Dolmen dit Pierre Couverte de Vaas

Trip No.204  Entry No.306  Date Added: 12th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Sarthe (72))
Visited: Couldn't find on 11th Aug 2005

Log Text: I saw something that stated that this dolmen is supposedly on an island in the middle of the Loir river somewhere. I could find no sign for it, and it wasn't on my map, so didn’t try too hard. But there is marked on my maps a dolmen up in the forested hills to the north of the village, which is a fair old walk from anywhere.

Dolmen dit Pierre-aux-Bignes

Trip No.202  Entry No.62  Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: North of the village of Habloville and signposted from the road its about a 200 metre walk along a track to get to the monument where there are two burial mounds.

The northwestern of the two round mounds is about 15 metres in diameter and about 2 metres high at the edges. Within the mound which has been dug out is the dolmen des Bignes burial chamber. This has a massive capstone (4 metres by 3 metres) held up on 6 uprights with a few other stones scattered around. There is about 1 metre of height between today’s ground and the capstone but I could not determine where any entrance would have been although it would not have been to the west.

The ambience of these burial mounds is spoiled by it obviously used as a place where the local youth (or others) go to have a drink leaving all their detritus behind. There are broken bottles and other rubbish all over the place.

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 dit Pierre-Levée (Fontaine)

Trip No.202  Entry No.65  Date Added: 29th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Normandie:Orne (61))
Visited: Yes on 2nd May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Right beside the road to the west of the village of Fontaine-les-Bassets on the way to Ommoy are the remains of this dolmen. It is hard to make out what exactly the remains consist of. There is one large capstone about 3.5 m by 3 m and about 0.7 m thick leaning up against a solitary remaining support stone on its southeast side. There are a couple of other large slabs laying flat to the ground at the east.

Dolmen dit Pierre-Soupèze

Trip No.205  Entry No.18  Date Added: 14th Oct 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Vienne (86))
Visited: Yes on 31st Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 2

Log Text: To the southeast of Montmorillon, this dolmen is within a ploughed field, which is very well fenced to keep people out. From the edge of the farm lane you can see a few stones under some bushes, with a large capstone at an angle on top of a couple of supports. From certain angles daylight can be seen beneath it. It is possible that there are two dolmen capstones here, or else there are many other large stones dumped here for field clearance.

Dolmen Don Bosco

Date Added: 29th Oct 2019
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: Switzerland (Wallis)
Visited: Yes on 7th Feb 2019

Log Text: None

Dolmen du Belvédère

Trip No.205  Entry No.139  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Couldn't find on 17th Sep 2005

Log Text: St Michel de Grandmont Priory visit. There are no longer any free visits round the grounds, and I can only do the guided tour of the priory and grounds after. They say its something to do with animals in the park, and its quite disappointing. I do the full tour, its a half price day, so its €5 and 2 hours of visit. Despite being led to believe I would see all the dolmens, I only got to see the Coste-Rouge dolmen and the odd stones, and not the other two dolmens within the grounds.

The Dolmen du Belvédère is somewhere near the Belvedere viewpoint, but disappointingly I didn’t see this dolmen while on my tour.

Dolmen du Bois de la Grosse Pierre (Sainte-Radegonde)

Trip No.203  Entry No.243  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th Jun 2005

Log Text: I had a good look around for this one, down into the woods from at least two tracks, and got told some directions on how to find it, but it is well hidden in thick woodland somewhere, and I thought there are better things to do with my time than wander round in the forest for hours on end.

Dolmen du Bois de la Plesse

Trip No.201  Entry No.4  Date Added: 19th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Normandie:Manche (50))
Visited: Yes on 19th Nov 2004

Log Text: On the slopes of Mont Castré to the southwest of the village of Lithaire can be found a little leisure park surrounding a quarry with lake. From the car park, cross the lake and climb the steep path to the top of the quarry before following the path around the top to the right through the woods. The monuments are said to have only been discovered in 1965, and with all the other stones laying around in the woods and undergrowth in this area, it wouldn’t surprise me if much more remains to be discovered here. In fact, while walking along the path round the top of the quarry, my eye was caught by an arrangement of large boulders piled on top of each other on a small mound. Having a closer look, I suspect that the large boulders owe more to their current position to relatively modern quarrying than anything ancient, but the mound on which they lie is most interestingly surrounded by what look like very old, carefully placed kerbing stones. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this is the remains of another Dolmen of some kind.

