<< Our Photo Pages >> Les Pierres Branlantes - Chambered Tomb in France in Normandie:Calvados (14)
Submitted by thecaptain on Monday, 15 January 2007 Page Views: 6465
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Les Pierres BranlantesCountry: France
NOTE: This site is 6.334 km away from the location you searched for.
Département: Normandie:Calvados (14) Type: Chambered Tomb
Nearest Town: Caen Nearest Village: Biéville-Beuville
Latitude: 49.243700N Longitude: 0.3127W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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TheCaptain has visited here
It is to be found in the woods at the end of the quarry along the end of the Rue des Deux Pierres from Beuville, but is more easily found by walking half a kilometre along the farm track to the southeast, and then following the path west at the edge of the field along the hedge, and then just inside the wood directly at the end of the hedge.
Two massive stone slabs are to be found standing upright and set at 90° to each other, and are obviously the remains of a once massive chamber. Possibly once facing towards the northeast, the western slab is 4 metres in length and almost 2 metres in height. The companion stone is again 4 metres in length, but this time only about 1.6 metres high. Both slabs are about 40 cm thick, and are carefully fitted together with an almost perfect right angle between them.
It is possible that the stones have a few cupmarks cut into them, as do many of the megalithic stones around here, but I could not tell if they were natural or man made. Apart from the two massive slabs, there is no obvious remains of anything else, and the ground around here has been much mutilated over the past centuries.
The fields have all been flattened and ploughed, while the nearby quarry has also done much damage. The tracks through the woods and quarry here are used by motorcyclists for trails riding, and bumps and jumps have been created, further altering any original features.
At the other side of the field to the east is a large rectangular area of unploughed land, which is generally higher than that surrounding, with its longitudinal axis northwest to southeast. I wondered if this was also the remains of a once prehistoric barrow or suchlike, so went for a look.
The ground is obviously very disturbed, and all lumpy, but with no obvious structure. Within this area can be seen some large slabs of stone, but whether the remains of some megalithinc structure or field clearance I could not tell. At the northwestern end of the mound is some broken reinforced concrete. Perhaps its the remains of a wartime bunker. But whatever it is, there must be some reason it hasn't all been ploughed flat.
IMPORTANT NOTE :- Position of monument taken from a detailed map source.
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