Dolmen du Moulin à Vent

Trip No.204  Entry No.309  Date Added: 12th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Couldn't find on 12th Aug 2005

Log Text: I found the old windmill to the northeast of Broc, but saw no signs of any dolmen.

L'Aurière menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.310  Date Added: 12th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Couldn't find on 12th Aug 2005

Log Text: This menhir is by the little picnic area at the place where I was stopped from turning by another car going into there.

Dolmen de Laurière

Trip No.204  Entry No.311  Date Added: 12th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Couldn't find on 12th Aug 2005

Log Text: Probably what was under that tree and those bushes in the lump in the middle of the field where I was trying to find the menhir.

Kerdanestre Menhir Christianisé

Trip No.203  Entry No.308  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 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is a smallish menhir which has been sculpted into a cross and mounted on a pedestal at an ancient road junction. The stone is about 1.5 metres tall above the pedestal, and sparkles beautifully in the sunshine. It looks to have probably been recently restored.

Trois Squelettes

Trip No.203  Entry No.28  Date Added: 1st Apr 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3

Log Text: Nearby to the east of the tumulus des Mousseaux are the remains of two more burial mounds of which remains can be seen in various gardens in the vicinity. The large tumulus du Moulin du Motte is these days hardly visible behind a large garden wall and some new holiday homes but a bit further to the west down the lane some large stones can be clearly seen in a garden. These are the remains of the Trois Squelettes tombs three chambers which were once covered by a single large mound.

Dolmen dit La Salle des Fées

Trip No.203  Entry No.31  Date Added: 2nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This was not at all like I was expecting to find so either the picture I had previously seen of this is of the wrong place or else this dolmen has had a nasty accident which has increased the remains !

I have to say it looks like a jumble of large rock slabs around a few trees in the middle of a field but it is possible to determine some side slabs and capstones of a long collapsed chamber. It is found just inside a field to the northwest of the D.61 road which goes southeast from Saint Pazanne after a couple of kilometres just before the road crosses the river at Port Faissant. It is signposted and on the ign map.

Les Pierres Blanches (Corsept)

Trip No.203  Entry No.298  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: At first I thought that there were three small menhirs here, not much more than a metre in height or fallen, but upon closer inspection (from a distance due to them being in a farmyard with a very active guard dog) it looked more like two menhirs and a pile of stone. There are perhaps others nearby.

Cassis Menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.301  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 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: In the middle of a field of Barley, this large menhir is signposted from the village.

Pierre Pointue (Paimboeuf)

Trip No.203  Entry No.302  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 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: In the southeastern area of the town of Paimboeuf, amongst a housing estate, can be found a Rue de la menhir. Following this road from the main road, there is a right angled bend to the right, and a couple more older houses before you get to a building site for new houses. The menhir is somewhere down here, but well enough hidden that I couldnt find it. I asked an old gent who was out in his garden where the menhir was. He was delighted that I was there looking for it, and he showed me to a nearby house with a large wall around the garden, and pointed it out within the garden. He said he had complained to the Mairie several times about the new owner of the house building the wall, and hiding the menhir away from view, saying that as a historic monument it should be readily visible to all. It is about 1.6 metres tall, and can be seen over the top of the wall.

Dissignac Tumulus

Trip No.203  Entry No.16  Date Added: 1st Apr 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Signposted from miles around and it has its own little parking area picnic site bus stop and kiosk but when I arrived here (on a Saturday morning in mid May) it was all shut and fenced off and it looked pretty permanent. It’s a restored tumulus with two large passage graves inside with the chambers facing southeast. It was fairly substantially rebuilt at some point in the past which doubled the size of the mound and extended the chambers by 4 metres.

Plessis Gamat Menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.19  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 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Signposted locally this is a lovely pointed pale granite stone about 2.8 metres tall. It is found by going down a little track opposite the electric station then right into a field where its found in the bushes on the right.

Rossignols Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.21  Date Added: 1st Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: In amongst the houses in this little seaside town this dolmen has its own plot of land with a picnic area and is signposted from various places in the vicinity. It has obviously been covered over by sand dunes as it is all in a hollow in the ground surrounded by trees. There is a massive capstone 4 by 3 metres and 1 metre thick but this covers only about half of the chamber which is surrounded by upright slabs many of which are still in position part buried in the sand.