The coordinates on my GPS (which was slightly misbehaving with low battery power) for this were N 49.28388, W 001.49166 should anyone want a look. Further to the east on Mont Castré are the remains of a Roman encampment, while a bit to the west is a ruined castle, which go to demonstrate the importance of this hill as a place of settlement right through history.

On a further visit here I was not so sure that this was an ancient dolmen this time round, although the circular surrounding stones were still looking like something not natural Perhaps thing as a result of quarrying?

Dolmen du Bois del Rey

Trip No.203  Entry No.187  Date Added: 20th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 30th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is quite a nice dolmen but starting to deteriorate badly, supposedly mostly over the last 100 years. The 4 metre long by 3 metre wide capstone has now broken into two bits, still sitting on its two crumbling 4 metre long side supports. It has a nice backstone and remains of a front entry stone, with the chamber facing east at 110°. It is found a couple of hundred metres along a signposted footpath in a lovely oak forest.

Dolmen du Bois des Boeufs

Trip No.203  Entry No.142  Date Added: 10th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Lot (46))
Visited: Yes on 24th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Blimey, how difficult can it be to find these places ? This dolmen is in the book, is on the 1:100000 map, with a name, and I have the detailed map also. Its to be found 200 metres from Garivals dolmen on a bearing of 025°, but can you walk in that direction ? No. I eventually found it after some long way round dead reckoning, and by going through some very dense bushy woodland. I wondered if I would get lost in here for ever, but it was worth it once I had found the dolmen.

It is almost completely still within its mound, with just the large 3 metre by 4 metre capstone above the surface on top of the tumulus, which has a diameter of about 20 metres. The chamber is 4 metres in length and 1.5 metres wide, and opens towards the east at about 115°, though it is difficult to get an accurate bearing, as its all below ground, with only about 40 cm depth. There are lots of insects chirrping away here, birdies tweeting and a cuckoo going at full tilt. There are cowslip type flowers and buttercups everywhere. lovely.

Dolmen du Bois Galtier

Trip No.203  Entry No.189  Date Added: 20th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 30th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: A hundred or so metres further along the signposted walk from the Bois-del-Rey dolmen can be found the Dolmen de Bois-de-Galtier. This nice dolmen is still sitting within the remains of its mound, and has a 2.5 metre diameter round drystone walled chamber at its west end rather than the usual closing stone. It is probably a more recent shepherds hut been constructed here. The main dolmen, which acts as its entrance, is about 3.5 metres long by 1.5 metres wide, and faces east at 082°.

Dolmen du Bourg (Exoudun)

Trip No.204  Entry No.142  Date Added: 15th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Deux-Sèvres (79))
Visited: Yes on 19th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: The remains of Exoudun dolmen are to be found less than 100 metres from the village centre and road junction, and it is signposted from there. It is a bit of a wreck, and the 5m by 3m capstone has fallen to the south with the collapse down the hill of the side stone. The back stone is still upright. This has probably not been helped in the past by the building of a flat terraced garden for the big house below, which has been cut into the hillside here.

Dolmen du Champ de Monsieur

Trip No.203  Entry No.128  Date Added: 7th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Lot (46))
Visited: Yes on 23rd May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Try as I might, from the place that looks to be the nearest approach to this dolmen by road, I could not get a way through into the right bit of woodland to visit this double dolmen. There is much dense woodland here, and many big new fences. They obviously dont want people (or sheep and deer) getting in and out of here.

I had another go at finding this one from the west this time but it was still a bugger to find although success in the end after climbing a couple of walls. Getting back to the lane afterwards was rather easier !

