptain on 19th Oct 2005. Pierre de Gargantua, Neauffles-Auvergny.
Seen at a distance of about 250 metres across fields from the little bridge across the Risle river.
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Log Text: Seen at a distance of about 200 metres across fields from the little bridge across the Risle river. There wasn’t really anywhere to park and there looked no way to get to the menhir so I contented myself with a long distance shot. It must be nearly 4 metres tall in a large flat pasture beside the river.
La Grosse Pierre (Verneusses)
Trip No.202 Entry No.76 Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5
La Grosse Pierre (Verneusses) submitted by thecaptain on 11th Nov 2005. La Grosse Pierre (Verneusses). A nice dolmen largely made from the most wonderful puddingstone slabs.
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Log Text: A nice simple dolmen right beside the lane just to the east of the hamlet of Verneusses. The large capstone is 4 m by 3.5 m on top of 6 upright support stones. The capstone and one of the upright stones are made from a strange stony conglomerate which has lots of flints in it on one side only. Apparently this dolmen was restored badly nearly two hundred years ago.
Dolmen de la Pierre Couplée
Trip No.202 Entry No.75 Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4
Dolmen de la Pierre Couplée submitted by thecaptain on 11th Nov 2005. La Pierre Couplée, Ferté Frênel, is a poor broken and mistreated dolmen, barely left with enough room to survive in its ploughed field.
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Log Text: The remains of this dolmen are now within a ploughed field just to the northwest of the village of Ferté Frêsnel on the road to Bocquencé. There is a small signpost to the dolmen but as seems almost always in these parts there is nowhere at all to park.
The dolmen is now very badly looked after ploughed right up to the edges and indeed hit with the machinery in one or two places and covered in muck from muckspreading. The large broken capstone is 4 m by 3 m and there are three collapsed support slabs.