Menhir de la Cisternette

Trip No.205  Entry No.154  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: About 600 metres further down the road from the Levade menhir, and on the slopes to the right of the road, can be seen this menhir. At nearly 2.5 metres tall, it has been christianised by having a cross cut into its face. It’s a nice thin almond shaped stone, but has been concreted into the ground, so I cannot be sure that it is facing in its original orientation.

Levade Menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.153  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Three kilometres further down the road from the Grand Dolmen du Ferrussac, where it curves around to the right, is this 3 metre tall manhir in the field to the left of the road. It has been re-erected, and is now concreted into the ground. It looks to have been smoothed and shaped, and does not look a natural shape rock. A nice one.

Menhir du Coulet 2

Trip No.205  Entry No.155  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This menhir is to be found out in the land to the left of the road, at the same place as the Cisternette menhir. It is over 3 metres tall, and looks to have lost its top. Its another nicely shaped slab, flat on one face, curved on the other, and only 40 cm thick.

Menhir du Coulet 1

Trip No.205  Entry No.156  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Three hundred metres further down the road from the previous menhirs, and in the land to the north of the road, can be found the Coulet 2 menhir. Nearly 3 metres tall, it is a nice almond shaped stone, which has been mended from two parts cemented back together, and concreted into an upright position. A nice job has been done of this.

Prunarède Dolmen

Trip No.205  Entry No.157  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 18th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: I thought that this was going to be an easy find, but not so. Take the road north from Saint-Maurice-Navacelles towards the Cirque de Navacelles. After several kilometres you come to the ruined farmhouse of Prunarède, at a couple of sharp bends in the road. Park here, and walk along the footpath which starts behind the farm for 800 metres until the path runs out. Easy so far. The dolmen should be there, at the end of the path. Not so easy now. Where does the path end ? and what is path and what is sheeptrack ?

I eventually found the dolmen, I had walked way past expecting it to be obvious, but it wasnt. It is well hidden in the bushes, to the right of where I had walked. Its a smashing dolmen, still with a cairn around it encircled with larger slabs of stone. The chamber is 3.5 metres long, between 1.5 and 2 metres wide, and formed with two side slabs leaning inwards onto a front and back stone. These are all fitted together so well, that even after 5000 years, there's not much more than an inch gap anywhere. There is no way into the chamber except to get a look through a gap under the capstone from one side. The capstone sits nicely on top of three of the four stones. I cannot tell where the entranceway would have been, or which is front and back.

Unfortunately, there are remnants from a fence which had been built around it in the past, in the form of a square of stones around the chamber on top of the cairn, and the remains of iron railings. The views from here would be tremendous if the scrub was cut back, but are however very limited.

Dolmen du Belvédère

Trip No.205  Entry No.139  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Couldn't find on 17th Sep 2005

Log Text: St Michel de Grandmont Priory visit. There are no longer any free visits round the grounds, and I can only do the guided tour of the priory and grounds after. They say its something to do with animals in the park, and its quite disappointing. I do the full tour, its a half price day, so its €5 and 2 hours of visit. Despite being led to believe I would see all the dolmens, I only got to see the Coste-Rouge dolmen and the odd stones, and not the other two dolmens within the grounds.

The Dolmen du Belvédère is somewhere near the Belvedere viewpoint, but disappointingly I didn’t see this dolmen while on my tour.

Les Ecuelles du Diable

Trip No.205  Entry No.141  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Holed Stone Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 17th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: Within the grounds of the St Michel de Grandmont Priory there are many strangely shaped and carved rocks. There are stories of sacrifice, and there being channels cut in the rocks for the blood to run through. Several of the rocks seem to have been cut into what are possibly thrones. A very strange area.

Grandmont Menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.140  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 17th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 2

Log Text: This menhir is about 1.5 metres high, 2 metres width, and standing in an area with many other strangely shaped and carved rocks.

