Dolmen de Savatole 3

Trip No.203  Entry No.260  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: I was not expecting to find these, as I had no previous information about them, and they are not marked on my map. However they are signposted just to the north of the village of Le Bernard, where there is an Ecole des Dolmens! Excellent.

Right beside the little lane to the north of the village, this dolmen would appear to have an oval chamber 3 metres long by 2.5 metres wide, with a single capstone covering it. There are also other stones which suggest an entrance passage, and the floor is paved with large slabs.

Dolmen de Savatole 1

Trip No.203  Entry No.262  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: The remains of this dolmen are in the middle of a field of barley, and are not easy to get to, but following some tractor wheel marks it was possible for me to get to it without doing any damage to the crop (and I was not the first).

This dolmen is larger, but less complete than the first two dolmens here. What would appear to be a 4 metre by 2.5 metre chamberis only covered at the western end by a capstone resting on three support stones. As at the other dolmens here, there is a large smoothed stone slab paving the floor.

Dolmen de Savatole 2

Trip No.203  Entry No.261  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Like dolmen number 3, this dolmen was excavated in 1906 and has been restored. It is a simple dolmen with a 2.5 by 2.5 metre chamber with a single capstone, these days supported on 3 side stones with remains of a couple more.

Strange thing here is the carved floorstone, which has been cut down to make a flat floor, a bit like the Pierres Closes. I had seen this effect at a couple of dolmens in the Cognac region, but assumed then that it was a modern stabilisation effort.

Menhir de la Boilière

Trip No.203  Entry No.264  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This 4 metre tall menhir fell in 1964, but has been re-erected only with the help of two cranes in the 1980s after they had failed to put it back up manually. It is a nicely shaped stone, and has at its foot another stone, which has several cupules and other markings cut into it. It is well signposted from the village of Avrillé, and is a pleasant evening stroll.

Dolmen dit la Pierre Fouquerée

Trip No.203  Entry No.252  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 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: This dolmen is not so easy to find as its neighbour, La Pierre Levée, but is in the middle of a field of maize to the west of the farm of Bois des Mottes near the village of Ardillières. The 3 metre by 2 metre limestone capstone sits at an angle on top of one full support stone, and several other broken stones. The chamber is very neatly rectangular, about 3 m by 2 m, and the builders of this one did a very fine job of squaring and lining up the stones.

It has recently had weedkiller applied around the stones, which reside in a little unploughed area, and is obviously relatively well looked after.

Pierres Closes de Charas 2

Trip No.203  Entry No.250  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 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: About three or four hundred metres away from the first Pierres Close, in the middle of a field planted with sweetcorn on a bearing of 295°, can be seen a second large stone. After walking most of the way round the field, I could gain access from the far side. It is another large rock with an oval chamber cut into it, but this time there is only half of the chamber and no capstone remaining.

Two good interesting finds to start the day, I have not seen any dolmens or whatever like this before.

Pierres Closes de Charas 1

Trip No.203  Entry No.249  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 4 Access 4

Log Text: Its an odd one this, an oval shaped chamber about 1.7 metres long, 1 metre wide and 0.7 metres high has been carved out of a big block of rock. On top of this is a limestone capstone full of holes and cavities filled with lichens and wild flowers.

It can be found just to the northwest of the historic Naval town of Rochefort, amongst the marshes of the Charente river estuary. Not signposted, but marked on my ign map, I drove along some windy lanes to l'Houmee farm and walked about a kilometre along the track to the southeast and found it easily. The walk to this was really splendid, with Herons, Storks and other birds circling, Frogs making a noisy racket and insects chirrping away.

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.

C.A.I.R.N.

Trip No.203  Entry No.281  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: What a nice find this is. In an area of numerous menhirs and dolmens is this lovely “living” museum which is easily found and signposted from all around. CAIRN (Centre Archéologique d'Initiation et de Recherche sur le Néolithique) is not only a museum with the usual displays of things and exhibitions but is a research and learning centre which delights in demonstrating ancient ways to people especially children.

When I Visited there was a fabulous temporary exhibition of megaliths in Ethiopia as well as one of the best displays of neolithic life and times in the locality with very interesting models and explanations of the types and developments of dolmens. The similarity between some of the Ethiopian exhibits and the local was immediately apparent which makes you realise how similar people from all over the world are.

But where this museum rates really world class is in its outdoor exhibits and reconstructions. I think the demonstrations are only done on days in July and August or if an occasion has been organised beforehand and I was lucky in that a school party was there for the day. Demonstrations are done showing how life was several millennia ago and there is a reconstruction Neolithic house and there are representative crops grown on site preparing and cooking with the children getting involved with things like grinding corn.

They have a new dolmen and tumulus they are building the erection of menhirs is demonstrated making of a log boat flint knapping stone polishing. It’s all here. They even have a set aside area for excavations to be made which is a sort of large sandpit split into metre squares with certain planted objects for the kids to dig up and discover. I saw one of the demonstration team lighting fire with sticks and hay in two minutes and the look on the children’s faces as he was doing this was just wonderful as if magic were being done.