It’s a double chambered dolmen still sitting on a little mound well hidden by trees. The smaller chamber is about 2 m by 1 m and faces westish. The larger chamber which adjoins the small chamber opens at the opposite end and towards the southeast. The rear capstone for this chamber, which has two, sits on top of the capstone of the smaller one. This was a lovely find.

Dolmen du Champ-du-Ruisseau

Trip No.204  Entry No.69  Date Added: 16th Jul 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 3

Log Text: On a signposted village walk, just to the east of the village of Villemaison can be found this dolmen. It is a little allée couverte about 6 metres long and still partly within a mound, and has four capstones still covering the passage. There are also some entry blocking slabs.

I was just about to take a picture or two when a man shouted at me to get out of the field - its dangerous he said. He went on to say it was private property, and that as it was a monument historique it needed protecting which is why it was fenced off. Quite how planting trees on it helps in its protection I don't know, nor how the fact that a farm track has been driven over the top of it. What a terrible state it is getting into. It needs protecting from the people supposedly protecting it.

Dolmen du Château de Pierrefitte

Trip No.204  Entry No.298  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Indre-et-Loire (37))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 10th Aug 2005

Log Text: It's difficult to get to see this dolmen, as it resides in the grounds of a big private chateau, and cannot be visited. However I was just able to catch a glimpse of it from the front gate of the house. It is in the parkland at the east side, with trees around it. It looks a nice tidy dolmen with capstone still in place.

Dolmen du Chausse

Trip No.205  Entry No.258  Date Added: 13th Dec 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Auvergne:Cantal (15))
Visited: Yes on 26th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Signposted as tumulus from the village of Mons, just to the east of junction 28 of the A.75 Autoroute near to St Flour. The trackway leads you back over the A.75 and then about another 300 metres. It is probably possible to drive to it, but I parked and walked.

The little dolmen is still mostly contained within its large cairn of stones, except that it has been dug into from the southern side. The cairn is about 16 metres in diameter and 2 metres high, made of loose small volcanic rocks. The dolmen has a capstone 3m by 2m sat on top of a chamber 2m by 1m, with two side slabs but no obvious backstone.

The chamber is full of rocks, and opens southwards with fine views, spoiled slightly by the A.75 motorway screaming past ! A nice place to visit, with lots of yellow mullens growing on and around. Apparently there are many legends attached to this tomb, but I am not sure what any of them are.

Dolmen du Crapaud

Trip No.203  Entry No.325  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Perched on its clifftop, overlooking the sea and a nice sandy beach, from certain angles this does indeed look like a toad poking its head up. Much of the original tomb is no longer with us due to erosion of the cliffs, and what remains is a capstone perched on top of a few small uprights. The capstone is less than 2 metres by 2 metres, but it is in a really splendid position.

The dolmen can be found by walking to the east along the coast path from the big carpark near the beach at Penlann headland.

Dolmen du Devès des Gleyettes 1

Trip No.203  Entry No.190  Date Added: 20th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Midi:Aveyron (12))
Visited: Yes on 30th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: A few more hundred metres round the signposted footpath is this dolmen with no name sign. Still in much of its long mound, the capstone is broken into three pieces, and partly fallen. The chamber is 3.5 metres long by 1.5 metres wide, and faces southeast at 125°.

Dolmen du Grah-Niol

Trip No.203  Entry No.330  Date Added: 4th May 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This initially looks to be an allée-couverte type monument, but which has been dated to about 5000BC, so is much older than a standard allée-couverte. It is still largely within its mound, but was restored in 1936 with the help of lots of concrete.

It is about 11 metres long, and has a stele placed outside of it near to the entrance which is at the east. There is a large end chamber at the west, and also a side chamber. Many of the upright stones have carvings and markings on them, Axes, Palettes, U shapes and squiggles, some of which were clear in the sunlight coming in through a hole in the roof. It seems that many of the stones are supposedly re used from elsewhere, and perhaps the large capstone on the side chamber was once a menhir.