Contributory members are able to log private notes and comments about each site
Sites theCAptain has logged. View this log as a table or view the most recent logs from everyone
Fontaine Saint Gré tumulus
Trip No.203 Entry No.278 Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 4
Fontaine Saint Gré tumulus submitted by thecaptain on 10th Dec 2005. Not far from the Fontaine Saint Gré spring, is the remains of a large long mound.
At the eastern end of this mound is a large granite slab, which is the remains of a burial chamber.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Not far from the Fontaine Ste Gré spring is the remains of a large long mound. At the eastern end of this mound is a large granite slab, which is the remains of a burial chamber.
Fontaine Saint Gré
Trip No.203 Entry No.277 Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Ambience 3 Access 4
Fontaine Saint Gré submitted by thecaptain on 10th Dec 2005. This is an ancient spring with little pond in amongst some large granite blocks near to the village of Avrillé.
The spring water seeps into the pond from out of a fissure in one of the granite slabs at the side, from quite well above the water line.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: This is an ancient spring and little pond in amongst some large granite blocks. The spring water seeps into the little pond from out of a fissure in one of the granite slabs at the side, from quite well above the water line.
There are two menhirs, a tumulus and ruined dolmen within a hundred metres of the spring, although they are quite difficult to determine amongst the natural stone in the area. The Fontaine is signposted from nearby and in the village.
Alignement dit de La Petite Pierre
Trip No.203 Entry No.275 Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5
Alignement dit de La Petite Pierre submitted by thecaptain on 5th Jul 2005. Alignement de la Pierre, near the wonderfully rich megalithic centre of Avrillé in Vendée.
The central stone is about 5.5 metres tall.
This is only one of many such arrangements in the locality.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Just outside the grounds of the chateau, along the little lane which runs to the south west from Avrillé, can be found this nice setting of three stones at the roadside in a little grassy clearing. Two 2.5 metre tall stones are positioned either side of a 5.5 metre high monster. All have been shaped, and the back face of all three stones is very flat. Thinking about this, it is probably the front face of each stone which is flat, and these face towards the east, although this is currently forested.
This is a really nice setting of stones, of which there were once many more similar examples in the region, and indeed perhaps lines up with the Bois de Fourgon Alignments in the grounds of the Chateau, and the Camp de César menhir in the centre of Avrillé which itself was once the mid stone of a three stone setting. While here, there was a donkey going off loudly nearby, and several cockerels having a lot to say about matters.
La Sulette Dolmen
Trip No.203 Entry No.273 Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5
La Sulette dolmen submitted by thecaptain on 13th Dec 2005. La Sulette dolmen, St Hilaire-la-Foret, Vendée
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: This is a pleasant find, as it has been fully excavated and restored in 1989 to 1991, and is now found completely within its mound. It is a small Angevin dolmen, with a 2 metre by 2 metre chamber made using 4 side stones with drystone walling between them. It has a single capstone, and again, it has a smoothed slab on the floor. The chamber opens to the outside at the east, where there is a small entrance portal.
Créchaudes Dolmen
Trip No.203 Entry No.272 Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4
Créchaudes dolmen submitted by thecaptain on 13th Dec 2005. Créchaudes dolmen
This dolmen is either a wreck, not much more than several stones in a field, or alternatively, it may still be in its mound, of which there is an overgrown example at the side of the field.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Unless I somehow missed this dolmen, it is a wreck, not much more than several stones in a field. Alternatively, it may still be in its mound, of which there is an overgrown example at the side of the field.
Menhirs du Plessis
Trip No.203 Entry No.270 Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4
Menhirs du Plessis submitted by thecaptain on 13th Dec 2005. Menhirs du Plessis, Le Bernard, Vendée
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: At this site, there was once an equilateral triangle of three large menhirs, each 100 metres apart, but now only two remain after the eastern one was destroyed in 1860. They are easily found and well signposted in the locality.
The northern stone is a lovely dressed menhir 7.5 metres tall. It fell and was re-erected in 1977.
The southern menhir is much smaller than its neighbour, at about 4 metres high, but again is a very nicely dressed piece of granite. It is said that there was once a stone block with engravings at its foot, but this stone has now disappeared.
Pey de Fontaine
Trip No.203 Entry No.268 Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Chambered Cairn
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4
Pey de Fontaine submitted by thecaptain on 15th Dec 2005. The largest prehistoric monument in the departement of Vendée, this is a large stone cairn which contains two dolmen chambers with entry passageways.
