La Pierre Levée (Ardillières)

Trip No.203  Entry No.251  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 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This is a nice pleasant simple little dolmen, just into a field of wheat about 30 metres from a farm track to the south of the village of Ardillières. The capstone sits proudly atop its three upright supports, making a chamber about 2 metres long by 1.5 metres wide and almost 2 metres high. It sits almost at the top of a little hillock in amongst the marais, and can be seen for miles around. On the inside of the chamber, the western side support stone has a fairly clear carving on it of what looks to be an axe, or a crook, perhaps a combination of both, looking rather like a large P, about 45 centimetres tall.

While I was here, a German couple, saying they were father and daughter, about mid twenties, arrived, and we were talking about the dolmen, and I showed them the carving.

La Pierre Le Matz

Trip No.203  Entry No.293  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is a nice shaped menhir, about 4 metres tall. It is signposted up the D.5 road north of Chauvé, and in a little fenced off area.

La Pierre Fondue

Trip No.205  Entry No.9  Date Added: 13th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Indre-et-Loire (37))
Visited: Yes on 30th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This dolmen can be found about 100 metres up a track behind the hamlet of Bommiers, which is a couple of kilometres to the south of the village of Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine down the N.10. It is about one kilometre to the north of the Pierre Percée. Once you reach the hamlet, it is signposted, and sits in a field which had been harvested when I was here, so was able to visit the dolmen properly.

The dolmen has a single capstone sitting 2 metres high on top of two large side supports and a backstone, and seems to have been moved to the back where it overhangs a lot. The rectangular chamber is about 4 metres by 2.5 metres in size, and faces almost due south. There are a few other stones at the southern end, suggesting either a continuation of the chamber, or perhaps an Angevine portal entrance, but these are fallen and it is not easy to tell what.

La Pierre Folle (Montguyon)

Trip No.203  Entry No.234  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This superb monument is signposted to the north of the town of Montguyon, and has its own parking and picnic area. It is a double monument, with an Aquitaine allée-couverte combined with a dolmen.

The allée-couverte part is massive, with a double chamber internally measuring 8 metres long, 1.5 metres wide and up to 2 metres high, facing east at 080°. The big capstone at the west end is 3 metres off the ground, 1.5 metres thick and is estimated to weigh 30 tonnes.

The dolmen part of the monument at the western end is much more complex to make out, at first seemingly being just lots of large stones all over the place. Looking in more detail however, suggests that it has a simple chamber with an entry corridor facing to the north, and incorporates the back stone of the allée-couverte as its eastern side.

These really are some impressive and lovely stones, and the angles of the capstones in particular are very striking. Some of the stones have fascinating holes and markings in them, many looking like they have been carved. And one of the stones at the entrance to the allée-couverte looks to be hollow, with a great big "chamber" within it. Quite a splendid place.

Pity the weather while I was here left a lot to be desired, and made getting good photographs difficult. Well worth a visit, and just as I was about to leave, a coachparty turned up. There is a sign which states that there are supposedly several other monuments nearby, including two more called Pierre Folle.

La Pierre Folle (Commequiers)

Trip No.203  Entry No.288  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 7th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Once a very nice example of an Angevin type dolmen, this has now mostly collapsed. Only three support stones are left standing, with a part of the capstone on top of them. The chamber would have been rectangular, 5 metres by 3 metres, and over 2 metres in height. The entrance is as usual to the east, and only the eastern part of the dolmen is still standing, with the rest of the stones being a bit of a jumble, although the basics can still be made out. One of the fallen sidestones has been recently broken.

This poor place suffers badly from vandals and idiots. Apart from graffitti, it looks like somebody set about it with a grindstone, amd its noticeboard has some poor disillusioned souls rantings all over it.

La Pierre Droite (Peyrolles)

Trip No.200  Entry No.21  Date Added: 17th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Aude (11))
Visited: Couldn't find on 23rd Apr 2000

Log Text: A rainy day exploring in the mountains south of Carcassonne. Drive S to Couiza, Arques, Peyrepertuse, Quéribus. Gorges de Galamus, more castles and driving, to Quillan. Hoped to see this stone from the roadside, but didn't

La Pierre Dolmen

Trip No.205  Entry No.261  Date Added: 13th Dec 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Indre (36))
Visited: Yes on 27th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: It was a bit of a struggle to find this, due to several of the roads being closed for some reason. However, take the D.23 road southwest from Moulins-sur-Céphons towards St Martin-de-Lamps. About midway between the two is the hamlet of La Pierre, and there are signs to the dolmen. It is about 800 metres walk from the road, round the back of the houses.

What I found is probably the remains of an Angevin dolmen with a large 6 m by 3 m chamber, made with a single backstone, two sidestones each side with two capstones, the rear one in place, the forward one broken and fallen into the chamber. There are signs of an entry portal, now all a bit broken. Some of the stones are massive thick chunks, not nice slim slabs.

La Pierre de Lenay

Trip No.204  Entry No.100  Date Added: 20th Jul 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Couldn't find on 16th Jul 2005

Log Text: This menhir is supposedly right by the river Thouet at Lenay, and looked as if it would be easy to find. I looked, and looked again, but found nothing. Must be on private land.

La Pierre De Len Menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.312  Date Added: 29th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 9th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: This was a tricky one to find. Not only is it in the middle of a swamp, but the road leading towards it from St-Lyphard was closed for rebuilding work. However, I persevered, expecting to find a nice big stone. But after quite some walking along farm tracks and aacross boggy marshy swampland, it was in fact quite small. It must have sunk into the swamp, which is what happened to me when I got quite near to it, and ended up with soaking wet smelly feet.

