Allée Couverte de la Chaume

Trip No.204  Entry No.209  Date Added: 27th Aug 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bourgogne:Côte-d'Or (21))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd Aug 2005

Log Text: There are supposedly several dolmens and an allee couverte in the Rochepot community, but not marked on my maps, I doubt I will find any of the others, so soon decided to give up now on looking for more.

Allée Couverte de Men Braz

Trip No.204  Entry No.57  Date Added: 11th Jul 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 13th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: In the vicinity of the Men-Braz are many other stones, which I am lead to believe are the remains of a much wrecked dolmen.

Allée Couverte le Rocher Jacquot

Trip No.204  Entry No.326  Date Added: 16th Sep 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Ille-et-Vilaine (35))
Visited: Yes on 13th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: The remains of this monument can be found a few kilometres northwest of Fougères, along the D.17 road towards St-Germain-en-Cogles. It is signposted, but not very clearly, and there is a little trackway and fenced off area around it.

At first I thought it was the remains of a dolmen with entry corridor, but further investigation in the undergrowth suggested to me that it is the remains of a well damaged allée couverte. One capstone remains in place on top of some largish stones, with the sideslabs of a passageway leading off towards the east. It looks like there was perhaps another chamber nearby, indeed perhaps the whole thing was once several passageways and chambers within a single mound, of which traces around it survive.

Amenon Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.307  Date Added: 12th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Sarthe (72))
Visited: Yes on 11th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: The Amenon dolmen is fairly easy to find, along the little roadsouth of the river Loir between Vaas and La Chapelle-aux-Choux. Just after the little stream, the dolmen remains can be found up a trackway, and can be seen from the road. There is a little plaque explaining that it is the remains of an Angevin type Allee Couverte, which is a good thing as I would never have known that, as most of the dolmen has been destroyed in the past with having the trackway built right through it.

It was excavated in the 1970s and is now protected, but perhaps just a little too late ! The remains now are a single capstone sitting defiantly on two side supports about 1.5 metres apart, and lots of other stones in piles around it.

Andillé Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.152  Date Added: 17th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Vienne (86))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 20th Jul 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: About 50 metres to the south of the road (Route de Dolmen), in a field of sweetcorn, I could just see the top of this dolmen. There was no obvious way of getting to it to have a proper look, but it looks to be the remains of a little simple dolmen.

Arlait Dolmens

Trip No.204  Entry No.158  Date Added: 17th Aug 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Vienne (86))
Visited: Yes on 21st Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Being more careful this time, and not in so much of a rush, I was able to find this dolmen. Follow the signs to the north of the village of Chateau Larcher for about a kilometre, and just before the road gets to the top of the hill, stop. There is a little dirt track which crosses the road, and if you look carefully, has a little painted sign to dolmen, to the west (left) of the road. Follow this track for about 800 metres, alongside a large wire fence most of the way, and the dolmen is then about 80 metres to the north (right) down a wide open trackway. The dolmen is a fairly large one, with a rectangular chamber about 4 metres by 3.5 metres, with an entranceway facing to the southeast.

The rock is very holey limestone, and much of it has cracked and crumbled, and the capstone has all fallen in. In fact it looks to have broken very recently, as a couple of the breaks are very fresh. The dolmen is still within the remains of a fair sized mound of loose rock, probably 25 to 30 metres in diameter, covered in the inevitable oak woodland. There are several other slabs of rock laying about, and I wondered if there was a second chamber within the mound. While I was sat here, there were a couple of deer not far away, looking at me.

Avort Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.76  Date Added: 16th Jul 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 15th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Found about 80 metres to the west of the D.70 road southwest of Gennes, with a trackway leading to it. Its a typical Angevine dolmen with a 4 m by 2.5 m chamber, made using large slabs covered by a single large capstone. The entrance, and its two porch stones, is to the east. It is still substantially within its mound, atop which a tree is growing. The southern side slab is broken, allowing easy access.

Babouin et Babouine

Trip No.204  Entry No.27  Date Added: 6th Jul 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 11th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 3

Log Text: Deep in the forest to the east of Trédion can be found these two bizarre menhirs. Babouin, the baboon, is only about 1.4 metres tall, but has been resculpted at some point to have a flat front surface with a rounded shaft below a larger rounded head. On the flat face of this head has been carved a rough face within a circle, which is looking out into the forest to the south.

Babouine, the female stone, is 3.2 metres tall, slightly leaning, and has been carved into a strange three tiered cylinder shape, all the way up from ground to top. On the top section there is carved a very rough face, while on the protruding middle section a semicircular groove, perhaps a smile, or more likely the sort of necklace often seen below breasts in these ancient carvings.

It is not known how old either the original menhirs, or the recarvings are. Perhaps they are reworkings by the Gauls, or perhaps much more modern masons work. It's all a mystery, but one thing is sure, these two stones are well worth a look.

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.