The two chambers each have entry corridors of 20 metres length, opening out to the southeast.
However, the monument is not much to look at at present, as it is undergoing excavations prior to restoration, and it looks a bit like an empty building site.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: The largest prehistoric monument in the departement of Vendée, this is a large stone cairn which contains two dolmens with entry passageways. Estimated to be 6000 years old, the cairn is rectangular, about 35 metres by 30 metres and is built with several drystone wall steps. The two chambers each have entry corridors of 20 metres length, opening out to the southeast.
However, the monument is not much to look at at present, as it is undergoing excavations prior to restoration, and it looks a bit like an empty building site. it is found at the end of a long farm lane, and there was nowhere to turn my campervan around near the monument.
Pierre qui Vire (Russelet)
Trip No.203 Entry No.267 Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5
Pierre qui Vire (Russelet) submitted by thecaptain on 10th Dec 2005. Pierre qui Vire (Russelet)
I thought I'd found a stone row here, but it turns out that the other stones lined up with it in the field are relatively modern placements by the local farmers as field clearance.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: The Pierre qui Vire is a nice lichen covered stone, about 4 metres tall, 3 metres wide, and made from Gris rock - the only large menhir in this region which is, all others being made from granite.
The Pierre qui Vire, or the turning stone, is said to turn around each night, either at midnight, or the first call of a cockerel. I thought I'd found a stone row here, but it turns out that the other stones lined up with it in the field are relatively modern placements by the local farmers as field clearance.
Dolmen du Grand-Bouillac
Trip No.203 Entry No.266 Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5
Dolmen du Grand-Bouillac submitted by thecaptain on 10th Dec 2005. Grand Bouillac dolmen is a mid sized dolmen with entrance passageway just to the north of St Vincent-sur-Jard in Vendée
Dolmen du Grand-Bouillac
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: This is a mid sized dolmen with entrance passageway. The main chamber is about 3 metres square with its single capstone slightly fallen. As with many of the dolmens around here, it has a smoothed limestone slab as a floor. There are a couple of entrance passage stone pairs, one of these still with its capstone.
There is a sign which states that until a century ago, there were many menhirs within a few hundred metres of this dolmen, which was still within a large mound at that time.
Shaugh Moor South Cairn Circle
Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 25th Aug 2008
Shaugh Moor row submitted by thecaptain on 25th Aug 2008. This stone row is about 180 metres long, running uphill to a cairn with remnants of a surrounding circle.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: None
Holne Ridge 2
Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 5th Oct 2010
Holne Ridge 2 submitted by TheCaptain on 5th Oct 2010. Holne Ridge cairn 2 looking west.
I didn’t think I was going to be able to find this as the area it’s in is all covered by fern and bracken, but it was quite obvious once I got near.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: None
Holne Ridge 6
Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 5th Oct 2010
Holne Ridge 6 submitted by TheCaptain on 5th Oct 2010. Holne Ridge cairn 6, looking east.
This is a nice ring cairn about 12 metres diameter, with a clear ring of stones and rubble surrounding a flat platform within it. There seems to be remnants of a kerb in places.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: None
Holne Ridge 5
Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Cairn
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 5th Oct 2010
Holne Ridge 5 submitted by TheCaptain on 5th Oct 2010. Holne Ridge cairn 5.
This is a fairly large and prominent round cairn, about 14 metres diameter and 1.5 metres tall. However, I wasn't going to look too closely, as there were some stroppy looking guard cows staring me down!
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: None
Menhir du tumulus du Moustoir
Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Bretagne:Morbihan (56))
Visited: Yes on 10th Jun 2006
Menhir du tumulus du Moustoir submitted by thecaptain on 10th Jun 2006. The Moustoir tumulus has a small menhir on the top at the eastern end, about 2.1 metres high and quite slender, and of a sort of circular section.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: None
Camp de César Menhir
Trip No.203 Entry No.265 Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5
Camp de César menhir submitted by thecaptain on 5th Jul 2005. The King of the Menhirs, in the public gardens of Avrillé, in Vendée.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: This large menhir is the only survivor of what was until the last century three stones here, set in an arrangement like the surviving Alignment de la Pierre. At 8.7 metres tall and nicely shaped and dressed, the stone, known as Le Roi des Menhirs (King of the menhirs) is so big that it was not destroyed, and has now had a municipal park created around it.
It is right outside the back of the local Mairie, and is a nice central feature to the garden. However, even here it has suffered from vandalism, somebody having chalked a massive hopscotch type board onto the flat southeast face of the menhir. There are also a few holes which have been drilled into it.
