Celles-sur-Belle menhirs

Trip No.203  Entry No.34  Date Added: 2nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature Country: France (Poitou:Deux-Sèvres (79))
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: After a fairly long struggle to find these which are marked on my ign map I eventually found a sign pointing through the woods to menhirs 180 metres but not very close to the position on the map. The best I found was two big lumps of rock on a hillside which looked very much like they may be natural rocks to me. Its possible there is a third nearby. I could not get a gps fix in the dense woodland.

Dolmen de la Pierre-Pèze

Trip No.203  Entry No.35  Date Added: 2nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Deux-Sèvres (79))
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: After a long wet day of driving and getting frustrated by a lack of nice things to see and getting lost in a couple of big towns (Niort Fontenay) I needed this. On the D948 road just to the west of the railway station to the east of Limilonges (where there is lots of space to park) is a large sign to the dolmen which can be found a few hundred metres walk along the woodland path.

It consists of a massive vegetation covered triangular shaped capstone 6 metres in length up to 3 metres in width and a metre thick doing an incredible balancing act held up high on only three supports although there are in total about ten side slabs for the original chamber most of which do not reach the capstone. The chamber would have been oval in shape six metres long and probably about 4 metres in width. All of the stones are of a kind of limestone which shows I am moving into a different kind of region.

The dolmen is positioned in a lovely woodland glade and despite the noise of the busy road and the TGV trains rushing (quietly) by the place is full of birdsong and a nice place to spend some time.

Dolmen dit la Pierre-Levée (La Jarne)

Trip No.203  Entry No.253  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: This is a nice little dolmen sitting at the edge of the playing fields just outside the back of the church in the village of La Jarne. I am not sure exactly how original this dolmen is, as it looks like it might be a relatively modern reconstruction, and is stood in a gravel area with tell tale plastic sheeting under the new gravel surroundings. I could find no information about it.

La Pierre Levée (Ardillières)

Trip No.203  Entry No.251  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This is a nice pleasant simple little dolmen, just into a field of wheat about 30 metres from a farm track to the south of the village of Ardillières. The capstone sits proudly atop its three upright supports, making a chamber about 2 metres long by 1.5 metres wide and almost 2 metres high. It sits almost at the top of a little hillock in amongst the marais, and can be seen for miles around. On the inside of the chamber, the western side support stone has a fairly clear carving on it of what looks to be an axe, or a crook, perhaps a combination of both, looking rather like a large P, about 45 centimetres tall.

While I was here, a German couple, saying they were father and daughter, about mid twenties, arrived, and we were talking about the dolmen, and I showed them the carving.

Dolmen dit la Pierre Fouquerée

Trip No.203  Entry No.252  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: This dolmen is not so easy to find as its neighbour, La Pierre Levée, but is in the middle of a field of maize to the west of the farm of Bois des Mottes near the village of Ardillières. The 3 metre by 2 metre limestone capstone sits at an angle on top of one full support stone, and several other broken stones. The chamber is very neatly rectangular, about 3 m by 2 m, and the builders of this one did a very fine job of squaring and lining up the stones.

It has recently had weedkiller applied around the stones, which reside in a little unploughed area, and is obviously relatively well looked after.

Pierres Closes de Charas 2

Trip No.203  Entry No.250  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: About three or four hundred metres away from the first Pierres Close, in the middle of a field planted with sweetcorn on a bearing of 295°, can be seen a second large stone. After walking most of the way round the field, I could gain access from the far side. It is another large rock with an oval chamber cut into it, but this time there is only half of the chamber and no capstone remaining.

Two good interesting finds to start the day, I have not seen any dolmens or whatever like this before.

Pierres Closes de Charas 1

Trip No.203  Entry No.249  Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Its an odd one this, an oval shaped chamber about 1.7 metres long, 1 metre wide and 0.7 metres high has been carved out of a big block of rock. On top of this is a limestone capstone full of holes and cavities filled with lichens and wild flowers.

It can be found just to the northwest of the historic Naval town of Rochefort, amongst the marshes of the Charente river estuary. Not signposted, but marked on my ign map, I drove along some windy lanes to l'Houmee farm and walked about a kilometre along the track to the southeast and found it easily. The walk to this was really splendid, with Herons, Storks and other birds circling, Frogs making a noisy racket and insects chirrping away.

La Pierre Folle (Montguyon)

Trip No.203  Entry No.234  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This superb monument is signposted to the north of the town of Montguyon, and has its own parking and picnic area. It is a double monument, with an Aquitaine allée-couverte combined with a dolmen.

The allée-couverte part is massive, with a double chamber internally measuring 8 metres long, 1.5 metres wide and up to 2 metres high, facing east at 080°. The big capstone at the west end is 3 metres off the ground, 1.5 metres thick and is estimated to weigh 30 tonnes.