When I said what I was doing it was suggested that I came back later to talk to the chap doing the demonstrations which I did. He seemed very interested in what I was doing trying to get as many French megalithic sites known and on the internet for all to see and said he thought exactly the same way in that the more these places are known the better protected they will be. He told me of many places in the vicinity which have been destroyed in recent years particularly the 1960’s and 1970’s despite them being scheduled monuments in the greed for farmers to make bigger more open fields. He told me of a story where he knew people who were living where there were two big menhirs within sight of their house and they were woken early one morning by them being dynamited in order to get rid of them.

Alignement dit de La Petite Pierre

Trip No.203  Entry No.275  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Just outside the grounds of the chateau, along the little lane which runs to the south west from Avrillé, can be found this nice setting of three stones at the roadside in a little grassy clearing. Two 2.5 metre tall stones are positioned either side of a 5.5 metre high monster. All have been shaped, and the back face of all three stones is very flat. Thinking about this, it is probably the front face of each stone which is flat, and these face towards the east, although this is currently forested.

This is a really nice setting of stones, of which there were once many more similar examples in the region, and indeed perhaps lines up with the Bois de Fourgon Alignments in the grounds of the Chateau, and the Camp de César menhir in the centre of Avrillé which itself was once the mid stone of a three stone setting. While here, there was a donkey going off loudly nearby, and several cockerels having a lot to say about matters.

Pierre qui Vire (Russelet)

Trip No.203  Entry No.267  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: The Pierre qui Vire is a nice lichen covered stone, about 4 metres tall, 3 metres wide, and made from Gris rock - the only large menhir in this region which is, all others being made from granite.

The Pierre qui Vire, or the turning stone, is said to turn around each night, either at midnight, or the first call of a cockerel. I thought I'd found a stone row here, but it turns out that the other stones lined up with it in the field are relatively modern placements by the local farmers as field clearance.

Dolmen du Grand-Bouillac

Trip No.203  Entry No.266  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This is a mid sized dolmen with entrance passageway. The main chamber is about 3 metres square with its single capstone slightly fallen. As with many of the dolmens around here, it has a smoothed limestone slab as a floor. There are a couple of entrance passage stone pairs, one of these still with its capstone.

There is a sign which states that until a century ago, there were many menhirs within a few hundred metres of this dolmen, which was still within a large mound at that time.

Fontaine Saint Gré tumulus

Trip No.203  Entry No.278  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Not far from the Fontaine Ste Gré spring is the remains of a large long mound. At the eastern end of this mound is a large granite slab, which is the remains of a burial chamber.

Fontaine Saint Gré menhirs

Trip No.203  Entry No.279  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: In the hedge beside the little lane which leads to the Fontaine Ste Gré, just beside the entrance to the field within which the spring is, can be found this menhir. It is about 2.5 metres tall, but very well hidden and overgrown within the hedge.

The other menhir is somewhere in a hedge beside the big pond below the spring, inside a private garden. I couldn’t find this one.

Fontaine Saint Gré

Trip No.203  Entry No.277  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This is an ancient spring and little pond in amongst some large granite blocks. The spring water seeps into the little pond from out of a fissure in one of the granite slabs at the side, from quite well above the water line.

There are two menhirs, a tumulus and ruined dolmen within a hundred metres of the spring, although they are quite difficult to determine amongst the natural stone in the area. The Fontaine is signposted from nearby and in the village.

Créchaudes Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.272  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Unless I somehow missed this dolmen, it is a wreck, not much more than several stones in a field. Alternatively, it may still be in its mound, of which there is an overgrown example at the side of the field.

La Sulette Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.273  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a pleasant find, as it has been fully excavated and restored in 1989 to 1991, and is now found completely within its mound. It is a small Angevin dolmen, with a 2 metre by 2 metre chamber made using 4 side stones with drystone walling between them. It has a single capstone, and again, it has a smoothed slab on the floor. The chamber opens to the outside at the east, where there is a small entrance portal.

La Garnerie menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.276  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Access 2

Log Text: This is a great big menhir in a field of barley, and there was no way I was going to get to it. I would estimate it to be 4 to 5 metres tall and it is nicely rounded. My gps position is to the field gate from where it can be seen.

Menhirs du Plessis

Trip No.203  Entry No.270  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: At this site, there was once an equilateral triangle of three large menhirs, each 100 metres apart, but now only two remain after the eastern one was destroyed in 1860. They are easily found and well signposted in the locality.

The northern stone is a lovely dressed menhir 7.5 metres tall. It fell and was re-erected in 1977.

The southern menhir is much smaller than its neighbour, at about 4 metres high, but again is a very nicely dressed piece of granite. It is said that there was once a stone block with engravings at its foot, but this stone has now disappeared.

Pey de Fontaine

Trip No.203  Entry No.268  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: The largest prehistoric monument in the departement of Vendée, this is a large stone cairn which contains two dolmens with entry passageways. Estimated to be 6000 years old, the cairn is rectangular, about 35 metres by 30 metres and is built with several drystone wall steps. The two chambers each have entry corridors of 20 metres length, opening out to the southeast.

However, the monument is not much to look at at present, as it is undergoing excavations prior to restoration, and it looks a bit like an empty building site. it is found at the end of a long farm lane, and there was nowhere to turn my campervan around near the monument.