Garennes-sur-Eure Menhir

Trip No.202  Entry No.87  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd May 2005

Log Text: Despite a good look around I could find nothing. I drove around many roads looking all over the place but it was a nasty busy road alongside the river at going home time which didn’t help.

Pierre Frite de Breuilpont

Trip No.202  Entry No.88  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd May 2005

Log Text: As for the other menhirs in this river valley I could find no evidence of this menhir. The roads are terribly kept and there are almost no places to turn a campervan so I travelled over much more roads than I would have otherwise done.

Menhir dit le Caillou de Gargantua

Trip No.202  Entry No.89  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 3rd May 2005

Log Text: I spent ages driving round all the roads of this hilltop village high above the river Eure (mostly because I could never find anywhere to turn a campervan) but could find no evidence of this menhir. The double village has no signs or anything to signify the presence of a menhir but hey are obviously very proud of their water tower and a bit of roman road.

Allée Couverte de Pinterville

Trip No.202  Entry No.90  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th May 2005

Log Text: Despite driving around this village and its environs thoroughly and looking at the village map and having the ign 1:25000 map I could find no signs of this.

Saint-Etienne-du-Vauvray Menhir

Trip No.202  Entry No.91  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: About a 3.5 metre tall menhir found right beside the roadside between St Etienne and Louviers. Once the road is found the menhir is easy ! The menhir has been moved from its original position which was where the railway now is on the other side of the road.

St-Etienne-du-Vouvray burial chamber

Trip No.202  Entry No.92  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005. My rating: Condition -1

Log Text: There are no remains of this gallery grave as it is destroyed and underneath the railway line. It was once a fine trench grave like Dampsnesnil and had many finds.

Menhir dit Gravier de Gargantua (Chateau-Neuf)

Trip No.202  Entry No.93  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005

Log Text: A big (3.5 metre tall 2.5 m wide 0.5 m thick) flinty chalky lump stood right beside the roadside in a little fenced enclosure. It was moved here when the road was widened and a metre or so was broken off the top while doing so.

Allée Couverte de Dampsmesnil

Trip No.202  Entry No.94  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: It’s easy enough to find the pathway that leads into the woods to this its signed allée couverte from several places from several miles around. However the tiny roads with cropped fields make it almost impossible to park anywhere (certainly a camper van) so it was a long walk. From the lane where the signposted track ascends into the woods its about a half kilometre walk following the main trackway up and keeping left. There is another little sign at a junction of woodland tracks where you turn left and about a further 100 metres along is this nice trench grave along with a little notice board which states that its over 4000 years old and gives descriptions of the various features. When you get there it’s a bit of a corker although falling into disrepair and in need of some affection.

The main chamber is about 10 metres long cut 2 metres deep into the hillside on an orientation of 218° looking down into the valley. There are three massive capstones each more than 3 metres long still in place and the remains of 2 more on this 2 metre wide Allée. The walls consist of large upright slabs with drystone walling between them and the whole thing ends with a massive block at the north-eastern end.

What makes this place a bit special are two features not often found elsewhere. The most obvious is the remains of the lower half of the entrance stone positioned across the chamber with it’s finely cut circular porthole entrance. The top half of the stone is missing but there is enough left to see the fine work which went into creating this entrance. It is very circular with a diameter of about 50 cm made using not just a single cut through the thick stone but a sort of double circular stepped and lipped edge.

The other special feature of this grave is found on the stone just outside the main chamber on the left hand side in front of the porthole stone and with half a capstone sat on it. On this stone has been carved the likeness of a lady (or goddess) and her two breasts can clearly be made out (although in some distant time her left one has been largely hammered away) above which are the remains of four arcs representing necklaces. I thought I could also make out some of her outline and a representation of a belt or other such item. Much of this stone is very worn and indeed I guess its only survived at all due to the presence of the half capstone and I think it said on the notice board that her face could be made out in the past. I wonder who it was.

A few other stones lie scattered about including what was probably one of the capstones which has been removed and lies partway down a steep slope several yards in front of the grave behind the notice board.

After visiting this monument I saw another one marked nearby on the map so set off to look for that. Unfortunately there was a little old narrow bridge between the two places and although my van fitted on to the bridge easily enough I had a lot of trouble getting off the other side and there was no way I was going to be able to reverse back off. After about 6 or 7 attempts to get between the protective bollards in the roadside presumably put there to protect the much wider bridge with a few scrapes down the side of my van and a broken sidelight I had discovered that the gap between the bollards was only an inch wider than the width of my van. I was obviously getting too confident about driving it around all these narrow places and will have to take more care in future.

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.

Allée Couverte de Mauny

Trip No.202  Entry No.96  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Normandie:Seine-Maritime (76))
Visited: Yes on 4th May 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 3

Log Text: A much ruined allée couverte which can be found in woodland beside the D265 road as it climbs the hill from the riverbank below and to the east of Mauny. Almost lost in the woods and currently being used as a junk store it almost looks like its been bulldozed. There is however a very nice half porthole stone which can still be made out. The main chamber is probably about 10 metres long 1.5 metres wide and faces down the valley but most of the remaining stone slabs are just a jumble. Its very much in need of some TLC.

Pierre Tournante (Bosgouet)

Trip No.202  Entry No.97  Date Added: 30th Mar 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Normandie:Eure (27))
Visited: Couldn't find on 4th May 2005

Log Text: Marked on my ign map as a megalithic monument. When I got there I found that the track through the forest to get to it had been gated off with lots of barbed wire and keep out notices everywhere so I didn’t get to investigate.