<< Our Photo Pages >> Pitray Allée couverte - Passage Grave in France in Aquitaine:Gironde (33)
Submitted by TheCaptain on Monday, 09 January 2006 Page Views: 5128
Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Pitray Allée couverteCountry: France
NOTE: This site is 4.727 km away from the location you searched for.
Département: Aquitaine:Gironde (33) Type: Passage Grave
Nearest Town: Libourne Nearest Village: Gardegan-et-Tourtira
Latitude: 44.898700N Longitude: 0.03W
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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I have visited· I would like to visit
johnstone visited on 14th Sep 2015 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 3 Access: 4
TheCaptain visited on 2nd Jun 2005 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 1 Well what a find this was. I found Pitray on the village map outside the Mairie and when I got there I found a long driveway up to a chateau with a couple of men working logging in the woodland who told me that they knew of the dolmen and that I should go and ask at the chateau. In the grounds surrounding the chateau a charming lady looking after her baby grandson came to talk to me who spoke good English and told me that she knew of the dolmen well and that she had known of it for many years but hadn’t seen it in a while and that we had best go ask her son in law the master of the chateau if I could go and see it. Another very pleasant man who seemed pleased that somebody was interested in the dolmen in his grounds. I was taken to the remains of the dolmen and on the way it was spoken about that they thought that they should probably clear them up as they are getting very overgrown and crumbling but they were not sure what they are allowed or are supposed to do with them. They are quite difficult to find being as overgrown as they are in some dense woodland and it took a while to find it. I was told that a couple of men from CNES had been round and taken measurements about 20 years ago and had told the owners that there was probably nothing of interest to be found as it would have been fully dug out last century.
The remains are 10 metres in length with large side slabs up to 1.7 metres high placed about 1.2 metres apart making a chamber with an orientation of 074° but there are no cover stones. The back stone is about 2.3 metres in width and the side stones are graded in height with the tallest at the back. There are 3 big and 2 medium sized stones on the northern side and 3 big 3 medium sized stones along the southern side with some smaller stones curving away towards the path into the woods. Some of the stones have strange holes in them which seem to be perhaps more than just weathering. Not far away towards the northeast is a strange arrangement of smaller stones in a double parallel row which align directly to the entrance of the allée couverte.
The owner has no idea what these are or whether they are related or not but interesting nevertheless. These stones are even more overgrown. I was told that the chateau often has Scouts stay within the grounds and that recently a lot of girl scouts had been staying there had found the allée couverte and had rigged up a shower within the chamber complete with makeshift shower curtain! They had not been too impressed when told that they had made their shower within an ancient tomb !
These megalithic remains are on very private land and I was privileged to be allowed into the woods and shown them. A visit should not be attempted without permission.
Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 2.5 Ambience: 3 Access: 2.5
In the grounds surrounding the chateau a charming lady who spoke good English looking after her baby grandson came to talk to me, and told me that she knew of the dolmen well, and that she had known of it for many years but hadn’t seen it in a while and that we had best go ask her son in law the master of the chateau if I could go and see it.
Another very pleasant man who seemed pleased that somebody was interested in the dolmen in his grounds. I was taken to the remains of the dolmen and on the way it was spoken about that they thought that they should probably clear them up as they are getting very overgrown and crumbling, but they were not sure what they are allowed or are supposed to do with them.
The remains are quite difficult to find, being as overgrown as they are in some dense woodland, and it took us quite a while to find it.
The remains are 10 metres in length with large side slabs up to 1.7 metres high placed about 1.2 metres apart making a chamber with an orientation of 074° but there are no cover stones. The back stone is about 2.3 metres in width and the side stones are graded in height with the tallest at the back. There are 3 big and 2 medium sized stones on the northern side and 3 big 3 medium sized stones along the southern side with some smaller stones curving away towards the path into the woods. Some of the stones have strange holes in them which seem to be perhaps more than just weathering.
Not far away towards the northeast is a strange arrangement of smaller stones in a double parallel row which align directly to the entrance of the allée couverte. The owner has no idea what these are or whether they are related or not but interesting nevertheless. These stones are even more overgrown.
I was told that a couple of men from CNES had been round and taken measurements about 20 years ago and had told the owners that there was probably nothing of interest to be found as it would have been fully dug out last century.
These megalithic remains are on very private land and I was privileged to be allowed into the woods and shown them. A visit should not be attempted without permission.
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