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<< Our Photo Pages >> La Grotte aux Fées - Burial Chamber or Dolmen in France in Centre:Indre-et-Loire (37)

Submitted by TheCaptain on Saturday, 16 April 2005  Page Views: 7450

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: La Grotte aux Fées Alternative Name: Dolmen dit de Mettray
Country: France Département: Centre:Indre-et-Loire (37) Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Nearest Town: Tours  Nearest Village: Mettray
Latitude: 47.462870N  Longitude: 0.650550E
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
5 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 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.
5 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
5

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43559959 would like to visit

TheCaptain visited on 11th Aug 2005 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 4 Access: 5 This fine dolmen can be found just to the north of the village of Mettray. Follow the road beside the sports stadium along the railway line for about a kilometre, and it is in a bunch of trees across a field to the right, down a little track and with a parking area. It's a large monumentwith a main chamber about 10 metres long by4 metres wide, with three large capstones sitting on top of three side slabs each side, and a single large backstone. The central capstone is massive, and is almost 2 metres thick on the south side. The chamber faces almost due east at 095°, and there is one stone standing, and one fallen stone in place of what is most likely an Angevin porchway. At the back of the first set of stones, there is an internal stone dividing the chamber into two parts, as is often the case with these large chambers. It is a shame, but as is often the case with these nocely presented dolmens, it is much abused, and suffers from the usual collection of broken beer bottles, graffitti(lots of heavy metal stuff in this case) and bonfires, one of which has obviously been lit inside the entry chamber and made a horrible mess. Just what is up with these people ? Although the double ring of trees around the dolmen make for a nice shady area, they do prevent decent photographs from being taken.

DrewParsons have visited here

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by TheCaptain : This fine large Angevin dolmen has a main chamber about 10 metres long by 4 metres wide, facing almost due east, with remnants of an Angevin porch. (Vote or comment on this photo)
This fine dolmen can be found just to the north of the village of Mettray. Follow the road beside the sports stadium along the railway line for about a kilometre, and it is in a bunch of trees across a field to the right, down a little track and with a parking area.

It's a large monument with a main chamber about 10 metres long by 4 metres wide, with three large capstones sitting on top of three side slabs each side, and a single large backstone. The central capstone is massive, and is almost 2 metres thick on the south side.

The chamber faces almost due east at 095°, and there is one stone standing, and one fallen stone in place of what is most likely an Angevin porchway. At the back of the first set of stones, there is an internal stone dividing the chamber into two parts, as is often the case with these large chambers.

It is a shame, but as is often the case with these nicely presented dolmens, it is much abused, and suffers from the usual collection of broken beer bottles, graffitti (lots of heavy metal stuff in this case) and bonfires, one of which has obviously been lit inside the entry chamber and made a horrible mess. Just what is up with these people ?

Although the double ring of trees around the dolmen make for a nice shady area, they do prevent decent photographs from being taken.
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La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : April 2010. (Vote or comment on this photo)

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : This view gives some idea of the massive size of this monument. (Vote or comment on this photo)

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by TheCaptain : This fine large Angevin dolmen has a main chamber about 10 metres long by 4 metres wide, facing almost due east, with remnants of an Angevin porch. (Vote or comment on this photo)

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : An imposing frontal view showing the huge capstone. April 2010. (Vote or comment on this photo)

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : This is a magnificent site in a lovely setting. Visited in April 2010.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : Side view taken in April 2010.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by karolus : Site in Centre:Indre-et-Loire (37) France

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by karolus

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by karolus

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by TheCaptain : The central capstone is massive, and is almost 2 metres thick on the south side.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by TheCaptain : This fine large Angevin dolmen has a main chamber about 10 metres long by 4 metres wide, facing almost due east, with remnants of an Angevin porch.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by TheCaptain

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by TheCaptain

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by TheCaptain

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by TheCaptain : It's a large monument with a main chamber about 10 metres long by 4 metres wide, with three large capstones sitting on top of three side slabs each side, and a single large backstone.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : The chamber. April 2010.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : A view inside the huge chamber. April 2010.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : The site is set in a pleasant copse.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by TheCaptain : This fine dolmen can be found just to the north of the village of Mettray. Follow the road beside the sports stadium along the railway line for about a kilometre, and it is in a bunch of trees across a field to the right, down a little track and with a parking area.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by TheCaptain : It's a large monument with a main chamber about 10 metres long by 4 metres wide, with three large capstones sitting on top of three side slabs each side, and a single large backstone.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : View across the fields to the dolmen from the lane leading to the car park for the site.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : Detail from the site sign showing a plan and weight data for the stones used in its construction.

La Grotte aux Fées
La Grotte aux Fées submitted by DrewParsons : The site sign.

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"La Grotte aux Fées" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Re: La Grotte aux Fées by TheCaptain on Friday, 09 August 2013
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see here in streetview

View Larger Map
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Re: La Grotte aux Fées by Anonymous on Tuesday, 18 May 2010
A panoramic sphérical here :
http://elmer-photo.over-blog.com/article-27414602.html
Bien à vous. Elmer
[ Reply to This ]

Re: La Grotte aux Fées by DrewParsons on Monday, 03 May 2010
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This was the first site that I was to visit in the Loire Valley in April 2010 and it turned out to be one of the best I have seen!! Located north of the village of Mettray which is just north of the city of Tours, it is easily found. From Mettray follow the Rue du Dolmen and the site is on the right (east) side of the road with a good gravel drive leading to a car park with a 40 metre subsequent walk to the dolmen which is set in a nice copse.

The site sign states that it was erected around 4000 years ago and is the best collective burial chamber in the region. I certainly agree. It is in excellent condition, no litter or graffiti when I visited and has a lovely location in a copse set in open farm fields. The GPS coordinates I took at the site with a hand held GPS were Latitude: 47.46287N and Longtitude: 00.65055E which is slightly different to those shown on the meg portal site at present. I would grade it 5 for Condition, 5 for Ambience, 5 for Access and 5 for Accuracy using the above GPS data.

According to the sign by the road the site is 11 metres long and consists of 12 stones with a total weight of 88 tons. The sign also states that it served as a collective burial site for numerous tribal chiefs' families. Finds at and around the site include bones, flint blades, pottery sherds, charcoal, a bead of calcite and polished axes.

As I drove up to the car park three shady characters were involved in examining a car and were disconcerted to see my arrival, asking what I wanted. They soon departed in a hurry in the car being examined and in a second car. It looked like a strange place to do a legitimate deal I thought.
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