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<< Our Photo Pages >> Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil - Passage Grave in France in Normandie:Eure (27)

Submitted by TheCaptain on Sunday, 08 May 2005  Page Views: 6923

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil Alternative Name: Bois de la Garenne, Aveny, Allée couverte d'Aveny
Country: France Département: Normandie:Eure (27) Type: Passage Grave
Nearest Town: Vernon  Nearest Village: Dampsmesnil
Latitude: 49.175300N  Longitude: 1.650300E
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
4 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.
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
5

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TheCaptain visited on 4th May 2005 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 3 It’s easy enough to find the pathway that leads into the woods to this its signed allée couverte from several places from several miles around. However the tiny roads with cropped fields make it almost impossible to park anywhere (certainly a camper van) so it was a long walk. From the lane where the signposted track ascends into the woods its about a half kilometre walk following the main trackway up and keeping left. There is another little sign at a junction of woodland tracks where you turn left and about a further 100 metres along is this nice trench grave along with a little notice board which states that its over 4000 years old and gives descriptions of the various features. When you get there it’s a bit of a corker although falling into disrepair and in need of some affection. The main chamber is about 10 metres long cut 2 metres deep into the hillside on an orientation of 218° looking down into the valley. There are three massive capstones each more than 3 metres long still in place and the remains of 2 more on this 2 metre wide Allée. The walls consist of large upright slabs with drystone walling between them and the whole thing ends with a massive block at the north-eastern end. What makes this place a bit special are two features not often found elsewhere. The most obvious is the remains of the lower half of the entrance stone positioned across the chamber with it’s finely cut circular porthole entrance. The top half of the stone is missing but there is enough left to see the fine work which went into creating this entrance. It is very circular with a diameter of about 50 cm made using not just a single cut through the thick stone but a sort of double circular stepped and lipped edge. The other special feature of this grave is found on the stone just outside the main chamber on the left hand side in front of the porthole stone and with half a capstone sat on it. On this stone has been carved the likeness of a lady (or goddess) and her two breasts can clearly be made out (although in some distant time her left one has been largely hammered away) above which are the remains of four arcs representing necklaces. I thought I could also make out some of her outline and a representation of a belt or other such item. Much of this stone is very worn and indeed I guess its only survived at all due to the presence of the half capstone and I think it said on the notice board that her face could be made out in the past. I wonder who it was. A few other stones lie scattered about including what was probably one of the capstones which has been removed and lies partway down a steep slope several yards in front of the grave behind the notice board. After visiting this monument I saw another one marked nearby on the map so set off to look for that. Unfortunately there was a little old narrow bridge between the two places and although my van fitted on to the bridge easily enough I had a lot of trouble getting off the other side and there was no way I was going to be able to reverse back off. After about 6 or 7 attempts to get between the protective bollards in the roadside presumably put there to protect the much wider bridge with a few scrapes down the side of my van and a broken sidelight I had discovered that the gap between the bollards was only an inch wider than the width of my van. I was obviously getting too confident about driving it around all these narrow places and will have to take more care in future.

neolithique02 have visited here

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by TheCaptain : Dampsmesnil Allée Couverte, Eure. Looking in the entrance to the main chamber, and the remains of the lower half of the very fine porthole stone can be seen. The pale stone on the left outside the main chamber is the goddess stone, with its carving of a goddess on it. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Allee-Couverte (trench grave) in the Bois de la Garenne, about a kilometre north east of the village of Dampsmesnil in Eure.

It’s easy enough to find the pathway that leads into the woods to this, its signed allée couverte from several places from several miles around. However, the tiny roads with cropped fields make it almost impossible to park anywhere (certainly a camper van) so it was a long walk. From the lane where the signposted track ascends into the woods, its about a half kilometre walk, following the main trackway up and keeping left. There is another little sign at a junction of woodland tracks, where you turn left, and about a further 100 metres along is this nice trench grave, along with a little notice board, which states that its over 4000 years old, and gives descriptions of the various features.

When you get there, it’s a bit of a corker, although falling into disrepair and in need of some affection. The main chamber is about 10 metres long, cut 2 metres deep into the hillside on an orientation of 218° looking down into the valley. There are three massive capstones, each more than 3 metres long, still in place and the remains of 2 more on this 2 metre wide Allée. The walls consist of large upright slabs with drystone walling between them, and the whole thing ends with a massive block at the north-eastern end.

What makes this place a bit special are two features not often found elsewhere. The most obvious is the remains of the lower half of the entrance stone positioned across the chamber with it’s finely cut circular porthole entrance. The top half of the stone is missing, but there is enough left to see the fine work which went into creating this entrance. It is very circular, with a diameter of about 50 cm, made using not just a single cut through the thick stone, but a sort of double circular stepped and lipped edge.

The other special feature of this grave is found on the stone just outside the main chamber, on the left hand side in front of the porthole stone, and with half a capstone sat on it. On this stone has been carved the likeness of a lady (or goddess), and her two breasts can clearly be made out (although in some distant time her left one has been largely hammered away) above which are the remains of four arcs representing necklaces. I thought I could also make out some of her outline, and a representation of a belt, or other such item. Much of this stone is very worn, and indeed I guess its only survived at all due to the presence of the half capstone, and I think it said on the notice board that her face could be made out in the past.

