Chataigneraie Menhir

Trip No.202  Entry No.21  Date Added: 26th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 24th Apr 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This menhir is about 3 metres tall and can be found a couple of miles south of the village of Saint-Siméon from where it is signposted though its not on my ign map. It is a lovely smoothed menhir standing at the edge of a little copse across a field from the small lane.

La Table aux Diables (Passais)

Trip No.202  Entry No.19  Date Added: 26th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 24th Apr 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Blimey what a pleasure to find this monument signposted from the Mantilly to Passais road as well as marked on the ign map. Heading south along the small road just west of Passais and turn right just before a little fishing lake is reached. A few hundred yards up a small track and the monument is found in a field to the right.

A surprise find this is a smashing little lateral entry Allée Couvert is about 12 or 13 metres in length with an orientation of 049° Magnetic. The main chamber is about 1.5 metres in width with 4 large capstones still remaining on 6 pairs of uprights at the western end with a height of 2 metres at the end dropping to 1.5 metres at the open end. The eastern end is more ruinous and the entrance is near the eastern end on the south side. The internal faces of the chamber stones have been nicely smoothed and are very well aligned with each other the gaps being filled with drystone walling. The outer walling of the peristalith is almost complete around the northern side and there are many stones remaining of the cairn filling between the inner and outer walls in the northwest quadrant. Only about half of the outer wall of stones remain on the southern side.

Menhir dit de la Chevrolière

Trip No.202  Entry No.71  Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: On the outskirts of the town of L’Aigle can be found this 2.8 metre tall menhir just to the right of the road to Saint Sulpice-sur-Risle village before reaching the new ring road.

Dolmen du Jarrier

Trip No.202  Entry No.72  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 3 Ambience 2 Access 3

Log Text: A mile or so south of the village centre across both the river and railway on the road to Anglure. The dolmen can be found just before (north of) a crossroads at the top of the hill about 40 metres to the west of the road in a well protected field right under a hedge. It consists of a large capstone resting on four uprights. Typical for this region there is nowhere to park and of course no signs to signify its presence.

Menhir de la Courbe

Trip No.202  Entry No.60  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: To the east of Menil-Jean where the lane crosses the river Orne there is a picnic site beside the river on the northeast side. The menhir is just a few metres from here right beside the river and leaning substantially. The stone is only about 2.5 metres high for its 3.5 metres length and about 2 metres wide at its base.

La Pierre Tournoire, La Courbe

Trip No.202  Entry No.61  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Marked on one of my maps as a menhir and another as a dolmen I have no reason to believe there are not the remains of both somewhere in the vicinity as well as an Iron Age encampment. What I found was a single stone standing on the ridge of a promontory overlooking the river Orne.

It's about 1.5 metres tall and made of a funny crumbly orangey sandstone full of holes. There was lots of other loose stone around its base probably fallen from the disintegrating menhir which is 1.5 metres wide at its base and about 0.7 m thick.

La Bertinière

Trip No.202  Entry No.53  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 1st May 2005

Log Text: Despite being a monument of national historic importance and signposted as such half a kilometre walk from the main road I assume a new farmer has taken up residence and all the fields are now well fenced off with barbed and electric wire and countless signs so I wasn’t able to pay a proper visit. It can however be seen to the south of the main road west of the village and was in a field of cows. It looks to be a fairly large monument much bigger than most in these parts. I estimate it to be about 10 cow lengths long and a cow high.

L'Affiloire de Gargantua

Trip No.202  Entry No.59  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: A four metre high shaped menhir in a field to the north of the little lane running west from Chêneduit to Craménil. It is across a field near a marshy area and perhaps with a spring close by. Many other stones lay around in the area.

La Table des Fées, Chêneduit

Trip No.202  Entry No.57  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Although marked on my ign map there are no signs to this in an area of small fields and many rocky outcrops. I asked a lady in a house with a small imitation dolmen in the garden and she seemed pleased that somebody was looking for it. I was informed that it was called the Table-des-Fées and she pointed me to it over a couple of fields.

It is a small dolmen which has been built into a field wall. The remains consist of a capstone which is sitting on top of a pair of uprights in a somewhat unlikely position on a steep slope above a small stream. The capstone is about 2 metres and rounded more than a metre off the ground. There are many other large stones here and I suspect that there was once a lot more to it.

Dolmen dit le Lit de la Gione

Trip No.202  Entry No.52  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This much wrecked dolmen is found a mile or so walk westwards (signposted) along the GR22 from La Croix Gautier. It seems to be the remains of a large single dolmen but now just 3 large slabs remain so it is difficult to tell. One stone is upright on its edge with a dislodged capstone and another slab a few metres away. The large capstone is about 3 m by 2.5 m by 0.5 m thick.

A bank surrounding the forest track has been built into whatever was here. There is a nice legend about the stone which is written on a little board alongside but of which I am not really sure of the details. It basically concerns the old fairy Gione who did bad things to the local farmers before dying in the dolmen after some sort of intervention from a priest.

Dolmen dit de la Grandière

Trip No.202  Entry No.54  Date Added: 28th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 1st May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Not easy to find in an area of small fields and lots of natural rocky outcrops and field clearance cairns just to the northwest of the village. However there was a local man in his garden who I asked and he willingly lead me to it over a couple of fields to the south of the farmhouse. It looked a bit like another natural rocky outcrop to me but he assured me it was the dolmen as he wasn’t allowed to touch it and has to leave an area around it clear of any farming.

