<< Our Photo Pages >> Pierre au Rey - Burial Chamber or Dolmen in France in Normandie:Manche (50)
Submitted by thecaptain on Monday, 06 December 2004 Page Views: 7383
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Pierre au Rey Alternative Name: la Pierre Aurey, le dolmen du TrépiedCountry: France Département: Normandie:Manche (50) Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Nearest Town: Cherbourg Nearest Village: Flamanville
Latitude: 49.522200N Longitude: 1.8825W
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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johnstone visited on 1st Jul 2009 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5
TheCaptain visited on 22nd Nov 2004 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Perched high on the cliff top near Cap de Flamanville can be found this strange antiquity, situated in the small garden behind a café, right on the cliff edge. Easily found to the west of Flamanville, just follow signs to “Semaphore” and where the road runs out there is a car park and picnic site as well as the café.
It consists of four large rounded rocks, and doesn’t look like any other dolmen I have ever seen. At first, the rocks look like natural big rounded pebbles, in some kind of pile, but how did they get there like that ? Closer inspection reveals several other stones on the landward side, obviously placed in their position, which would have at one point formed some kind of entranceway to the main chamber, which consists of three large rocks forming a triangular shape, with the fourth rock balanced on top.
A couple of the large rocks have carvings on them, including a human form on the top boulder, but it is unknown as to whether these carvings are ancient or from more modern times, when it was used as a lookout point by the customs men. Some theories suggest that this is not a dolmen in the usual sense of the word, but some kind of ancient seagoing navigational mark.
There were in years gone past, other megalithic monuments in this area, in the form of large menhirs now destroyed, but of which the names and records survive. One of these called La Pierre-aux-Serpents, was 9 metres in height, but was destroyed around 1725 during construction of the chateau. Another, to the southeast at Percaillerie, was 5 metres in height but destroyed in 1890. It is also thought that there may once have been another of these cliff top dolmens at Corb to the north, destroyed before 1880 and of which no trace remains today under the nuclear power station.
Team-Omega-25 have visited here
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 3 Ambience: 4 Access: 5
Easily found to the west of Flamanville, just follow signs to “Semaphore” and where the road runs out there is a car park and picnic site as well as the café.
It consists of four large rounded rocks, and doesn’t look like any other dolmen I have ever seen. At first, the rocks look like natural big rounded pebbles, in some kind of pile, but how did they get there like that? Closer inspection reveals several other stones on the landward side, obviously placed in their position, which would have at one point formed some kind of entranceway to the main chamber, which consists of three large rocks forming a triangular shape, with the fourth rock balanced on top.
A couple of the large rocks have carvings on them, including a human form on the top boulder, but it is unknown as to whether these carvings are ancient or from more modern times, when it was used as a lookout point by the customs men.
Some theories suggest that this is not a dolmen in the usual sense of the word, but some kind of ancient seagoing navigational mark.
There were in years gone past, other megalithic monuments in this area, in the form of large menhirs now destroyed, but of which the names and records survive. One of these called La Pierre-aux-Serpents, was 9 metres in height, but was destroyed around 1725 during construction of the chateau. Another, to the southeast at Percaillerie, was 5 metres in height but destroyed in 1890. It is also thought that there may once have been another of these cliff top dolmens at Corb to the north, destroyed before 1880 and of which no trace remains today under the nuclear power station.
Base Mérimée (Historic Monument)
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