La Pierre de Gargantua (St Brevin)

Trip No.203  Entry No.18  Date Added: 1st Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 3

Log Text: I spent nearly an hour looking for this and eventually found it after asking a local. It is in a swamp just beside a large road junction and can be found by taking a dead end track then across some open land before dropping down into the wetlands in the corner of the road interchange.

Having found it it was not all that exciting being only abut a metre high and surrounded by tall grasses. Its hardly a Gargantua ! Perhaps its sinking into the swamp. I understand the name is something to do with a legend attached to the stone but unfoprtunately do not know anything of it.

La Pierre cromlech

Trip No.205  Entry No.262  Date Added: 13th Dec 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Centre:Indre (36))
Visited: Couldn't find on 27th Sep 2005

Log Text: While at the La Pierre dolmen, I could find no signs of any cromlech. Perhaps the form of the sideslabs of the dolmen was enough for this to once be thought of as a cromlech ?

La Pierre Crapaud

Trip No.204  Entry No.107  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Vienne (86))
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: This dolmen can be found a few hundred metres down a track to the south west of the village of Trois-Moutiers, where it resides just inside a field which was full of sunflowers when I visited, which meant that i could not get right to the dolmen. What I could see is a large capstone sat on top of some sort of support stones at one end, and the ground at the other.

La Pierre Couvretière (Ancenis)

Trip No.204  Entry No.68  Date Added: 16th Jul 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: The remains of this dolmen can be found by following the road along the north bank of the river Loire to the east of Ancenis chateau for about 800 metres, beyond the little pleasure boat port and into the industrial estate. It is signposted, and there is a little grassy open area between industrial units. This dolmen is another of those which demonstrates the rising of the sea level over the last few thousand years, as now instead of there being a mound around it, it is in a little hollow, dug out for it. The dolmen, which consists of a 4 metre square capstone, partially sitting on two side supports, but fallen at the north side, is now within a sort of pond, the land around it having been reclaimed from swampland. The level of the water here is below that of the river Loire, just a hundred metres away.

La Pierre Couverte de Mousseau

Trip No.204  Entry No.96  Date Added: 20th Jul 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 16th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a fairly ruined Angevine type dolmen, in a field of sunflowers just to the east of the village of Ulmes, reached by a couple of hundred metres walk in a gap in the crops. The chamber would have been about 4 metres wide by 5 metres long, with an entranceway at the northeast, which is several metres in length. The whole thing is rather falling down and covered in undergrowth, but can still be clearly seen. Two capstones of the chamber, and one for the entranceway are still in place.

La Pierre Couverte de la Planche

Trip No.204  Entry No.308  Date Added: 12th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 12th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Just to the west of Broc, along the D.138 road towards Chigné, an after about 800 metres this dolmen can be seen in the middle of the field to the north. I went to Broc hoping for a map, but saw nothing, so was lucky to find this. The dolmen is left in a little unploughed area which has recently been cleared of undergrowth and bushes, but it is also unfortunately used for field clearance stones.

There is a single capstone, 2.5 metres roundish shape, sitting on top of a single long slab on the south side, and two side supports to the north. It is possibly the remains of an allée couverte. A pleasure to find this at the start of the day after a bad evening.

la Pierre Couverte (Parigné)

Trip No.205  Entry No.5  Date Added: 13th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Sarthe (72))
Visited: Yes on 29th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This dolmen can be fairly easily found at a junction of tracks in the Bois de Bruon, near to Parigné-le-Pôlin, a few kilometres south of Le Mans, and just off the N23 road. The largish capstone, 4 m by 3.5 m, sits on top of 4 collapsed support stones, with another one nearby. its a pleasant little walk along a forest track from where I parked the van.

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

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.

La Pierre Cornue

Trip No.202  Entry No.11  Date Added: 25th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Calvados (14))
Visited: Yes on 23rd Apr 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: A very large menhir in disturbed ground which looks to be an old stone quarry just behind the Mairie which is just to the west of the main street a few hundred metres south of the church. The menhir is made of a strange sort of stony conglomerate and is a strange shape and contains many holes. It is more than 4 metres high 2.5 metres wide and over a metre thick at the base although the main part of the stone is about half a metre thick.

La Pierre Clouée (Nanteau)

Trip No.204  Entry No.244  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Ile-de-France:Seine-et-Marne 77)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This is a 4.5 metre tall menhir which can be found in a field south of the village of Villemarechal. Its near enough a kilometres walk from the roadside, but can easily be seen from there. It has been ploughed very close to, and in fact is suffering from various collisions with agricultural machinery. There are also several nails hammered into it. It also suffers from many overhead powerlines buzzing away, but it is still here after thousands of years, proudly overlooking the local landscape.

La Pierre Clouée translates roughly as the nailed stone - and it is an old folk tale that if one circles the stone seven times saying magic words, and then nails a bouquet to the stone, true love will be found.

La Pierre Clouée (Andonville)

Trip No.204  Entry No.251  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: La Pierre Clouée dolmen can be found in a field to the south of the village of Andonville, beside the little road to Annemont. It was a bugger to get to, with shut roads and suchlike. When I got there the field it stands in was being ploughed, so I nearly gave up. However, I asked the farmer and he told me it was OK to go and look, and told me about the polissoir as well.

The dolmen is falling apart a bit, but the basics are still there to be seen. It has a rectangular chamber, about 4.5 metres by 3 metres, with large side slabs and a back slab still in place. The capstone has broken, but the back end is still sat on top of its supports. It seems to open to the north, and whether there was any sort of entranceway is hard to tell.

On the outside of the eastern side slab are the polished grooves of a stone used as a polissoir - three of them. This is something of a rarity, as it's unusual to find the actual stones of a burial chamber re-used in this way. A nice find.