La Pierre Blanche (Oudon)

Trip No.204  Entry No.64  Date Added: 16th Jul 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This is a massive lump of white quartz, more than 4 metres tall and 3 metres wide, in a vineyard up on the hills overlooking the beautiful Loire river, to the north of Oudon. As seems to be the case with this quartz, it keeps lovely and cool on a scorching hot day, and is nice and sparkly.

Pierres Meslières Menhirs

Trip No.204  Entry No.66  Date Added: 3rd Oct 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Pierres Meslières, menhir 1: This is a squat little menhir, half hidden in the hedge and bank between the railway and the vineyard. It is possible that ground level is now much higher here than it was, the railway line being about 10 metres lower. As I write, a TGV whizzes past. The remaining menhir is about 1.5 metres above track level, and looks lost in the hedge, almost like a field clearance stone.

Pierres Meslières Menhirs

Trip No.204  Entry No.67  Date Added: 3rd Oct 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Pierres Meslières, menhir 2: This menhir is between 3 and 4 metres tall, with a lot of ivy growing on it, besides the trackway at the bottom of the vineyard to the south of the rock outcrop. It is in need of a haircut.

Joselière Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.29  Date Added: 1st Apr 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: As soon as I got here this nice quiet place was flooded with people either returning from the beach or a walk along the clifftop. It is superbly positioned in a field about 50 metres from the sea but it’s a shame about the wartime gun emplacement here also. This transepted burial mound has been restored recently and is in fine condition. It consists of a single entrance corridor which faces eastwards on a bearing of 112° with four internal chambers opening up on the sides which are about 2 metres in width and high enough for me to stand up inside. The cairn is very square with sides about 11 metres in length barely bigger than the internal structures and with a nice white quartz stone at the entrance.

Pierre Meslière

Trip No.204  Entry No.65  Date Added: 16th Jul 2020
Site Type: Ancient Village or Settlement Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This was most unexpected, I saw a sign to this from St Géréon, so just followed the signs. There is a large rocky outcrop high above the river Loire, around which evidence of man living here has been found dating back to the paleolithic. From the neolithic period, when the settlement was extended, there was once a line of 48 menhirs running east to west. It says that today only two remain, the rest having been destroyed for roadbuilding, along with much of the natural rocky outcrop. The site was first recognised for what it was in 1878 by Pitre de L'Isle, and explored much more thoroughly by Alexandre Bernard throughout the last century. His books and studies are shown in the chateau.

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.

Tumulus Des Mousseaux

Trip No.203  Entry No.26  Date Added: 1st Apr 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This monument is signposted from all sorts of places and easy to find if approaching from the north but probably not so if coming from the south as the fortified harbour and seaside town of Pornic is a maze of small streets and indeed barred to a campervan. The tumulus is enclosed by houses and reaches right up to the roadside but does have its own little area with a sign telling about it but its all a bit busy and noisy. This is a superbly restored double chambered tomb enclosed in a triple stepped cairn. The two chambers both have double transept (side) chambers and open towards the southwest the southern one being double sided while the northern one is single sided and they are about 9 metres in length. The height of the chambers increases as you enter from about 1.8 metres at the entrance to well over 2.4 metres inside this being achieved because the capstones do not sit adjacent to one another but rest on top of each other as they progress inwards. Excavations showed this tomb to date to about 3500 BC. Obviously once known as the Dolmen des Mousseaux this has been renamed Tumulus des Mousseaux as can be seen on all the multitude of signposts pointing to it which have been changed !

Sainte Marguerite Au Pé Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.17  Date Added: 1st Apr 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 14th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: While at Dissignac there was a map showing a cycle ride which passed a cromlech a couple of kilometres to the south along Route du Cromlech so I went to have a look. Its easily found just north of the road junction and in a little piece of land between houses with its own signpost outside. It’s a little circle of stones about 5 metres in diameter and I suspect it’s the remains of a burial chamber indeed there seems to be an inner bit still with a capstone.