Bruyère d'Usclas

Trip No.205  Entry No.143  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 17th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a lovely dolmen, but was a bit of a bugger to find, despite a large signpost. Taking the road from Lodeve east to Saint-Michel-de-Grandmont, travel 800 metres further than the entrance to the priory. Here there is a junction with two large forest tracks and a parking area, with a large sign pointing down the first forest track to "Dolmen Bruyère d'Usclas".

I walked miles, and saw no evidence of the dolmen, but found three ladies sitting in the forest. I asked them and they pointed out the error of my ways - I had gone way too far and walked round in much of a big circle around the hilltop. From the parking at the junction, only walk about 200 metres (about 150m past a big tank), then look for a little path down the hillside into the forest on the left. It is marked with a little pile of stones, but I do mean little ! Fifty metres down this path through the trees is the dolmen.

It has much in common with the nearby dolmen de Coste-Rouge, a similar sized (but not so high) chamber set in a circle of stones, many of which are the red volcanic rock. The capstone, which is unfortunately broken at the back, sits on four perfectly fitted support stones, with the side stones angled inwards. The front stone does not have the oven door, but the entrance is to one side, which shows evidence of a carved and enlarged opening area. The chamber is about 2.5 m long by 2 m in width. The stones are fitted so well that almost no light gets in apart from through the entrance.

Coste-Rouge Dolmen

Trip No.205  Entry No.142  Date Added: 11th Nov 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Languedoc:Hérault (34))
Visited: Yes on 17th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 5 Access 2

Log Text: Within the grounds of the Saint-Michel-de-Grandmont priory, in the mountains above Lodève in Hérault, this is possibly the most famous dolmen in the world. The dolmen is superbly situated on the edge of the hill, with massive views over the plains to the south.

The chamber is made on all sides with large slabs, which is covered by a large capstone which substantially overhangs on all sides. Unusually, the capstone rests on the front and back stones, rather than the two side slabs. The most magnificent thing about this dolmen though is the wonderful carved "oven door" entranceway, looking very much like a sort of Tom and Jerry mousehole.

The remains of the cairn and its entrance passageway can be seen around the dolmen, the stones of the cairn being red volcanic rocks rather than the brownish slabs of the chamber, which is from where the dolmen got its name. Around the outside of this is a surrounding peristalith of pale rocks. The chamber is about 3 metres in length, by 2 metres wide.

Within the grounds of St Michel de Grandmont Priory. There are no longer any free visits round the grounds, and I can only do the guided tour of the priory and grounds after. They say its something to do with animals in the park, and its quite disappointing. I do the full tour, its a half price day, so its €5 and 2 hours of visit. Despite being led to believe I would see all the dolmens, I only got to see the Coste-Rouge dolmen and the odd stones, and not the other two dolmens within the grounds.

Pailhemalbiau statue menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.133  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Coming from Plos, this fine fellow stands in a little shed protecting him from the worst of the weather, just inside the yard of the first farmhouse on the right. Like the Moulin-de-Louat statue-menhir it's a lovely piece of reddish pink stone, and was only discovered in 1981.

He stands 2 metres tall, and all his features can be clearly made out, both front and back. He has two rings for eyes, but no nose or tattous on his face. Arms and hands are clear, as is his "Objet" on its shoulder strap. His belt has a nice buckle, and his legs have all their toes clearly in place. He carries a weapon identified as a boomerang on the information sheet I have. The belt and shoulder strap continue round the back, and he has the full long hat or plait. This really is an excellent statue menhir, although it is difficult to photograph decently.

Nages menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.138  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Right outside the back of the church in Nages can be found this little menhir, planted in a little flower bed. It is about 1.4 metres tall and 0.6 metres wide, and made out of a nice dark grey, almost black stone. The front face is very smooth, but it is rough on all other sides.

