Dolmen des Louettes

Trip No.204  Entry No.289  Date Added: 11th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Loire-et-Cher (41))
Visited: Couldn't find on 9th Aug 2005

Log Text: Marked on my ign 1:100,000 map, but I could find no sign of this dolmen on the ground. What I did find was lots of fishing places along the banks of the pleasant Loir river near to a lovely old papermill. I asked a few people if they knew of any dolmens around here and none of them had any idea what I was talking about. The best I got offered was the Donjon de Fréteval as ancient stones !

Since my visit, and with the help of geoportail and its 1:25,000 ign maps, I have now been able to identify not only one, but two dolmens in this region, which are on the northern river banks, just to the south of the large road junction, and should be fairly easily accessible. I was even looking in the right woodland for the first. So close yet so far...

Coinche polissoir

Trip No.204  Entry No.236  Date Added: 5th Sep 2020
Site Type: Polissoir Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Yes on 12th Feb 2007. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: About 80 metres from the menhir are several large rocks laying flat in the next field. One of these stones has three lovely polishing grooves in the top at one side, each about 50 cm long, and a big cuvette basin for polishing the flat sides. As for the menhir, these stones are in a cropped field, and not normally possible to find, but I was again taken to them. There were more polishing grooves elsewhere on the rocks, but these have been broken off when the rocks were partly broken several hundred years ago to build houses. Somebody has a house with polishing grooves incorporated in their walls !

It is now all very dry land round here, but in the past this was an area of swamp and marsh, which would have provided the water necessary for the polishing task. The ancient people didn't live here, but had a village a bit further down the valley.
Also found near here in the past was a portable polishing stone, which is now in the safe keeping of a museum somewhere.

These two stones would have been impossible for me to find and see had it not been for the kindness and help of the farmers wife. And although she spoke quick French, I gained a lot of information from her that I would otherwise never have been able to find out. She is obviously very proud to have these stones on her land, and interested in them. Many thanks to her.

Menhir de Coinche

Trip No.204  Entry No.235  Date Added: 5th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Yes on 5th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: This menhir is in the middle of a cropped field just behind the farmhouse, down a track and then turn left near the wood. It is not normally possible to get right to it, but I was proudly shown the stone by the wife of the farmer. The field is full of sunflowers this year, and the stone was not visible from the road, and proved difficult to find, even for the farmers wife and daughter.

It stands in a little area left uncropped for its protection. It is a lovely multicoloured puddingstone menhir, perhaps 1.5 metres high and at least as wide, and about 0.5 m thick. Near to the top there is a hole which goes right through the stone. It is not known whether this is a much more recent modification to the stone or original. Beside the stone there are two smaller stones, one each side. I was told that it is thought that these two stones were used to place lamps on when ceremonies were carried out here.

Monte à Peine menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.242  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Take Rue du Menhir east from the village of Pers-en-Gâtinais, and just after the first road junction the road bears round to the right. The menhir is right beside the road, but almost lost in bushes and undergrowth. It's just over 2 metres tall, and is a lump of sarsen type stone.

Menhir dit la Grande Roche

Trip No.204  Entry No.238  Date Added: 5th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Yes on 5th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: To the west of the village of Pers-en-Gâtinais can be found this 2.5 metre tall menhir in a field beside the small road to Mérinville. It is in the middle of a freshly ploughed field, so I didn't go right up to it, but it is only 50 metres from the roadside.

Pierre de Minuit Menhir

Trip No.204  Entry No.237  Date Added: 5th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Yes on 18th Feb 2007. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: I wouldn't have bothered with this one, but was told I should visit it by the farmers wife at Coinche. And my thanks must again go to her. It is a wonderful stone, the tallest menhir in the Departement of Loiret. It is almost 5 metres tall, up to 2 metres wide and very variable in thickness. The stone is half a sort of holed and pitted sarsen like stone, on the west face, while the east face is a puddingstone conglomerate of flints and gravel. Most lovely. Much of the puddingstone face is crumbling, and now makes wonderful shapes, with bits sticking out here and there.

Where the puddingstone layer is thin, there are a couple of holes right through the menhir. It is said that women wanting to become mothers should sit in the chair at the top of the stone. Fantastic. This stone can be found a kilometre or so west of the village, behind the Chaise farmhouse, and can easily be seen from the road.

La Pierre Clouée (Andonville)

Trip No.204  Entry No.251  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: La Pierre Clouée dolmen can be found in a field to the south of the village of Andonville, beside the little road to Annemont. It was a bugger to get to, with shut roads and suchlike. When I got there the field it stands in was being ploughed, so I nearly gave up. However, I asked the farmer and he told me it was OK to go and look, and told me about the polissoir as well.

The dolmen is falling apart a bit, but the basics are still there to be seen. It has a rectangular chamber, about 4.5 metres by 3 metres, with large side slabs and a back slab still in place. The capstone has broken, but the back end is still sat on top of its supports. It seems to open to the north, and whether there was any sort of entranceway is hard to tell.

On the outside of the eastern side slab are the polished grooves of a stone used as a polissoir - three of them. This is something of a rarity, as it's unusual to find the actual stones of a burial chamber re-used in this way. A nice find.

Mérinville Polissoir

Trip No.204  Entry No.239  Date Added: 5th Sep 2020
Site Type: Polissoir Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Couldn't find on 5th Aug 2005

Log Text: The Mérinville Polissoir is another stone the farmers wife at Coinche said I should go to see. However, I am not exactly sure where to find it, and it is now pouring with rain, so I am not going to go for a long walk now, especially as it is getting late and starting to get dark. There is no sign to it, so I will for now leave it.

