Allée couverte de Mélus

Trip No.203  Entry No.574  Date Added: 28th Oct 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 25th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Despite looking very difficult to get to on the maps, this allée couverte is actually very easy to find, as a new housing development has been made, with the roads through it signposted to the allée couverte, and then a little trackway made up to it. The monument is now contained within a little walled area in the fields, a couple of hundred metres from a parking area.

It is about 14 metres long, with an orientation of 110°, with the entrance on the southern side, about two thirds the way along from the western end. The passageway is about 1.5 metres wide and less than a metre high, and still covered with nine capstones. Traces of a mound exist, particularly at the west end.

It looks to me as though it has been messed about with substantially, and maybe rebuilt fairly recently, as lots of the stones have sharpish edges, and don't look weathered right. It is also suffering from being where it is, and it is now a bit of a childrens playground, with the rubbish and suchlike that that entails. Still, it is here with us today.

Saint-Uzec menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.562  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Signposted from all around, and with its own parking area, this is a truly massive menhir in all senses. It must be about 6 metres tall or more, and impressively bulky in its other dimensions also. But its crowning glory is the granite cross on top, and also the tremendous carvings on its front (southern) face, which show scenes from the bible and the "roughly hewn instruments of passion". In the past it was also painted.

The menhir's back face is lovely and weather worn, with lots of grooves running down it where the rain has run down. It is set in a little stone area complete with a little pillar for offerings. Outside the stone setting is a nice little garden area, with a tremendously colourful display when I was here - poppies, hydrangea, stocks and many others I did not know. This is a smashing place to visit, so long as you avoid the coach parties that are regularly brought here.

L'Armor menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.567  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Couldn't find on 24th Jun 2005

Log Text: This menhir is in a private garden with a massive thick hedge surrounding it. I didn't get to see the stone, but it is supposedly about 2 metres in height.

Menhir a Vertu

Trip No.203  Entry No.561  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Oooh errrr, this one's a bit rude ! This is a wonderful little menhir, less than 2 metres tall, but a tremendous phallic shape, which was no doubt recognised by the ancient people. It has been revered so much over time that it is still standing erect, and indeed has had a chapel built with its front door no more than 8 metres from the stone, and opening directly onto it. This place has been christianised not only by the chapel, but the head of the menhir has at some point been attempted to be shaped into a cross, but in some ways this just accentuates the phallic nature of the stone.

At the time of my visit, there was a little offering of flowers and sea shells placed very neatly on a little ledge at the base of the stone. This is very definately one for the ladies, and no doubt has great powers.

Prajou-Menhir menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.554  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The "indicator menhir" just outside and in front of the allée couverte. It is about 1.7 metres high but nicely weathered.

Prajou-Menhir allée couverte

Trip No.203  Entry No.555  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a terriffic allée couverte approaching 14 metres long and facing towards its indicator menhir at orientation 103°. Seven capstones of varying sizes are still in place, the two westernmost being the covers for a separate end cell of about 2.5 metres length. Within this end cell are many carvings, including pairs of breasts, cartouches, palettes and many others. Approaching 2 metres wide, it is not much more than a metre in height.

It has probably been helped in its survival by being incorporated into a wall at some stage in the past, but of which all immediate traces have now been removed.

It is easily found in a little grassy area just to the south of the road to Ile Grande, with a signpost, and is a part of a local "Megalith Trail", details of which can be obtained from the local tourist office. There are several other menhirs in this area of land, just above the high tide level and marshy.

Kerguntuil Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.557  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a large single chambered dolmen, easily found and signposted, and kept in a little fenced off area in a field. It has at times in the more recent past as both a stable and a house. The chamber is about 5 metres by 2 metres, and a good 2 metres in height, all covered with a single large capstone. Three large side supports remain, but the others have been broken up and made into large block walls around the chamber.

There is evidence of a fireplace with chimney, an oven, a doorway with hinges and windows, all created with the stones. Quite a desireable residence in its time, no doubt, and a pleasant and interesting place to visit nowadays. It is still partially below ground level, and much of its mound remains behind it, at the west side.

Kerguntuil allée couverte

Trip No.203  Entry No.558  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Just about 100 metres upslope from the Kergunteuil dolmen can be found its neighbouring allée couverte, also signposted and kept in a little area. This one again has been incorporated into a field wall at some time in the past, which has no doubt ensured its survival.

It is 8 metres in length, oriented at 070° and has 4 capstones covering the 1.5 metre wide, 1 metre high chamber. The entrance is at the northwest end in the side, but I am not sure if this is the original. Inside the chamber are a few stones with engravings on them, one being particularly spectacular in the middle of the northern side. On it is a row of 6 pairs of outstanding spheres, most of which have a U shape carved beneath them, and which are interpreted as pairs of breasts. There is also another pair higher up. Several "palette" shapes are also carved, and several other symbols. The stone adjacent has a sort of crescent on it. A boat perhaps ? This is an excellent place to visit.

St Samson Chapel well

Trip No.203  Entry No.560  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Just to the north of the St Samson chapel is a splendid little spring and well house, with clear water bubbling up from within it.

Crec'h Quillé

Trip No.203  Entry No.569  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This allée couverte to the south of Perros Guirec is situated just to the east of the busy D.788 dual carriageway, and signposted from it, but most people will go whizzing straight past. From the parking area beside the main road, it is just a couple of hundred metres, but is walking access only. It's set in a nice little plot, probably originally intended for a house when it was discovered in about 1960.

It is surprisingly complete except for the capstones, and still has most of its surrounding mound and outer peristalith of alternating slabs and drystone walling. This is a rarity in these parts, a lateral entry allée couverte, with the main chamber running east west at 073°, and the entrance about two thirds the way along on the southern side.