The dolmen part of the monument at the western end is much more complex to make out, at first seemingly being just lots of large stones all over the place. Looking in more detail however, suggests that it has a simple chamber with an entry corridor facing to the north, and incorporates the back stone of the allée-couverte as its eastern side.

These really are some impressive and lovely stones, and the angles of the capstones in particular are very striking. Some of the stones have fascinating holes and markings in them, many looking like they have been carved. And one of the stones at the entrance to the allée-couverte looks to be hollow, with a great big "chamber" within it. Quite a splendid place.

Pity the weather while I was here left a lot to be desired, and made getting good photographs difficult. Well worth a visit, and just as I was about to leave, a coachparty turned up. There is a sign which states that there are supposedly several other monuments nearby, including two more called Pierre Folle.

Dolmen d'Ors dit la Piare

Trip No.203  Entry No.247  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 4th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Remains of a once fairly large burial mound with several chambers contained within it, now fairly well destroyed, on the southern tip of the Ile d’Oleron, within the community of Le Château-d'Oléron. The remains of this dolmen are easily found, but not signposted, right beside the seawall in a little picnic area right at the southeastern tip of Ile d’Oleron where the road bridge makes landfall. If you get to the first building (a restaurant) from the bridge, you have already passed it.

The remains here consist of an approximately triangular capstone, sides of length 4 metres, and about a metre thick. Perhaps there are more stones underneath, and built into the sea wall. The stone is broken into two pieces. Closer inspection shows there to be a few other large stones in the vicinity of the capstone, now covered by land and the sea wall. Just on the sea side of the wall is the possible remains of another dolmen, or a broken off part of the first, which seems to be a bit of capstone sitting on the beach, surrounded by the sea when I arrived. There are no other large rocks like this in the vicinity, and it doesn't look like it should naturally be there. I have discovered since my visit that this indeed did used to be a fairly large mound, with several burial chambers within it.

Pierre Folle (Négrignac)

Trip No.203  Entry No.235  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd Jun 2005

Log Text: This I couldn’t find, and I could find no mention of it in the village. It is somewhere to the southeast of the village.

La Pierre a Cerclet

Trip No.203  Entry No.236  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 3rd Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: This dolmen is a complete wreck, and can be found beside the D.134 road south of Charnac. It has had a little area of field left unplanted around it, but there's not much to see. There is just what seems to be a broken capstone and a few other bits and pieces laying about. I have since found out that this dolmen was destroyed as recently as 1978,

La Pierre Levée (Sablonceaux)

Trip No.203  Entry No.242  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 4th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Signposted from the D.XXX road to Sablonceaux, this dolmen is about a kilometre walk along a track through the forest, but there are no more signs and it’s a guess as to which way to go at several junctions. I kept to the biggest track at each option, and eventually there it was to the right of the pathway. It has a little noticeboard, but there is not much more to see, just a pile of three stones in a little hollow. While I was here, the area around the dolmen was absolutely teeming with masses of little jumping spiders !

Dolmen du Bois de la Grosse Pierre (Sainte-Radegonde)

Trip No.203  Entry No.243  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th Jun 2005

Log Text: I had a good look around for this one, down into the woods from at least two tracks, and got told some directions on how to find it, but it is well hidden in thick woodland somewhere, and I thought there are better things to do with my time than wander round in the forest for hours on end.

Dolmen de la Pierre Levée (La Vallée)

Trip No.203  Entry No.244  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Yes on 4th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a bit more like it. Signposted to the north of the village of La Vallée, behind the churchyard along Rue du Dolmen, this dolmen is lovingly looked after in a nicely tended little area of grass on its mound amongst some trees.

It seems to be the remains of a large double chambered tomb, the main chamber being about 4 metres by 3.5 metres at the east of the mound, with a massive capstone now on the ground amongst the remains of about 10 or 12 uprights. To the west are what I am guessing is the remains of a secondary chamber, about 2.5 by 3 metres in size, but which now looks like not much more than a wrecked rectangle of stones with a bit of stone in the middle which was possibly part of a capstone.

Buffletizion Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.245  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th Jun 2005

Log Text: I found Buffetision just to the southeast of trizay, but there were no signs of any dolmen. Perhaps it is in the grounds of the chateau.

Soubise Dolmen 1

Trip No.203  Entry No.246  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th Jun 2005

Log Text: These two dolmens are within the confines of an airfield, which has a big military base on the northern side of the runway, and a little flying club at the south. I could not get to very near to where the dolmens are marked on my map, so didn’t try very hard to get close enough for a photo.

La Pierre Levée (Oleron)

Trip No.203  Entry No.248  Date Added: 22nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente-Maritime (17))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th Jun 2005

Log Text: I looked all around the Pierre Levée farm, but could see nothing obvious, so I asked. I was told that there was once a dolmen here, but that it had been destroyed, and nothing remains of it today.

