La Pierre-Levée de Maisonneuve

Trip No.204  Entry No.114  Date Added: 4th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Vienne (86))
Visited: Couldn't find on 18th Jul 2005

Log Text: This is marked on my ign 1:100,000 map, but down a dead end lane into a forest southeast of Loudun. I had a good look round, but there were no signs or anything, and in the thick bushy forest I didn't really stand a chance.

Dolmen de Briande 1

Trip No.204  Entry No.116  Date Added: 4th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Vienne (86))
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: A couple of hundred metres away from the large tumulus, towards the railway line and across a field can be found a nice dolmen 6 metres long, 2 metres wide and 2 metres high. Three capstones sit on three pairs of side stones, but there is no evidence of any entrance or closing slabs.

Dolmen de Briande 2

Trip No.204  Entry No.117  Date Added: 4th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Vienne (86))
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: A few more hundred metres across another field from the first dolmen, and there are the remains of another fairly large dolmen. This one is clearly of the Angevin type with a 5 m by 3 m main chamber with a single large capstone now fallen into the middle. At the southeast there is the remains of a collapsed porchway entrance.

While visiting this dolmen I ended up in the middle of a grasshopper attack frenzy !

Monpalais

Trip No.204  Entry No.122  Date Added: 13th Aug 2020
Site Type: Barrow Cemetery Country: France (Poitou:Deux-Sèvres (79))
Visited: Yes on 18th Jul 2005. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: There are a couple of dolmens marked here on my map, but when I get here there is a sign and a parking area, and before I even get out of the van I can see four dolmens ! In all there are remains of about a dozen dolmens here, many of which have been recently restored. It is a pity about the busy road and the open fields, which make for low ambience scores for an otherwise very good place.

La Pierre-Folle allée couverte

Trip No.204  Entry No.104  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Poitou:Vienne (86))
Visited: Couldn't find on 17th Jul 2005

Log Text: To the north of Bournand, but in a very vaguely marked place on my map, is marked the Pierre Folle allée couverte. In the village of Bournand, there is a sign pointing to the Pierre Folle, but as is often the case, there are no more signs later, and try as I might, without a detailed map I could not find this. After my failed visit, I found out that it is an 18 metre long allée couvert, on inaccessible private land within a Renaissance Lodge. It is said to be a superb megalithic monument.

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.

Dolmen de la Fontaine au Son 1

Trip No.204  Entry No.109  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 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: There are two dolmens here, about 30 metres apart, near to the Fontaines de Son water treatment plant. The eastern dolmen is now fenced off, partly because of the water works, but probably also because it looks to be in a dangerous state, It is an Angevin dolmen with a 4m by 2.5 m chamber underneath a single capstone and its entrance to the east. Most of this is however now collapsed.

Dolmen de la Fontaine au Son 2

Trip No.204  Entry No.110  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 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: There are two dolmens here, about 30 metres apart, near to the Fontaines de Son water treatment plant. The western dolmen is slightly bigger, and in a bit better condition. It seems to have a north south oriented chamber, with two capstones surviving, covering the southern part of the 8 metre long chamber. The northern end has collapsed. It is difficult to tell where the entrance would have been. Oddly, this dolmen has a well tended grassy area besides it, but the dolmen itself is right in the corner and quite overgrown. It is also right on the farm track out the back, and dangerously close to getting bashed with each passing tractor.

Vaon Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.108  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 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This nice dolmen can be found about a kilometre southeast of the village of Trois-Moutiers, and is easy to find because it is signposted. It is about a 300 metre walk from where you can park near to a barn. It is a fairly complete Angevin dolmen with a 5m by 2.5m main chamber fronted at the east end by a 2.5 by 1.5 metre entrance porch. The two capstones of the main chamber are still in place, although the roofstone of the entrance has fallen. Nicely shaded by a large tree, there was a wasp nest inside when I was here, which distracted slightly from my visit.

Dolmen du Griffier

Trip No.204  Entry No.111  Date Added: 3rd Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This dolmen can be found in a field beside the road running west from the village of Coulon, after about a kilometre. The remains are enclosed in a clump of bushes and a tree, about 20 metres from the road. The capstone has collapsed, leaving what at first look is not much more than a heap of stones. Closer inspection reveals it to be an Angevin dolmen, 5m by 2.5m, with an entrance porchway to the south. Unfortunately, the ploughs are getting too close, and are causing damage to the stones.

Dolmen d'Epennes

Trip No.204  Entry No.105  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: Not marked on any of my maps, but I found this mentioned from the same source that I found out the information about the nearby Pierre Folle. It is just to the east of the hamlet of Epennes, south of Bournand, about 300 metres from the road junction and across a field.

