Avernat menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.167  Date Added: 24th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Gard (30))
Visited: Yes on 19th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This fine chap stands proudly at the junction of the roads D.158 and D.158a from Blandas to Le Landre and Quintanelles, just a couple of hundred metres from its neighbour, the menhir de Combes. It is very similar in both size and shape, 3 metres tall, except this one is not so superbly weathered. I am not sure whether it is in its original place here at the road junction or not.

Avort Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.76  Date Added: 16th Jul 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 15th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Found about 80 metres to the west of the D.70 road southwest of Gennes, with a trackway leading to it. Its a typical Angevine dolmen with a 4 m by 2.5 m chamber, made using large slabs covered by a single large capstone. The entrance, and its two porch stones, is to the east. It is still substantially within its mound, atop which a tree is growing. The southern side slab is broken, allowing easy access.

Azinières Dolmen 1

Trip No.203  Entry No.177  Date Added: 19th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 27th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: This little 3 m by 2 m dolmen sits right beside the busy D.911 road a few kilometres to the north of Millau, continuously passed by masses of heavy lorries which I guess do not like to pay the toll charges for the new motorway. There was once another one here, destroyed when the road was made bigger.

Babouin et Babouine

Trip No.204  Entry No.27  Date Added: 6th Jul 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 11th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Deep in the forest to the east of Trédion can be found these two bizarre menhirs. Babouin, the baboon, is only about 1.4 metres tall, but has been resculpted at some point to have a flat front surface with a rounded shaft below a larger rounded head. On the flat face of this head has been carved a rough face within a circle, which is looking out into the forest to the south.

Babouine, the female stone, is 3.2 metres tall, slightly leaning, and has been carved into a strange three tiered cylinder shape, all the way up from ground to top. On the top section there is carved a very rough face, while on the protruding middle section a semicircular groove, perhaps a smile, or more likely the sort of necklace often seen below breasts in these ancient carvings.

It is not known how old either the original menhirs, or the recarvings are. Perhaps they are reworkings by the Gauls, or perhaps much more modern masons work. It's all a mystery, but one thing is sure, these two stones are well worth a look.

Bagnol Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.172  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Haute-Vienne (87))
Visited: Yes on 22nd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Just beside the D.7 Road to the east of the station at Fromental is found this nice little dolmen, with a parking space and picnic area. The egg shaped capstone covers an oval chamber about 3 metres long and 2 metres wide. The pointed end points to the west, sitting on four slide slabs about 1.8 metres above the ground. It is open to both east and west ends.

Baie des Trépassés mégalithe

Trip No.203  Entry No.479  Date Added: 26th May 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Couldn't find on 18th Jun 2005

Log Text: There used to be a large menhir here, but no longer. Nor the ancient city of Y, which is now under the sea because the King's daughter sold herself to the devil. This bay is also where the dead set sail from on their final voyage to the Ile de Sein. There are lots of legends and stories surrounding this beautiful bay, but no menhir anymore.

Baignon dolmens

Trip No.204  Entry No.274  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: To the south of the lovely old walled and moated town of Bonneval, along the D.144 road, can be found the dolmens du Baignon. Remains of at least 5 dolmens can be found in a field beside the river near to Memillon Chateau in the commune of St-Maur-sur-le-Loir. I have numbered the 5 dolmens in the order in which I visited them, which was roughly in an east to west direction.

Baignon dolmens (1)

Trip No.204  Entry No.275  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: To the south of the lovely old walled and moated town of Bonneval, along the D.144 road, can be found the dolmens de Baignon. They are easily found in a field beside the river near to Memillon Chateau. There are remains of five dolmens, and I will number them in the order in which I visited them, which was roughly in an east to west direction.

Baignon 1 is all a bit overgrown, in some wasteland at the corner of the field by a little fishing lake. There is a capstone sitting on top of two side supports, about 2 metres apart, with some other large stones, one of which I assume to be another part of the broken capstone.

This could do with a tidy up, and would then be a nice feature beside the lake.

Baignon dolmens (2)

Trip No.204  Entry No.276  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Baignon 2 is in the middle of the cropped field, but which had been recently harvested when I visited. Again it is seemingly not much more than a large pile of stones in amongst the nettles and brambles. It probably has a rectangular chamber, 4m by 3m, with a single, now broken, capstone.

Baignon dolmens (3)

Trip No.204  Entry No.277  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Baignon 3 initially looks again like a heap of rocks in the middle of a field, and this impression is not helped by there probably being loads of field clearance stones dumped around it. Closer inspection reveals remains of an Angevin dolmen with a rectangular 4m by 3.5m chamber with its entrance porchway at the southeast. Many side stones and the broken capstone still remain in place, although the back end has collapsed.

Baignon dolmens (4)

Trip No.204  Entry No.278  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Baignon 4 really is no more than a small heap of stones in the middle of a field. Actually, there is one stone still standing, but that’s it. Its all a nice puddingstone though, so it does have its good points.