As stated it looks a lot like a natural outcrop to me but there is a large rounded stone balanced on the top of a few smaller pieces. I guess that in the years gone by the people were perhaps making do with nature’s provision. A low key village dolmen rather than a big substantial monument.

Dolmen dit Pierre-Levée (Fontaine)

Trip No.202  Entry No.65  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 3 Access 5

Log Text: Right beside the road to the west of the village of Fontaine-les-Bassets on the way to Ommoy are the remains of this dolmen. It is hard to make out what exactly the remains consist of. There is one large capstone about 3.5 m by 3 m and about 0.7 m thick leaning up against a solitary remaining support stone on its southeast side. There are a couple of other large slabs laying flat to the ground at the east.

La Pierre Levée (Silly)

Trip No.202  Entry No.67  Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: To the southeast of the village of Silly-en-Gouffern and just inside the Forêt-de-Petite-Gouffern can be found this enormous menhir about 40 metres from the roadside. It is more than 6 metres tall and several metres wide with its thickness less than a metre. And the top two metres have been broken off !

When I was here I found nowhere to park a camper van and the stone seemed to be located well within a private area with no direct access.

Tumulus des Hogues

Trip No.202  Entry No.63  Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Round Barrow(s) Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: There are the remains of two burial mounds here the second one being about 50 metres to the southeast of the Dolmen des Bignes. The mound is much less disturbed than its neighbour but it has been dug into from its western side although there are no signs of any stones forming a chamber. Perhaps its still all in place underneath the mound ? The remains of the mound are about 3 metres high and again it has a diameter of about 15 metres.

The ambience of these burial mounds is spoiled by it obviously used as a place where the local youth (or others) go to have a drink leaving all their detritus behind. There are broken bottles and other rubbish all over the place.

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

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.

La Pierre Levée (Echauffour)

Trip No.202  Entry No.69  Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 3

Log Text: About half a kilometre south of the village of Echauffour can be seen in a field to the east of the road the remains of a dolmen of which a large capstone can be seen resting on some uprights.

I could find nowhere to stop nearby so I parked some distance away and walked to try and get a closer look. This is a nasty busy road with lots of lorries thundering past and I found no way into the field and only got a couple of distant shots. I hate the smell of rapeseed and it brings on my asthma but the yellow flowers of it in a distant field made a reasonable background to the pictures helping the stones stand out against their surroundings.

Menhirs dits Les Croûtes

Trip No.202  Entry No.68  Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: A couple of kilometres south of the village of Echauffour can be found a signpost pointing to menhirs along a small track to the east of the road. There is a place to park on this track near the main road and after a couple of hundred metres walk down this track the two menhirs can be seen standing in a field.

Both stones are about 3 metres tall and are spaced about 30 metres apart from each other on an alignment of 055° running down the hill (235° uphill). There is supposed to be a third stone in this alignment and I think I saw it laying under deep undergrowth in the hedge at the top of the field on about an equal spacing although I could not be 100% sure.

Camp Celtique de Bière

Trip No.202  Entry No.64  Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: This is a massive fortified encampment which has been dated back to 4000 BC but with traces of habitation from long before that. The site generally consists of three enclosures on a headland well protected on three sides by steep sided gorges cut by a couple of small streams. The unprotected southern side has three ramparts of various size dates and condition protecting the camp the three ramparts not close together and separating the three enclosures.

It is thought the first encampment was built during the bronze age and was modified at a couple of different times during the Iron Age. The northern rectangular enclosure is the most heavily defended with massive drystone walls thrown up all around particularly at the southern end where the walling is up to 8 metres high. There is the remains of what was once perhaps an entrance through the wall and several of the significant stones used in facing the wall have fossilised trilobites and other marine creatures in them.

It is signposted from nearby and there is a parking area provided a few hundred metres walk to the site. It is now regularly studied and being restored and the enclosed area is now a nature reserve with little signed walks.

Dolmen dit Pierre-aux-Bignes

Trip No.202  Entry No.62  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 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: North of the village of Habloville and signposted from the road its about a 200 metre walk along a track to get to the monument where there are two burial mounds.

The northwestern of the two round mounds is about 15 metres in diameter and about 2 metres high at the edges. Within the mound which has been dug out is the dolmen des Bignes burial chamber. This has a massive capstone (4 metres by 3 metres) held up on 6 uprights with a few other stones scattered around. There is about 1 metre of height between today’s ground and the capstone but I could not determine where any entrance would have been although it would not have been to the west.

The ambience of these burial mounds is spoiled by it obviously used as a place where the local youth (or others) go to have a drink leaving all their detritus behind. There are broken bottles and other rubbish all over the place.

Les Gastines

Trip No.202  Entry No.70  Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: At the hamlet of La Métairie, a couple of kilometres south of Saint Hilaire-sur-Risle, in Orne, used to be a field with several stones in it including 4 menhirs one of which was more than 4 metres high and had been split by a tree which had grown in a crack in the stone.

Recent fate seems not to have been kind to these stones as when I visited, the field had been cleared of these stones and ploughed over and planted with crops. What appeared to be a bush growing over the top of the ridge was on closer inspection a trimmed tree with signs of a large stone mixed in with it.

I could get no closer to look properly, but at least the large split menhir seems to be in place still. When driving along the lane to the south of the field I saw three large stones and many smaller ones piled within the hedge. Is this the sad fate of Les Gastines ? Succombed to a farmers greed after 5000 years ?