Moulin-de-Louat 1 statue-menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.130  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This wonderful chap is stood looking out of his garden shed towards the stream, at the entry to the hamlet of Moulin-de-Louat, just over half a kilometre from Moulin-Mage. I gave up trying to get the van along the roads to the hamlet, and walked from Moulin-Mage.

The stone is about 1.5 metres tall, and made from a very pink coloured rock. This chap has all the decorations and more that a statue-menhir should have, as it has both male and female attributes. The markings are very clear, and can easily be made out. The face has eyes, nose and tattous, with what also looks like hair to the sides. He has arms with fingers, an axe and bow, a belt with chevrons and buckle (which goes all the way round the back) and legs with toes. However, it also has breasts, probably added later, and the "hair" is probably the necklaces of the female. Round the back, not only is there the belt, but the long hat and shoulder things can be seen. This is really superb.

Just nearby, for company, is another nice stone, of about the same size, but a greyish black rock. I am unsure whether this is an ancient menhir or just a modern addition. It's a nice stone though, and probably keeps our man company.

Pech-de-Naudène statue-menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.126  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Turn off the D.622 Lacaune to Moulin-Mage road to the left, about a kilometre after the big Peyro-Lebado chap, and proceed to the hamlet of Haute-Vergne. Go through the farmyard to the top, then left and right, and the statue-menhir can be seen in the front garden of one of the houses. At the time of my visit, it was standing nicely at the back of where a caravan is kept. The people here were happy enough for me to visit and take a photograph, but the farm dogs didn't seem to like my being there, so I didn't hang around long. The stone is only 1.3 metres high, but is clearly engraved as a male chappy, with face (eyes, nose and tattous), arms, belt and legs well visible. The back has its detail too, but I didn't see these.

Barraque-des-Fourniols statue-menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.119  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This statue-menhir is now to be found at the entrance to the car park at the Rieu-Montagné Musée des Traditions, beside the Lac du Lauzas, near to Nages. It is about 1.4 metres high, and it is well shaped, but any engravings are extremely faint, to the point of being invisible to me.

Favarels statue-menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.134  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: The real statue menhir has been taken inside the museum at Murat, but a replica has been made and put in the place of the real one outside the information office. Its only about a metre tall, but has all the right features, face with tattous, arms with fingers, legs with toes, belt with buckle and shoulder straps with "Objet". He also carries an axe. I don't quite know where the museum is where the real one has now been put, and it would be closed at this time in the evening anyway.

Plos statue menhir 2

Trip No.205  Entry No.132  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Probably once a statue-menhir, this is not classed as such as no discernible features can be seen engraved on it. That’s what several thousands of years of weather does for you. The menhir is the right shape, just over 2 metres tall and 1.5 metres wide. Its to be found beside the road, just to the south of the hamlet of Plos.

Rieu-Montagné museum

Trip No.205  Entry No.122  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Museum Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Access 5

Log Text: This museum is in a glorious little spot in the woods beside the Lac du Lauzas, to the south of Nages. It is linked with a leisure centre with a park and beach, and all sorts of activities to do. As part of the museum, there are several statue menhirs included, some in the grounds outside the building.

Trédos menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.120  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: About 30 metres from the Barraque-des-Fourniols statue-menhir, up the entry path towards the museum, is planted this menhir. Obviously broken in the past, it has been put back together from several pieces with the aid of concrete. It has been quite nicely done. It is about 1.6 metres high.

Granisse statue-menhir

Trip No.205  Entry No.123  Date Added: 10th Nov 2020
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: France (Midi:Tarn (81))
Visited: Yes on 16th Sep 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Found while building a road in 1969, this lovely statue-menhir has been saved and erected outside the tourist office in the town of Lacaune. Unfortunately, it is kept within a north facing glass case, so getting photographs is nigh on impossible in the strong sunlight, with reflections of everything obscuring things. It is about 1.4 metres tall, and the main features of a female statue-menhir can clearly be seen. She has legs, belt, arms, breasts, collar and face. Lovely.