A few other stones lie scattered about, including what was probably one of the capstones which has been removed and lies partway down a steep slope several yards in front of the grave, behind the notice board.

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Sites mégalithiques de l'Eure
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Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by TheCaptain : Dampsmesnil Allée Couverte, Eure. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by TheCaptain : Dampsmesnil Allée Couverte, Eure. Seen here from the side. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by neolithique02 : See more pics following this link http://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fneolithique02.blog4ever.com%2Fblog%2Findex-65835.html&act=url Site in Normandie:Eure (27) France (Vote or comment on this photo)

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by neolithique02 : Site in Normandie:Eure (27) France (Vote or comment on this photo)

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by TheCaptain : Dampsmesnil Allée Couverte, Eure. Looking out from inside.

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by TheCaptain : A picture of the female figure stone carving at the entrance to Dampsmesnil Allée Couverte, Eure, France. Difficult to make out in the picture, but the necklaces and breasts are clear enough. (1 comment)

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by Flickr : Allée couverte de Dampsmesnil - Eure Site in Normandie:Eure (27) France Longue actuellement de neuf mètres,on a retrouvé des dents d'ours, de canidés et de cheval, des haches polies des débris de poteries, une pointe de flèche en silex gris Image copyright: Vaxjo, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by Flickr : Allée couverte de Dampsmesnil - Eure Site in Normandie:Eure (27) France Image copyright: Vaxjo, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by durhamnature : Sculpted rock, from "Anthropologie" via archive.org Site in Normandie:Eure (27) France (1 comment)

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by neolithique02 : Site in Normandie:Eure (27) France

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by neolithique02 : Site in Normandie:Eure (27) France

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by neolithique02 : See more pics following this link http://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fneolithique02.blog4ever.com%2Fblog%2Findex-65835.html&act=url Site in Normandie:Eure (27) France

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil
Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil submitted by TheCaptain : Dampsmesnil Allée Couverte, Eure. Some of the noticeboard at the site. (1 comment)

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"Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Re: Dampsmesnil by neolithique02 on Tuesday, 11 October 2011
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More pics and videos are available here :
http://neolithique02.blog4ever.com/blog/photos-cat-65835-1948634217-visite_du_musee_de_guiry_en_vexin_et_de_quelques_s.html
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Dampsmesnil by TheCaptain on Sunday, 08 May 2005
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Dampsmesnil Allée Couverte, Dampsmesnil, Eure, N 49.1752, E 01.6501
Visited Wednesday 4th May 2005. Access 3, Condition 4, Ambience 4.

It’s easy enough to find the pathway that leads into the woods to this, its signed allée couverte from several places from several miles around. However, the tiny roads with cropped fields make it almost impossible to park anywhere (certainly a camper van) so it was a long walk. From the lane where the signposted track ascends into the woods, its about a half kilometre walk, following the main trackway up and keeping left. There is another little sign at a junction of woodland tracks, where you turn left, and about a further 100 metres along is this nice trench grave, along with a little notice board, which states that its over 4000 years old, and gives descriptions of the various features.

When you get there, it’s a bit of a corker, although falling into disrepair and in need of some affection. The main chamber is about 10 metres long, cut 2 metres deep into the hillside on an orientation of 218° looking down into the valley. There are three massive capstones, each more than 3 metres long, still in place and the remains of 2 more on this 2 metre wide Allée. The walls consist of large upright slabs with drystone walling between them, and the whole thing ends with a massive block at the north-eastern end.

What makes this place a bit special are two features not often found elsewhere. The most obvious is the remains of the lower half of the entrance stone positioned across the chamber with it’s finely cut circular porthole entrance. The top half of the stone is missing, but there is enough left to see the fine work which went into creating this entrance. It is very circular, with a diameter of about 50 cm, made using not just a single cut through the thick stone, but a sort of double circular stepped and lipped edge.

The other special feature of this grave is found on the stone just outside the main chamber, on the left hand side in front of the porthole stone, and with half a capstone sat on it. On this stone has been carved the likeness of a lady (or goddess), and her two breasts can clearly be made out (although in some distant time her left one has been largely hammered away) above which are the remains of four arcs representing necklaces. I thought I could also make out some of her outline, and a representation of a belt, or other such item. Much of this stone is very worn, and indeed I guess its only survived at all due to the presence of the half capstone, and I think it said on the notice board that her face could be made out in the past. I wonder who it was.

A few other stones lie scattered about, including what was probably one of the capstones which has been removed and lies partway down a steep slope several yards in front of the grave, behind the notice board.

After visiting this monument, I saw another one marked nearby on the map, so set off to look for that. Unfortunately there was a little old narrow bridge between the two places, and although my van fitted on to the bridge easily enough, I had a lot of trouble getting off the other side, and there was no way I was going to be able to reverse back off. After about 6 or 7 attempts to get between the protective bollards in the roadside, presumably put there to protect the much wider bridge, with a few scrapes down the side of my van, and a broken sidelight, I had discovered that the gap between the bollards was only an inch wider than the width of my van. I was obviously getting too confident about driving it around all these narrow places, and will have to take more care in future.
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