It looks to be a fairly standard 4 x 2.5 metre Angevine dolmen with its entrance to the south east, but it's all a bit of a wreck and overgrown. Unfortunately, the field it is in is cropped very close and damage looks to have been done by farm machinery recently.

l'Accomodement Menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.112  Date Added: 20th Jul 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 17th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Passing again, I tried again to find this menhir. This stone is actually right beside the railway cutting on the eastern side, just to the south of the new ring road, and visible from it. It is on the hilltop, but fallen - perhaps just put there when they were building the railway - who knows ? The stone is about 3 metres in length, but only a metre high. I think perhaps it is broken.

Le Grand Dolmen de Bagneux

Trip No.204  Entry No.93  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 5 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is now round the back and in the garden of a bar, but not in a very nice area of town. When I was here, it was €3 to visit the dolmen and a little visitor centre, but nearly impossible to get decent photos as its to enclosed between all the surrounding roads.

The dolmen itself is massive, 22 metres in length, by 7 metres wide and almost 4 metres high. Four large capstones sit supported by about four side slabs each side, and with one massive backstone. This cannot be just a burial chamber, it must have had some other purpose - perhaps an indoor sports hall ! There is one stone left of an internal partition, but the angevine entrance has been a bit mutilated.

Dolmen de la Pierrelée

Trip No.204  Entry No.103  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 3 Access 4

Log Text: Just to the south of Montsoreau, on the hills above the Loire valley can be found this strange dolmen. It was difficult to find and to park nearby, but its close to the Tete Loire cycle route, and signposted about 50 metres into a field under some trees. What's left of this Angevine dolmen is still within a mound, although how ancientthe mound is I wouldn't like to say. But the odd thing is that it has been lived in, and the inside has been rebuilt with stone blocks to allow a doorway and stairs down into it, which are not in the original entrance. It also has a fireplace and a chimney complete with pot, and a water trough. A most odd place.

Pierre Couverte de Corbeau

Trip No.204  Entry No.92  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 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This one is quite easy to find, as it is signposted from the nearby hamlet of Bournée, and there is a little picnic area there, despite nowhere decent to park a camper van. It is on top of a hill, in a nice shady wooded area, surrounded by vines, roses and sunflowers, with Troglodyte villages and dwellings all around the area. I couldn't quite make out exactly what this dolmen is the remains of, it seems to be an allée couverte, rather than an Angevine dolmen. The entrance is at the east, and slightly smaller than the main chamber, but it's not a seperate entranceway, as it sort of opens up to the next pair of stones. The back end has all fallen, so difficult to determine. It is up to 10 metres long, 3 metres wide and 2 metres high, with three capstones still in place.

La Vacherie Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.97  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 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: This is a nice little site, and easy to find to the south of Distré, as it is signposted. The dolmenis in a little woodland clearing in a marshy area, which makes it nice and green and shady on this hot afternoon. The dolmen is what I am now taking to be a standard Angevine dolmen, with a 4m by 3m rectangular chamber, with a 2 metre long entranceway at the eastern end. The main chamber is capped by a single capstone which rests on two side slabs each side, one of which on the northern side has collapsed. The cover slab for the entranceway has unfortunately fallen. It's a shame, but as is often the case, the dolmen is used for beer drinking, smoking and fires, by I assume the local youths, and the pleasant green grassy area is littered with broken bottles and other rubbish.

l'Accomodement Menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.102  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: Somewhere between a new major road junction and a railway junction, in farmland. I tried, including driving round many farm tracks, but could find no signs of this at all.

Pierre Fiche de Chacé

Trip No.204  Entry No.98  Date Added: 20th Jul 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) 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 nice menhir to find, a few hundred metres walk along a track near to the river Thouet, just to the west of the village of Chacé. The menhir is about 4 metres high, 2 metres wide and with a sloping top, as so many do have. It is signposted from the road, and they go to the effort of cutting all the nettles and other undergrowth for a reasonable distance around it. If only all the local communities were this concerned about their ancient stones. Some nice ducks swimming about in the river.

Dolmen de la Madeleine (Gennes)

Trip No.204  Entry No.91  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 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Went back as my photos were out of focus, having forgotten to switch off the macro function yesterday.

Le Petit Dolmen de Bagneux

Trip No.204  Entry No.94  Date Added: 20th Jul 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 16th Jul 2005

Log Text: High up on a cliff edge (because of a quarry) this dolmen can just about be seen through the trees from the roadside next to the cemetary. However, its on private land, and a proper viewing is not possible. It looks like a pretty big dolmen despite its name, and perhaps a more typical Angevine dolmen. It looks to be in fairly good condition.