Menhir de la Boilière
Trip No.203 Entry No.264 Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir)
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4
Menhir de la Boilière submitted by thecaptain on 10th Dec 2005. La Boilière menhir.
It has at its foot another stone, which has several cupules and other markings cut into it.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: This 4 metre tall menhir fell in 1964, but has been re-erected only with the help of two cranes in the 1980s after they had failed to put it back up manually. It is a nicely shaped stone, and has at its foot another stone, which has several cupules and other markings cut into it. It is well signposted from the village of Avrillé, and is a pleasant evening stroll.
Frébouchère Dolmen
Trip No.203 Entry No.263 Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 4
Frébouchère dolmen submitted by thecaptain on 6th Jul 2005. Frébouchère dolmen is a MASSIVE Angevin type dolmen. It really is enormous, my pictures do not do it justice. The chamber is 6.5 metres by 3.5 metres, and 2 m high, with a single capstone.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Easily found and signposted to the north of the village of Le Bernard, this wonderful dolmen has a little parking and picnic area. Ooooh, it’s a whopper, and absolutely fantastic !
It is a large Angevin dolmen with a main chamber 6.5 metres long by 3.5 metres wide, covered by a single massive capstone (now cracked into two parts) 2 metres high off the ground. There are three side stones along each side, and a single massive backstone at the western end. At the eastern end of the chamber are two partial closing stones and the two entrance porchway stones, with the chamber and its entrance facing towards the southeast at 130°.
Most of the stones are granite, but two of the stones, one on each side, are made from a different type of rock. Within the chamber, to the right near the entrance, is a granite stele, which almost reaches to the capstone, and has been very well smoothed and shaped. It is flat at the face near to the dolmen entrance, and side face near to the outside, but rounded around the back. The stone tapers upwards almost to a point, but has been cut short. There are no obvious engravings on it.
There is a lovely resonance inside the chamber, and two swallows or martins came flying through as I was inside. This is an all round excellent place, but it is a pity that it doesnt have a slightly larger enclosure around it like some, as it is nearly impossible to get a decent photograph of.
Dolmen de Savatole 1
Trip No.203 Entry No.262 Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4
Dolmen de Savatole 1 submitted by thecaptain on 10th Dec 2005. The remains of this dolmen are in the middle of a field of barley, and are not easy to get to, but following some tractor wheel marks it was possible for me to get to it without doing any damage to the crop.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: The remains of this dolmen are in the middle of a field of barley, and are not easy to get to, but following some tractor wheel marks it was possible for me to get to it without doing any damage to the crop (and I was not the first).
This dolmen is larger, but less complete than the first two dolmens here. What would appear to be a 4 metre by 2.5 metre chamberis only covered at the western end by a capstone resting on three support stones. As at the other dolmens here, there is a large smoothed stone slab paving the floor.
Dolmen de Savatole 2
Trip No.203 Entry No.261 Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5
Dolmen de Savatole 2 submitted by thecaptain on 10th Dec 2005. Savatole Dolmen 2
A strange thing here is the carved floorstone, which has been cut down to make a flat floor, a bit like the Pierres Closes to the south of here near Rochefort. I had seen this effect at a couple of dolmens in the Cognac region, but thought then that it was a modern stabilisation effort. However, it appears quite common round these parts.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: Like dolmen number 3, this dolmen was excavated in 1906 and has been restored. It is a simple dolmen with a 2.5 by 2.5 metre chamber with a single capstone, these days supported on 3 side stones with remains of a couple more.
Strange thing here is the carved floorstone, which has been cut down to make a flat floor, a bit like the Pierres Closes. I had seen this effect at a couple of dolmens in the Cognac region, but assumed then that it was a modern stabilisation effort.
Dolmen de Savatole 3
Trip No.203 Entry No.260 Date Added: 23rd Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 5th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5
Dolmen de Savatole 3 submitted by thecaptain on 10th Dec 2005. Savatole Dolmens
The broken sign by the roadside near to the three dolmens.
(View photo, vote or add a comment)
Log Text: I was not expecting to find these, as I had no previous information about them, and they are not marked on my map. However they are signposted just to the north of the village of Le Bernard, where there is an Ecole des Dolmens! Excellent.
Right beside the little lane to the north of the village, this dolmen would appear to have an oval chamber 3 metres long by 2.5 metres wide, with a single capstone covering it. There are also other stones which suggest an entrance passage, and the floor is paved with large slabs.