Baignon dolmens (5)

Trip No.204  Entry No.279  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: Baignon 5 is another completely unrecogniseable pile of stones in the field. Mostly lumps of puddingstone, there is one lump of sarsen like slab. These last two dolmens really are in a bad state, and have been ploughed right up to the edges, with the stones just heaped up into as small an area as possible.

Bajouillière Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.85  Date Added: 16th Jul 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 15th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Down a long track from near Bourgneuf, when you eventually get there this dolmen has parking and a picnic area. It is also the only one I have seen all day in this area that is signposted. Bizarrely, there is an owl hooting somewhere nearby, although it is 4:00pm on a scorching hot afternoon. This is another enormous dolmen, situated just below a naturally rocky outcrop in a flat field. The main chamber is pretty much exactly square, and about 6 metres by 6 metres inside, covered by a single (but now broken into three pieces) capstone, which has been made very square at about 7 metres each side. It is enormous. At some point in time, perhaps originally, this internal space has been segregated into two parts, possibly to help hold the roof up. Its entrance porchway is at the east, and itself is about 3 metres by 2 metres, and topped by two capstones, not quite as high as the main chamber. Unfortunately, people have been misusing the chamber, and there is evidence of some big fires, a result of which it is now closed off to the public. I still struggle to come to terms with just how BIG some of these monuments round here are.

Ball Gate

Date Added: 28th Feb 2023
Site Type: Ring Cairn Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 25th Feb 2023. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: Walk from South Brent up onto the moor around Corringdon Ball. Just to the north of the large gateway is a clearly defined ring cairn.

Bannau Sir Gaer

Date Added: 10th Apr 2023
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: Wales (Carmarthenshire)
Visited: Yes on 20th Jul 2017. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: Visited while walking round Carmarthen Fan. We started off walking from the little parking area up to Sychnant stone circle, which was found surprisingly easily near a turning point on the walk near the head of the Sychnant stream. It is positioned on a nicely flattened area on the saddle at the top of the low ridge of land between the head of the Usk river to the northeast, and the Afon Sawddle which runs from Llyn y Fan Fach, a tributary of the Towi to the southwest. It is just a hundred or so metres from the pathway at the head of the stream, and can be identified by the two large stones protruding above the moorland. I paced out the diameter to be 17 to 18 paces, so probably about 16 metres, and I counted 12 stones, most of which are small and hardly protrude above the grass, but at times today were positively glowing white in the sunshine in the wet moorland. At the southeast section are two large stones, with another flat to the ground between them, which reminded me very much of the Pen-y-Beacon stone circle below Hay Bluff in the Black Mountains away to the east, and is possibly the remains of some sort of entrance. Of the other 9 stones I saw, only one is of any substance, about 2 feet tall and leaning outwards just to the north of the main stones. What a splendid place. I am so glad I can now get to these places again, and I am now inspired to search out Nant Tarw and the other sites around here sometime, as it is now only a couple of hours drive.

Bant's Carn

Date Added: 11th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: England (Isles of Scilly)
Visited: Yes on 8th Sep 1986

Log Text: During a 2 week sailing trip with friends, I left the rest of the crew to sail L'Aurian from St Mary's all the way round the Western Rocks and in to New Grimsby harbour, Tresco for the night. I spent the day walking round the entire coast of St Mary's visiting many ancient sites, before catching a ferry over to Bryher in the evening and getting picked up by the crew.

Baraque de l'Air Menhirs

Trip No.205  Entry No.248  Date Added: 7th Dec 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Lozère (48))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 25th Sep 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: I drove for a look in the rain, I could see another hilltop covered in standing stones, where a possible cromlech has been identified.

Barbegal Mill and Aquaduct

Trip No.205  Entry No.205  Date Added: 29th Nov 2020
Site Type: Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry Country: France (Provence:Bouches-du-Rhône (13))
Visited: Yes on 22nd Sep 2005. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: I found no dolmens, but did find some intriguing Roman remains. A double aquaduct leads south from the hills over the road and fields to another smaller rocky ridge which water channels are cut through to a big drop at the far side. I had no idea what this was until I found out much later that it was the Barbegal Mill complex, a massive flour mill from Roman times with a total of 16 waterwheels. I wish I had known at the time, but it was truly fascinating.

Barbury Castle

Date Added: 18th Apr 2022
Site Type: Hillfort Country: England (Wiltshire)
Visited: Yes on 17th Apr 2022. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Easter visit to Barbury Castle and a walk on bits of The Ridgeway. This is a lovely well defined hillfort with full double ramparts and good views all around. Several other circular features and pits which may be the remains of ancient barrows and relatively modern flint pits. Interesting to see the views north from the ramparts, the old Wroughton airfield now covered with a solar farm.

Barbury Castle Barrows

Date Added: 24th Apr 2022
Site Type: Barrow Cemetery Country: England (Wiltshire)
Visited: Yes on 17th Apr 2022. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Around Barbury Castle are several other circular features and pits, some of which may be the remains of ancient barrows alond with some relatively modern flint pits. Following the Ridgeway west, there is a clear disc barrow on the slopes down from the castle, and some round barrows in the saddle below the hills.