La Lue Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.163  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Haute-Vienne (87))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: To the west of Berneuil, travel a couple of kilometres along the D.83 and you come to this dolmen at a bend in the road, just after a crossroads, where it is about 30 metres into the field. It has a 4 m by 2 m chamber facing east, made of two long sidestones and with two smaller stones at the back of the chamber, which are made of a different coloured rock. I wonder if it has been "restored". It is covered by a large single capstone about 5m by 4m, but this is now cracked and broken into two pieces. There are traces of a small stone mound around it.

Borderie Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.164  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Haute-Vienne (87))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: A couple of kilometres west of Berneuil, along the D.83, turn right at the crossroads besides the La Lue dolmen. After a couple of hundred metres there is a trackway to the right, and signposted "dolmen", and then walk along there for another couple of hundred metres.

This is a very pleasant and nice looking dolmen on first sight, standing almost 2 metres tall. But closer inspection leaves me wondering about its authenticity. Firstly there is a fence built right through it, and secondly the entrance, with a fallen stone, is to the west. Inspection of the support stones shows many of them to have been broken and cemented back together from fragments. It is obviously a reconstruction of some sort, but how accurate I would not like to say. However, the chamber is about 3.5 m by 2.5 m with a nice capstone sitting proudly on top at head height.

Betoulle dolmen 2

Trip No.204  Entry No.165  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Haute-Vienne (87))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is another nice dolmen, found just inside a fieldby the roadside a few kilometres south of Berneuil. You can find it by turning left at the crossroads near La Lue dolmen, and travelling a couple of kilometres until just past the big road on the right.

It is a nice tall dolmen with a nice capstone sat upon six support stones, covering a chamber 3 m by 2 m. Closer inspection again shows a reconstruction job, with some cemented together broken stones. Perhaps this was completely enclosed, but the entrance today is again to the west. A few other stones and chunks lie nearby.

Betoulle dolmen 1

Trip No.204  Entry No.166  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Haute-Vienne (87))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: I spent quite some time looking for the second dolmen here, in all the hedges and adjacent fields nearby. But never just a few yards across the same field, where a large slab can be found ! Doh !

Betoulle dolmen 3

Trip No.204  Entry No.167  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Haute-Vienne (87))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 21st Jul 2005

Log Text: Some stone slab remains at the base of a tree in the field the other side of the road.

Ceinturat Menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.168  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Limousin:Haute-Vienne (87))
Visited: Yes on 22nd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: "Megalithes" are signposted to the south of Montemart, and following these signs takes you first to a parking place from where a 700 metre walk to the Ceinturat Menhir can be taken. I was surprised by how big it is, as it is taller than 5 metres and looks like the top has been broken off. It has a flat north face, but a rounded southern face, which faces downhill. These days it is in a little woodland clearing, surrounded on one side by oak forest, the other by gorse and bracken. Shaded by the trees as it is, it looks like it is a stone tree trunk with branches growing out of it. A nice start to the day.

Pierre a Cupules (Arnac)

Trip No.204  Entry No.169  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Limousin:Haute-Vienne (87))
Visited: Yes on 22nd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: On a green grassy area at the southern edge of the village of Arnac, is found this nice standing stone, standing about 2.5 metres tall. But the noticeable thing about this stone are all the cupules, or cupmarks, engraved into it.

Not immediately obvious in the mid day sunshine, but the first marks to stand out are on the southeast edge, where there appears to be a couple of rows of 35 mm diameter holes running in a line up the edge. Closer inspection shows a very flat southern face - possibly with checkerboard markings on it, and cupules running up the edges from top to bottom. On the northern face, also flattened, the whole stone is covered with these cupules, loads and loads of them. There must be at least a hundred. There does not appear to be anything on the two sides of the stone.

