La Pierre a Cerclet

Trip No.203  Entry No.236  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: This dolmen is a complete wreck, and can be found beside the D.134 road south of Charnac. It has had a little area of field left unplanted around it, but there's not much to see. There is just what seems to be a broken capstone and a few other bits and pieces laying about. I have since found out that this dolmen was destroyed as recently as 1978,

Courades Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.238  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente (16))
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Probably once very similar to the St Fort dolmen, but this one has collapsed, probably fairly recently, and the capstone is now in several fragments on the ground. The chamber was once 5 metres by 2.5 metres, with a big closing stone to the west, and the entrance to the east. It seems to have carved stones paving the floor area, with the side slabs fitted closely to these.

It is easy to find, and is signposted about 600 metres along a track from the DXXX road, and is adjacent to a small flying club which takes its name from the dolmen, Aeroclub de Pierre Levée.

Saint Fort Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.237  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente (16))
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Signposted from the town of St Fort-sur-le-Ne, it is found about 1 kilometre to the east on top of a small hill amongst the Cognac vines. It is a real monster, looking like the skeletal remains of a dinosaur robot or something.

The chamber is 5 metres in length, by 2.5 metres wide, and the single, one metre thick capstone more than adequately covers that. It is held 2.5 metres high in the air by three large upright support stones, with the outline of the chamber having five more large stones in place.

Unfortunately, the poor thing suffers badly from graffitti, both written and carved, and it would seem to be used as a place for the local youth to come and drink, with empty bottles scattered all around. One of the side slabs has some strange carvings on it, perhaps a sort of window or entrance was once here, with the dolmen used as a house.

Sechebec Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.241  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente (16))
Visited: Yes on 4th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: This dolmen comes with its own block of flats, "Residence du Dolmen", which is currently for sale, in the western outskirts of Cognac, not too far from the big sports centre.

The 4.5 by 2.5 metre chamber is covered by a single large capstone, held up on 8 external support stones and with another stone on the inside, but it is not very high off the ground. It would not surprise me at all if this has been somewhat modified for safety reasons, as it is now part of a sort of play area surrounded by blocks of flats. But at least it is still here, and nice to look at.

Garde Epée Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.240  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente (16))
Visited: Yes on 4th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is a big dolmen, the chamber of which is about 4 metres in length by 3 metres wide and 2 metres high. It has a single large backstone, with two side stones on the south side, only one on the north (the other is missing) and one at the eastern end. The capstone is two pieces, the larger western stone having several delightful holes in it and a warning sign saying not to climb onto it or stand underneath, as the stone is cracked and ready to break.

This dolmen is also suffering from graffitti and rubbish, but otherwise well looked after in a little clearing amongst the vines with its own sign. It can be found just to the south of the D.157 road, a couple of kilometres west of Jarnac.

Dolmen d'Ors dit la Piare

Trip No.203  Entry No.247  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 4th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Remains of a once fairly large burial mound with several chambers contained within it, now fairly well destroyed, on the southern tip of the Ile d’Oleron, within the community of Le Château-d'Oléron. The remains of this dolmen are easily found, but not signposted, right beside the seawall in a little picnic area right at the southeastern tip of Ile d’Oleron where the road bridge makes landfall. If you get to the first building (a restaurant) from the bridge, you have already passed it.

The remains here consist of an approximately triangular capstone, sides of length 4 metres, and about a metre thick. Perhaps there are more stones underneath, and built into the sea wall. The stone is broken into two pieces. Closer inspection shows there to be a few other large stones in the vicinity of the capstone, now covered by land and the sea wall. Just on the sea side of the wall is the possible remains of another dolmen, or a broken off part of the first, which seems to be a bit of capstone sitting on the beach, surrounded by the sea when I arrived. There are no other large rocks like this in the vicinity, and it doesn't look like it should naturally be there. I have discovered since my visit that this indeed did used to be a fairly large mound, with several burial chambers within it.

La Pierre Levée (Sablonceaux)

Trip No.203  Entry No.242  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 4th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Signposted from the D.XXX road to Sablonceaux, this dolmen is about a kilometre walk along a track through the forest, but there are no more signs and it’s a guess as to which way to go at several junctions. I kept to the biggest track at each option, and eventually there it was to the right of the pathway. It has a little noticeboard, but there is not much more to see, just a pile of three stones in a little hollow. While I was here, the area around the dolmen was absolutely teeming with masses of little jumping spiders !

Dolmen du Bois de la Grosse Pierre (Sainte-Radegonde)

Trip No.203  Entry No.243  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th Jun 2005

Log Text: I had a good look around for this one, down into the woods from at least two tracks, and got told some directions on how to find it, but it is well hidden in thick woodland somewhere, and I thought there are better things to do with my time than wander round in the forest for hours on end.

Dolmen de la Pierre Levée (La Vallée)

Trip No.203  Entry No.244  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 4th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a bit more like it. Signposted to the north of the village of La Vallée, behind the churchyard along Rue du Dolmen, this dolmen is lovingly looked after in a nicely tended little area of grass on its mound amongst some trees.