Polissoir des Davaux

Trip No.204  Entry No.240  Date Added: 5th Sep 2020
Site Type: Polissoir Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Couldn't find on 5th Aug 2005

Log Text: At Pers-en-Gâtinais there is another polissoir stone marked on my map, but I could find no obvious sign of this. Perhaps tomorrow.

Menhir du Bois de Forville

Trip No.204  Entry No.241  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Couldn't find on 5th Aug 2005

Log Text: To the south of Pers-en-Gâtinais there is a menhir and nearby polissoir stone marked on my map, but I could find no obvious sign of this.

Mérinville Polissoir

Trip No.204  Entry No.243  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Polissoir Country: France (Centre:Loiret (45))
Visited: Couldn't find on 6th Aug 2005

Log Text: Today I went back for a proper look for the Mérinville Polissoir, which is another stone the farmers wife at Coinche said I should go to see. I walked a lot down the forest track near to where it is marked on my map, but there was no chance of finding it without knowing exactly where to look. There is lots of marsh and ponds in the forest which doesn't help in trying to find anything. After quite some time going to look at any rock I can see, I decide its time to give up ! Shame.

Dolmen des Grès de Linas

Trip No.204  Entry No.250  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Ile-de-France:Essonne (91))
Visited: Couldn't find on 6th Aug 2005

Log Text: I spent ages looking for this. I can only assume it is somewhere in the very dense fenced off woodland, in amongst the open fields. I am getting fed up of all this again.

Menhir de la Croix Saint Jacques

Trip No.204  Entry No.248  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Ile-de-France:Seine-et-Marne 77)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This menhir can be found in a field just to the side of the D.410 road, about 500 metres to the south of the village of Tousson. It stands about 3.3 metres tall, and is a rectangular section lump of sarsen. I found it difficult to park here.

La Pierre Clouée (Nanteau)

Trip No.204  Entry No.244  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Ile-de-France:Seine-et-Marne 77)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This is a 4.5 metre tall menhir which can be found in a field south of the village of Villemarechal. Its near enough a kilometres walk from the roadside, but can easily be seen from there. It has been ploughed very close to, and in fact is suffering from various collisions with agricultural machinery. There are also several nails hammered into it. It also suffers from many overhead powerlines buzzing away, but it is still here after thousands of years, proudly overlooking the local landscape.

La Pierre Clouée translates roughly as the nailed stone - and it is an old folk tale that if one circles the stone seven times saying magic words, and then nails a bouquet to the stone, true love will be found.

Pierre de l'Armoire

Trip No.204  Entry No.247  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Ile-de-France:Seine-et-Marne 77)
Visited: Yes on 6th Aug 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This dolmen can be found a couple of kilometres north of the village of Rumont, along the D.16a road. There is then a signpost to it, and it's about a kilometres walk from the road along a farm track.

The dolmen is within a cropped field, but has a reasonable area left around it, and is in the remains of a mound. it looks to be an Angevin type dolmen, with a rectangular chamber 4 metres long by 2.5 metres in width, and it is covered by a large capstone of irregular shape, up to 6 m by 4m, and it has a large hole in the west end. The entrance opens to the east at 115°, but there is not much of a porchway left, except some fallen stones. This was a nice find after all the recent poor dolmens, and nice to have it signposted.

Polissoirs des Ortures

Trip No.204  Entry No.245  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Polissoir Country: France (Ile-de-France:Seine-et-Marne 77)
Visited: Couldn't find on 6th Aug 2005

Log Text: Near the hamlet of Les Ortures, in the Bois Tranzy, there is a little signposted footpath near to the reservoirs. Along this path can be found two rock outcrops, the tops of which have been used for polishing stone tools. One of the two rocks has several grooves in it, while the other has a polishing basin.

La Roche au Diable (Paley)

Trip No.204  Entry No.246  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Polissoir Country: France (Ile-de-France:Seine-et-Marne 77)
Visited: Couldn't find on 6th Aug 2005

Log Text: Marked near to the menhir is a polissoir stone, in the woods down by the little river. I could find no obvious signpost or footpath towards where it is marked, and having now found out how difficult to find some of these polissoir stones are to find, I didnt spend any time looking.

Menhir dit la Pierre aux Prêtres

Trip No.204  Entry No.249  Date Added: 6th Sep 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Ile-de-France:Seine-et-Marne 77)
Visited: Couldn't find on 6th Aug 2005

Log Text: I could find nowhere to stop beside a nasty busy road to go and look for this stone. I could see nothing obvious.

Vielle Cote Dolmen

Trip No.202  Entry No.95  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Ile-de-France:Val-d'Oise (95))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: A much ruined trench grave about 10 metres long and 2 metres wide with an orientation of 292° looking down the hill can be found dug into the hillside in a field of crops along a lane at the top of a ridge about 400 metres south from the little lane which climbs eastwards from the village. Although marked on my ign map there are no signs or any other items to suggest its presence. Parking is available at the junction of the lane and track.

Morrel das Fadas

Trip No.200  Entry No.62  Date Added: 18th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Languedoc:Aude (11))
Visited: Yes on 13th Aug 2000. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Day out from Toulouse to explore Minerve ancient village, Rock tunnels, Morrel das Fadas, St Eugene. On a little hill covered in pines to the south of the D52 road to the northeast of Carcassonne is found the remains of this teriffic allée couverte, the hill of the fairies, said to be the largest in southern France.