Rouffignac Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.170  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: From the hamlet of Rouffignac, this little dolmen is signposted and easily found, about 400 metres along the track opposite the farm, first to the west, and then south (left) into a little recently cleared area amongst thet trees. The dolmen is a simple thing, with a 2.5 by 2.5 metre capstone sat on three upright supports, about one metre above the ground. The capstone has several 30 mm cupules carved into it, and also a fairly large diameter circle - or semi circle at least, which I think must be relatively modern.

Menhir du Pic

Trip No.204  Entry No.171  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Limousin:Haute-Vienne (87))
Visited: Couldn't find on 22nd Jul 2005

Log Text: I could not find this.

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.

Menhir des Fichades

Trip No.204  Entry No.173  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Limousin:Haute-Vienne (87))
Visited: Yes on 22nd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: At the hamlet of Grand Bagnols, on the D.7 Road, take the little side lane to the south (best to park and walk). The Menhir des Fichades is signposted and only a couple of hundred metres from the road. It stands in a field beside a wood, just above a little stream, and I suspect it was a natural rock which has been stood up, as there are many other rocks like this in the little valley above the stream. It stands about 3 metres tall, and is nicely shaped with a curved top.

Pierre Folle de Saint-Priest-la-Feuille

Trip No.204  Entry No.174  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Creuse (23))
Visited: Yes on 22nd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: What a wonderful little dolmen this is, and so well kept and presented too. What a lovely surprise. It's a bit of a struggle to find from the village of Saint-Priest-la-Feuille (which is on one of the routes to Santiago de Compostella), but take the road towards Lizieres and eventually there are little signposts.

It is kept in a little parkland now, with a carpark, information board, and a windy path across a stream through a little wood and eventually to the dolmen on top of the hill, all in about 100 metres from the roadside. You can see the dolmen through a gap from the road, but then not again until you are nearly there, so well landscaped and routed the pathway is.

The dolmen itself is such a wonderful pretty thing, one of the nicest dolmens I have ever seen, if not the prettiest. The capstone has a flat bottom, but a very rounded top, and it is sat on top of six closely spaced side supports. The dolmen's entrance is at the west, as many of the dolmens round these parts seem to have, and there seems to be traces of an entry passage with stones in the ground. The supports are quite tall and thin, and are closely spaced without any real gaps, and all lean slightly inwards towards the top. Unfortunately, one of the side stones is broken. The chamber below is circular, and about 3 metres in diameter, and there is plenty of height to stand up inside. But for me, it is the shape that does it. It is a bit like a badminton shuttlecock, or a cartoon spider or crab, but to me it mostly made me think of a spaceinveder ro suchlike.

Of course, with a dolmen like this there are plenty of legends. One is that the stones all have a dance at midnight on Christmas Eve. Another has it that any girl who slides down from the top will be married before the year is out (whether or not in "birth knickers" I know not!). Yet another legend is long and complex, but involves the devil and dancing.

Strangely, it is not quite on the top of the hill, but just 30 metres from it. The hilltop, just to the north, looks to have a mound built on top of it, I wonder whether there was another tomb here, and perhaps was once another dolmen ? Fabulous.

Saint-Hilaire Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.175  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Creuse (23))
Visited: Couldn't find on 22nd Jul 2005

Log Text: I could not find this, despite it being clearly marked on my ign 1:100,000 map. However, it seem to be no longer marked on any new maps, I wonder whether it is a casualty of the N.145 trunk road, or whether it is still to be found somewhere near to the big road junction.

Dolmen de la Pierre Euberte

Trip No.204  Entry No.176  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Creuse (23))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 22nd Jul 2005

Log Text: I thought that I perhaps saw this dolmen on its hillside position, but I could find nowhere to park, and saw no obvious way through the houses and fields to get to where I thought it was.