It seems to be the remains of a large double chambered tomb, the main chamber being about 4 metres by 3.5 metres at the east of the mound, with a massive capstone now on the ground amongst the remains of about 10 or 12 uprights. To the west are what I am guessing is the remains of a secondary chamber, about 2.5 by 3 metres in size, but which now looks like not much more than a wrecked rectangle of stones with a bit of stone in the middle which was possibly part of a capstone.

Buffletizion Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.245  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th Jun 2005

Log Text: I found Buffetision just to the southeast of trizay, but there were no signs of any dolmen. Perhaps it is in the grounds of the chateau.

Soubise Dolmen 1

Trip No.203  Entry No.246  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th Jun 2005

Log Text: These two dolmens are within the confines of an airfield, which has a big military base on the northern side of the runway, and a little flying club at the south. I could not get to very near to where the dolmens are marked on my map, so didn’t try very hard to get close enough for a photo.

La Pierre Levée (Oleron)

Trip No.203  Entry No.248  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th Jun 2005

Log Text: I looked all around the Pierre Levée farm, but could see nothing obvious, so I asked. I was told that there was once a dolmen here, but that it had been destroyed, and nothing remains of it today.

Camp de César Menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.265  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This large menhir is the only survivor of what was until the last century three stones here, set in an arrangement like the surviving Alignment de la Pierre. At 8.7 metres tall and nicely shaped and dressed, the stone, known as Le Roi des Menhirs (King of the menhirs) is so big that it was not destroyed, and has now had a municipal park created around it.

It is right outside the back of the local Mairie, and is a nice central feature to the garden. However, even here it has suffered from vandalism, somebody having chalked a massive hopscotch type board onto the flat southeast face of the menhir. There are also a few holes which have been drilled into it.

Frébouchère Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.263  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Easily found and signposted to the north of the village of Le Bernard, this wonderful dolmen has a little parking and picnic area. Ooooh, it’s a whopper, and absolutely fantastic !

It is a large Angevin dolmen with a main chamber 6.5 metres long by 3.5 metres wide, covered by a single massive capstone (now cracked into two parts) 2 metres high off the ground. There are three side stones along each side, and a single massive backstone at the western end. At the eastern end of the chamber are two partial closing stones and the two entrance porchway stones, with the chamber and its entrance facing towards the southeast at 130°.

Most of the stones are granite, but two of the stones, one on each side, are made from a different type of rock. Within the chamber, to the right near the entrance, is a granite stele, which almost reaches to the capstone, and has been very well smoothed and shaped. It is flat at the face near to the dolmen entrance, and side face near to the outside, but rounded around the back. The stone tapers upwards almost to a point, but has been cut short. There are no obvious engravings on it.

There is a lovely resonance inside the chamber, and two swallows or martins came flying through as I was inside. This is an all round excellent place, but it is a pity that it doesnt have a slightly larger enclosure around it like some, as it is nearly impossible to get a decent photograph of.

Dolmen dit la Pierre-Levée (La Jarne)

Trip No.203  Entry No.253  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: This is a nice little dolmen sitting at the edge of the playing fields just outside the back of the church in the village of La Jarne. I am not sure exactly how original this dolmen is, as it looks like it might be a relatively modern reconstruction, and is stood in a gravel area with tell tale plastic sheeting under the new gravel surroundings. I could find no information about it.

Pierre Levée de Chenillée

Trip No.203  Entry No.254  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is a nicely smoothed and shaped menhir, which must be about 4.5 metres tall, 2.5 metres wide and 1 metre thick. It is just off a farm track beside the road, and is signposted.

Petites Jaunières

Trip No.203  Entry No.255  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 2

Log Text: Inside a field just to the west of the D.85 road south of Le Givre, but very difficult to get at or take a picture of because of the ditch, fence and hedge surrounding its field ! I estimate it to be about 3 metres tall, and sort of pointed.

Dolmen des Pierres Folles du Plessis

Trip No.203  Entry No.257  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This possible Angevine dolmen resides in a little wooded picnic area beside the lane to the south of the busy D.949 road to the east of Avrillé. The chamber would have been 5 metres long by 2 metres wide, but the eastern end has collapsed and broken badly, so its difficult to tell. The remains of a 4 metre by 3 metre capstone lie fallen into the chamber, although it is still supported at the western end. The mass of jumbled stone at the east end has obviously been recently broken further, as there are very fresh breakage edges, and drill marksd to be seen, or else it is possible that some new stone has been dumped here.

The nice surprise nature find at this place was a massive, lovely patterned moth sleeping at the bottom of one of the stones.

Menhir dit le Champ du Rocher

Trip No.203  Entry No.256  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: All I could find where this stone should be was a fallen smoothed stone at the roadside, but I could find nowhere to safely stop and have a good look around. It's about 3 metres long by 2 metres wide.

Cour du Breuil Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.258  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Right by the roadside, this is a pleasant dolmen to find, with the large skeletal remains standing slightly hidden by a surrounding hedge, from where they suddenly jump out at you as you pass.

The main chamber would have been about 4 metres by 2 metres, but the single remaining capstone covers only half of this, balanced as it is on 3 side slabs at 1.5 metres above the ground. There are plenty of other stones laying around, and the remains are kept in a nicely tended but small gardenlike area.