La Grosse Pérotte

Trip No.203  Entry No.48  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente (16))
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: There are several dolmens marked along a ridgetop to the west of the village of Fontenille, so I went for a look. The whole area abounds with tumulus and mounds perched on the hilltops. The map may have only 4 or 5 marked, but there are many more here. As I was parking to go walking along the ridgetop track signposted "Dolmens", A white van parked nearby, and out got a little old man, wondering if I was looking for the dolmens. When I said yes, and he realised I was keen, he went back to his van and got a folder out containing lots of pictures. He told me he was an archaeologist, and collected flints etc. He has thousands, all photographed and catalogued. Flint tools, axes, arrowheads, polished stone tools, some polissoir stones, some copper arrowheads, some pottery, a female goddess icon, through Roman coins and other remains, reight up to a royal seal from the time of Napoleon, all found round here. He was obviously very proud of his collection, and was interested that I was here and perhaps writing a book for the English. It was a pity I couldnt make myself fully understood to him, or him to me, but he was an excellent find ! We agreed that there were many many tomb remains round here, everywhere you looked you could see something, must be well into double figures without even trying.

About 50 metres further along the ridgetop trackway from La Petite Pérotte dolmen, is a second dolmen sitting on top of its mound, La Grosse Pérotte dolmen, and there is much more of it remaining. It has one of the biggest capstones I have seen till now, more than 5 metres by 5 metres and up to 2.5 metres thick, sitting on top of an exceptionally well made rectangular chamber, lined with stone slabs. Unfortunately the capstone has split, and collapsed at one corner. As with its neighbour, there are many large stones surrounding the remains of the mound. The main chamber is about 4 metres by 3 metres, and was once made with impeccably well fitted and squared slabs, more like a modern stone sided vault than an ancient dolmen, but unfortunately many of them are now collapsing under the weight of the enormous capstone, no longer supported by the mound around it. One of the stones has the remains of a carving in relief, which has been broken. All we are left with is two smoothed shapes, which look to me like a pair of legs, but I have since seen that they are thought to be hooks. On another of the stones is carved an axe, but I did not notice this. Outside of the main chamber are more stone slabs, perhaps the remains of secondary chambers, or more likely the remains of an entrance passageway. There was once a signpost here, but it has now been broken and gone missing. Just looking around from this place, there are mounds to be seen on hilltops everywhere you look. I must go and explore a few more of them.

Tumulus de la Boixe B

Trip No.203  Entry No.42  Date Added: 5th Apr 2020
Site Type: Chambered Tomb Country: France (Poitou:Charente (16))
Visited: Yes on 16th May 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: This wonderful tumulus can be found signposted just to the west of the D.116 as it runs through the Forêt-de-Boixe. Said to be one of about 15 such tombs here in the 19th century, but now mostly destroyed.

It’s a lovely tomb, which has been restored, with a chamber still contained fully within its cairn, which must be between 25 and 30 metres in diameter, with two walled and stepped rings around it. A large capstone is still visible from the top which covers the chamber. The entrance passage is slightly curved, and about 8 metres in length.

It looks to me as though many of the stones are new, and indeed some seem to be concrete slabs. There is a side chamber on the right as you go in, which has nicely carved entrance stones giving a fine rounded doorway, with a finely carved edging. Its all very dark inside and you need to take a torch, although the birds like it as it is for nesting inside. The chamber is rectangular, about 3 metres by 1.5 metres. The passageway into the main chamber is exceptionally well made, with most of the stones being very squared, which turns out to be a feature of many of the dolmens around here. The main chamber, more than 8 metres into the tumulus, is another rectangular structure formed with well fitting and squared slabs, and is about 5 metres by 3 metres, wit slab floorstones also.

At the opposite corner of this chamber to where the entrance is, is found another entranceway into a further chamber, this one being about 2 metres square, again made with fantastically fitted stone slabs. The entranceway is carved from two well fitted slabs, and has two grooves carved around it, rather like moulding round a more modern doorway. Above and to the right of this doorway, in the main chamber is a very visible axe carved onto the wall slabs.

Since visiting this tomb, I have found that there are said to be carvings of crooks and axes on one or two of the stones. The monument is in a lovely flower filled clearing in the forest, with the air filled with birdsong, a cuckoo being particularly prominent this morning. It has a noticeboard which states that it is dated to between 4500 and 3700 BC, and that the corridor side stones are original. I went back to my van to get a torch and returned.

Magnez Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.36  Date Added: 2nd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Poitou:Charente (16))
Visited: Yes on 15th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Walk up a little track behind the farmhouse to the south of the road as it passes through the hamlet of Magnez (Magné) for a couple of hundred metres and you will see a large stone to the right of the trackway. This is the capstone to the dolmen which is full of holes with plants and flowers growing in them. It rests on a few supports but is collapsed on the side nearest the trackway. It’s a lovely rockery but not much of a dolmen.