The chamber is about 15 metres in length, by 1.7 metres width, but its surrounding mound is much larger. Just inside the main chamber, opposite to the entrance, is a smoothed and carved slab, which on one face, facing into the chamber, contains a pair of "breasts" with a large collar or crossed arms underneath. The adjacent face, which faces towards the smaller end of the monument, appears to have a "crosse" shape engraved on it. At this point are two capstones, which no doubt helped to preserve the engravings here. There is the base of a large stone just outside the entry, which is thought to be the base of an indicator menhir. The tumulus has been dated to about 2500BC.

I was going to drive past this myself in a rush to get somewhere else, but I am very glad I did stop to see it, and my visit lasted over an hour, which means I will be late to camp again tonight. A very nice monument.

Trémarche menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.559  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Pleasant enough menhir set into a little gravel area at the side of the D.11 road beside the junction at Trémarche a few kilometres to the south of Trégastel. It's about 3 metres high, of rectangular section, and made from a nice pink granite.

Keryvon allée couverte

Trip No.203  Entry No.556  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Right beside the D.788 road from Trébeurden to Trégastel, and only feet from the cliff edge is the remains of this dolmen, but it would not surprise me if it is part of what was once an allée couverte. It has a single capstone on side supports only, but there are at least three of them on the south side, and possibly more.

Survival of this has again been helped by it being part of a wall, but I suspect the road has cut off the eastern end. Orientation is 094°. Further into the hedge, and I think that there are a few peristalith stones also.

Toenno menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.565  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This little menhir now gets a drink most days at high tide, as it is situated in the marshes at the edge of the sea, and a high tide surrounds it. The menhir is less than 2 metres tall, but it is pleasantly shaped. It can be reached easily from a nearby track and carpark.

Dolmen de Lann Kerellec

Trip No.203  Entry No.564  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: This dolmen is situated in somebody's garden, but it can be seen through the fence and over the wall from the roadside. It is probably the remains of an allée couverte.

Parc-ar-Peulvennic

Trip No.203  Entry No.566  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: This menhir can be reached only by getting wet feet at a very high tide, as it is right on the edge of the land in the marsh area near to Ile Grande. The stone is just over 2 metres tall, and has been incorporated into a wall, but it is a splendid stone to go and see. It is now incorporated into a local "Megalithic Trail", details of which can be obtained from the local tourist office.

Ty-Lia (Ile Renote)

Trip No.203  Entry No.568  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 2

Log Text: This allée couverte is now a bit of a garden feature within the grounds of a large house on the island of Ile Renote, and is not on public property. Made from the lovely pink granite that everything is round here, the remains are about 8 metres in length and have only one capstone still in place, with another one fallen.

Closer investigation suggests that there may be remains of a lateral entry and peristalith but its difficult to tell. This place is surrounded by magnificent rocks and coastline, and a walk around this island is thoroughly recommended to everybody.

Trois-Tables-en-Place

Trip No.203  Entry No.563  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 2

Log Text: The Trois-Tables-en-Place is a bit of a monster allée couverte, on the little island of Ile-Milliau which is reachable by foot only an hour or so each side of low tide. It is situated on a low flat spot just behind the farm buildings, in pretty much the middle of the island.

It has three capstones still on top of the upright supports, hence it's name, and there is at least another one fallen at the eastern end. It is about 14 metres long by 2 metres wide, and more than 2 metres high, with more than enough room to comfortably stand up inside.

What a lovely situation this is in, out in the sea amongst all these rocks and islets. The island itself is now a nature reserve and the previous buildings are uninhabited. This is a smashing place, and well worth the effort of a visit. There are rabbits hopping around everywhere, but a pity it has started to rain.

Mougau Bihan

Trip No.203  Entry No.542  Date Added: 2nd Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 23rd Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is an absolutely splendid allée couverte, which has been dated to 3000BC, found a couple of kilometres to the south of the village of Commana, and signposted from there. It has a little car park and picnic area, as well as a nice and spacious grassy area around it.

The main chamber is 14 metres in length and oriented approximately north to south, with its entrance at the northern end. The southern end has an extra small chamber, the "cella", the two parts being divided by a splendid "chevet" stone. The roof is made of five large capstones, four on the main chamber, and one on the cella. The internal width and height are about 1.5 metres.

But the best thing about this monument is all the ornamental engravings on the internal faces of the stones. About half of the side slabs have engravings on them which are fairly clear to make out. Most of these engravings are what are called "palettes", some stones having several of these of various designs next to each other. One of the stones has two pairs of the double hemispheres on it - these have been largely interpreted as pairs of breasts. The closing stone between the two chambers has a palette and also a wonderful polished axe, contained within its "crosse", but this is one of the least clear engravings, being much more weatherworn than some which have been better protected.

Mougau Bihan translates from the Breton language to "Fairies Cave".

Le Rocher du Diable

Trip No.203  Entry No.543  Date Added: 2nd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 23rd Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This is a pleasant enough menhir in a field beside the road on the western slopes of the hill upon which the Chapelle St Michel is built. It's approaching three metres in height, nearly as wide at the base, and made of the local quarzite stone, which is pointed at the top. There is another block of stone beside it which is the top which was broken off after a lightning strike. With a name like this, there should be legends and stories, but I dont know of any.

Bois de la Roche dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.541  Date Added: 2nd Jun 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Finistère (29))
Visited: Yes on 23rd Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: I am not quite sure exactly what I found here - the pile of rocks I found looked decidedly natural, yet in a very distinctive pile with one set on top of three and a large space underneath, and its in exactly the right place compared to the map. I guess its one of those dolmens made using the best locally available materials. In dense woodland, but right at the junction of two country lanes about 3 km north of the village of Commana.