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<< 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 Branlantes
Country: 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:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
2 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Les Pierres Branlantes
Les Pierres Branlantes submitted by thecaptain : Les Pierres Branlantes, near Caen. 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. (Vote or comment on this photo)
The sad remains of a chambered tomb can be found just a couple of kilometres to the west of Pegasus Bridge over the river Orne between Caen and the port of Ouistreham. It was obviously once a spectacular megalithic structure.

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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Les Pierres Branlantes
Les Pierres Branlantes submitted by thecaptain : The sad remains of Les Pierres Branlantes can be found just a couple of kilometres to the west of Pegasus Bridge over the river Orne between Caen and the port of Ouistreham. It was obviously once a spectacular megalithic structure. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Les Pierres Branlantes
Les Pierres Branlantes submitted by thecaptain : Les Pierres Branlantes. 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. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Les Pierres Branlantes
Les Pierres Branlantes submitted by thecaptain : The ground is 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. Whatever it is, there must be some reason it hasn't all been ploughed flat. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Les Pierres Branlantes
Les Pierres Branlantes submitted by thecaptain : 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. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Les Pierres Branlantes
Les Pierres Branlantes submitted by thecaptain : The situation of Les Pierres Branlantes seen from the farm track to the southeast. They are just inside the wood directly at the end of the hedge crossing the field. It looks to me as though some of the original mound which covered them survives, as can be seen by the raise in the ground at the corner of the field.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 1.7km SSE 163° Blainville-sur-Orne necropole Barrow Cemetery
 4.2km WNW 286° Mathieu necropole Barrow Cemetery
 7.4km SSW 210° Musée de Normandie* Museum
 7.9km W 280° Les Grosses Devises (E)* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 8.5km NNW 339° Luc-sur-Mer menhir* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 8.6km WNW 282° Les Grosses Devises (W)* Standing Stones
 9.4km WSW 241° Rots necropolis Barrow Cemetery
 9.4km W 264° Pierre Tourneresse, Cairon* Chambered Tomb
 10.3km WNW 294° Menhir de la Demoiselle de Bracqueville* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 10.8km SSW 200° Fleury-sur-Orne necropolis* Barrow Cemetery
 11.8km SW 214° Menhir dit la Pierre Couchée (Louvigny)* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 12.2km WNW 302° Menhir dit Pierre Debout (Reviers)* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 13.8km WNW 292° Amblie necropole Barrow Cemetery
 14.4km WNW 294° Colombiers-sur-Seulles tumulus* Chambered Tomb
 15.3km WNW 293° Menhir des Demoiselles (Colombiers-sur-Seulles)* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 15.4km WNW 288° Menhir des Planches* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 16.6km S 190° La Hoguette* Chambered Tomb
 16.8km SSW 192° La Hogue* Chambered Tomb
 20.9km SW 222° Nécropole mérovingienne à Évrecy* Ancient Village or Settlement
 21.1km S 190° Pierre Tournante (Fresnay-le-Puceux)* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 24.2km S 182° Pierre Tourneresse (Gouvix)* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 24.5km S 171° Bretteville-le-Rabet* Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
 25.3km ESE 113° Chateau des Anglais Hillfort
 26.1km SSE 149° La Pierre Cornue* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 27.5km S 181° La Roche Piquée (St-Germain-le-Vasson)* Standing Stone (Menhir)
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"Les Pierres Branlantes" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Re: Les Pierres Branlantes by Anonymous on Thursday, 29 December 2011
A detailed article in French: http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bspf_0249-7638_1913_num_10_12_7197
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Re: Les Pierres Branlantes by Rida on Thursday, 24 March 2011
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This is a link on Wikipédia
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Re: Les Pierres Branlantes by TheCaptain on Tuesday, 10 October 2006
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I found reference to this on the sign at Columbiers-sur-Seulles Tumulus, and then found it marked on the ign 1:25000 map. It is marked on the ign map as a menhir, but the sign at the tumulus as a burial chamber.

It looks easy to find on the map, along a small road to the east of Beuville, and when I got there, the road is called Rue des Deux Pierres, which was very promising. But at the end of the road, there was a fenced off area by Fance Telecom where they are installing new phone masts etc, and lots of keep out signs. However, it was possible to get round the gateway, and I continued walking down the track into what looked like an old quarry being used as a rubbish dump and half flooded. There was no way through at all, and as there was not long before we had to be at Ouistreham to catch the ferry home, I gave up fairly easily and went back.

When driving away, it looked more likely that the stone/stones could be reached by walking along a small farm track and then round the edge of fields from the south, as on the map the stone is marked as being beyond the end of the quarry region.
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