Pierre Bercé (Naillat)

Trip No.204  Entry No.177  Date Added: 20th Aug 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Limousin:Creuse (23))
Visited: Yes on 22nd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Signposted south from Colondannes, it was however only the one signpost and then 5 kilometers of guessing the way ! From the village of Naillat take the road out to the east at the back of the village, turn left at the cemetary, cross over the river and then go to the left. The Pierre Bercé is then to be found in a fenced off field about 40 metres from the road at a bend. It is on a little spur and looks out over the stream below, and is about 3 metres high.

Dolmen dit Pierre-la-Fade

Trip No.204  Entry No.178  Date Added: 21st Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Creuse (23))
Visited: Yes on 23rd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: To the west of Aubusson, go through the village of Blessac and take the road west to Sagnas. Continue right through the hamlet until the road runs out at a forest, and becomes a dusty trackwith some marked forest walk footpaths. Within 100 metres, down a little track into the forest, the dolmen can be found.

Its a pleasant enough dolmen, made of fairly rounded granite slabs, with a 3 metres by 2 metres capstone sitting on top of two side and one back slab, completely open to the south east. Unfortunately, as with many of these places, its been used for beer drinking and fires, with lots of litter around.

Dolmen de la Croix Blanche (Felletin)

Trip No.204  Entry No.179  Date Added: 21st Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Creuse (23))
Visited: Couldn't find on 23rd Jul 2005

Log Text: To the east of Felletin, on the D.10 road to Crocq, is supposedly this dolmen, at the hamlet of Croix Blanche. I looked long and hard but found nothing except for a sign telling me about it, and how it had had a grant from various people for restoration in 1987-89. Apparently its an Angevin dolmen, but whether its in the dense woodland, or in the field of tall sweetcorn, I do not know! There was nobody around to ask.

Dolmen d'Urbe

Trip No.204  Entry No.180  Date Added: 21st Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Limousin:Creuse (23))
Visited: Yes on 23rd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: In stark contrast to many places, the lovely medeival city of Crocq is proud of its dolmen, which I wasn’t going to bother with as it looks difficult to find on the big map. However, its shown on all the town maps, and clearly signposted along Route du Dolmen from the town. And they sell postcards of it !!!

Its a pleasant 500 metre walk from a parking place, slightly uphill and into the forest. The dolmen is a pleasant, pretty thing made of granite blocks. The massive capstone sits on six closely spaced support stones making an oval chamber about 2.5 m by 1.5 m in size, and about 1.5 m high. Unfortunately a seventh support stone at the back has fallen inwards, leaving a big opening. All the support stones have flat face inwards, and lean slightly in towards the top, a bit like the wonderful Pierre Folle de Saint-Priest-la-Feuille. The entrance to this dolmen is at the eastern end.

To find their husband here, the local girls have to jump over the dolmen - quite a hard task I would imagine !

Farges Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.181  Date Added: 21st Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Auvergne:Puy-de-Dôme (63))
Visited: Yes on 23rd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Take the little country road southwest from Herment, and after a while the dolmen will be signposted. Its in the middle of a field above the hamlet of Farges and easy to see in the field. Unfortunately it’s a complete wreck, having had trees growing in and around it, and probably its share of hits by the plough. The capstone sits at a steep angle on one high side stone and the ground at the other side. Two other support stones remain standing, plus lots of other broken bits of stone.

There is a superb view of the Sancy mountain range from here. There are many legends and stories of fairies, giants and monsters attached to this dolmen.

Pierre des Quatre Curés

Trip No.204  Entry No.182  Date Added: 10th Jul 2024
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Auvergne:Puy-de-Dôme (63))
Visited: Yes on 23rd Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This crystalline basalt menhir has served as a boundary stone between four parishes since the middle ages, hence it's name. It's not much more than 2 metres high, and looks like it has been mended from broken at some point, but I cant be sure. I was hoping for a bit more from this. On the map it looks spectacularly positioned overlooking the Sancy mountains one way, and the valley of the river Dordogne the other. In practice, it really only overlooks the fields around it. It can be found a couple of fields to the south of the busy D.922 road, with a track and footpath almost right to it, and there is room to park.