Baignon dolmens

Trip No.204  Entry No.274  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: To the south of the lovely old walled and moated town of Bonneval, along the D.144 road, can be found the dolmens du Baignon. Remains of at least 5 dolmens can be found in a field beside the river near to Memillon Chateau in the commune of St-Maur-sur-le-Loir. I have numbered the 5 dolmens in the order in which I visited them, which was roughly in an east to west direction.

Baignon dolmens (1)

Trip No.204  Entry No.275  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: To the south of the lovely old walled and moated town of Bonneval, along the D.144 road, can be found the dolmens de Baignon. They are easily found in a field beside the river near to Memillon Chateau. There are remains of five dolmens, and I will number them in the order in which I visited them, which was roughly in an east to west direction.

Baignon 1 is all a bit overgrown, in some wasteland at the corner of the field by a little fishing lake. There is a capstone sitting on top of two side supports, about 2 metres apart, with some other large stones, one of which I assume to be another part of the broken capstone.

This could do with a tidy up, and would then be a nice feature beside the lake.

Baignon dolmens (2)

Trip No.204  Entry No.276  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Baignon 2 is in the middle of the cropped field, but which had been recently harvested when I visited. Again it is seemingly not much more than a large pile of stones in amongst the nettles and brambles. It probably has a rectangular chamber, 4m by 3m, with a single, now broken, capstone.

Baignon dolmens (3)

Trip No.204  Entry No.277  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Baignon 3 initially looks again like a heap of rocks in the middle of a field, and this impression is not helped by there probably being loads of field clearance stones dumped around it. Closer inspection reveals remains of an Angevin dolmen with a rectangular 4m by 3.5m chamber with its entrance porchway at the southeast. Many side stones and the broken capstone still remain in place, although the back end has collapsed.

Baignon dolmens (4)

Trip No.204  Entry No.278  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Baignon 4 really is no more than a small heap of stones in the middle of a field. Actually, there is one stone still standing, but that’s it. Its all a nice puddingstone though, so it does have its good points.

Baignon dolmens (5)

Trip No.204  Entry No.279  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Eure-et-Loire (28))
Visited: Yes on 8th Aug 2005. My rating: Access 4

Log Text: Baignon 5 is another completely unrecogniseable pile of stones in the field. Mostly lumps of puddingstone, there is one lump of sarsen like slab. These last two dolmens really are in a bad state, and have been ploughed right up to the edges, with the stones just heaped up into as small an area as possible.

Bajouillière Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.85  Date Added: 16th Jul 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 15th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Down a long track from near Bourgneuf, when you eventually get there this dolmen has parking and a picnic area. It is also the only one I have seen all day in this area that is signposted. Bizarrely, there is an owl hooting somewhere nearby, although it is 4:00pm on a scorching hot afternoon. This is another enormous dolmen, situated just below a naturally rocky outcrop in a flat field. The main chamber is pretty much exactly square, and about 6 metres by 6 metres inside, covered by a single (but now broken into three pieces) capstone, which has been made very square at about 7 metres each side. It is enormous. At some point in time, perhaps originally, this internal space has been segregated into two parts, possibly to help hold the roof up. Its entrance porchway is at the east, and itself is about 3 metres by 2 metres, and topped by two capstones, not quite as high as the main chamber. Unfortunately, people have been misusing the chamber, and there is evidence of some big fires, a result of which it is now closed off to the public. I still struggle to come to terms with just how BIG some of these monuments round here are.

Baugé Polissoir

Trip No.204  Entry No.313  Date Added: 12th Sep 2020
Site Type: Polissoir Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 12th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Right outside the front of the chateau, in the town square, can be found this nice polissoir stone, which was found in the forests to the east of the town, and is now proudly on display. The stone itself is a 2.5m by 1.5 m lump, and on the top surface are two large grooves, and many flat polishing surfaces. In fact, pretty much the whole stone is polished smooth. Excellent !

Beaupréau Dolmen

Trip No.204  Entry No.72  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 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: About 600 metres walk round the back of the farm can be found this dolmen and its outlying menhir, which can clearly be seen from the road. The farmer was only too pleased to point it out to me. It's a fairly large Angevine dolmen, with chamber 4 metres by 3 metres, with a single capstone sitting on 2 large sidestones and a backstone. It opens to the east, and there are the usual couple of entry portals, although the northern one has fallen. Out the back is another smaller chamber, but this is falling down a bit, so it is difficult to make out where it would open to, probably to the south. Thirty metres to the west of the dolmen is a nice pointed menhir, probably about 3 metres high, but in a fenced off field with cows in, so I left it alone.

Beaupréau Menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.73  Date Added: 16th Jul 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Maine-et-Loire 49)
Visited: Yes on 14th Jul 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Thirty metres to the west of the dolmen is a nice pointed menhir, probably about 3 metres high, but in a fenced off field with cows in, so I left it alone.

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 !