Liscuis 1 allée couverte

Trip No.203  Entry No.583  Date Added: 10th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 26th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: There are three allée couvertes here on the hilltop on the ridge overlooking the river Dourla, and beside the busy GR37 footpath. They are signposted from all around, and are several hundred metres walk uphill and along the ridge from a little car park. They are all suffering badly from neglect and vandalism, which is a great shame as I was reading a book from 25 years ago which says that they have only recently been discovered and are in a wonderful condition and almost complete. I guess it doesn't help that the rock is a very splitty dark grey slate type rock, which now it is exposed takes little to break it. While I was up there, many people walked past, many kicking the stones as they went, with children (and adults) jumping up and down on them.

Right beside the busy (on a June Sunday afternoon) GR37 footpath, this allée couverte is suffering badly from neglect and vandalism. The chamber is 11 metres in length, and oriented to the east at 070°. Just two capstones are in place on the chamber which varies from 1 metre wide at the ends, to 2 metres wide at the middle. Part of the surrounding mound survives. There is a terminal cell at the western end, and a doorstone at the eastern end.

Coët Correc allée couverte

Trip No.203  Entry No.584  Date Added: 8th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 26th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: A few kilometres to the east of Liscuis can be found this nice allée couverte. Once off the busy N.?? Road, it is thankfully signposted, as it's a bit of a tortuous journey to get there. From a parking place up a steep lane, it's then several hundred metres of walking, some of which is overgrown, to find the monument.

Once you get there, you are immediately taken aback by what has happened to it, presumably as an act of christianisation, as a large double staircased calvary has been built right over the end of the chamber ! A most interesting feature !

The prehistoric remains are of an 11 metre long allée couverte, facing east at 095°, but with a lateral entry on the southern side near the eastern end. The main chamber is about 1.5 metres wide, up to 2 metres tall, and is paved, but has only the two westernmost capstones still in place. There is a little vestibule arrangement south of the entry, which is blocked off with two doorstones, which have an oval entrance carved into them, which is only just big enough for me to squeeze through, a very nice feature. A pity it was all a bit overgrown though.

Tanouëdou tumulus

Trip No.203  Entry No.578  Date Added: 8th Jun 2020
Site Type: Round Barrow(s) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 26th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: This is a large bronze age tumulus, diameter 40 metres and height 6 metres, which once contained a tomb made of wood and stone within which were found many bronze weapons, gold studs and jewelry when excavated in 1865. It is signposted and found on top of a hill behind a farm to the south east of Bourbriac. There are several other smaller tumuli nearby.

La Roche (Uzel)

Trip No.203  Entry No.587  Date Added: 8th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 26th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: This little menhir is probably about 2.5 metres tall, standing on the slopes above the road and stream, positioned just outside a wood, making it visible from the road. I thought this to be a strange place for a menhir, on a slope this steep.

Notre Dame-de-Lorette Alignements

Trip No.203  Entry No.586  Date Added: 8th Jun 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 26th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: Just outside the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette chapel is what I have seen described in various sources as a cromlech, allée couverte, tumulus or long barrow. From my visit, I have to say it is difficult to say just what this is the remains of. There is a signpost which says that it is the remains of a neolithic long barrow.

Basically, just to the north of the chapel are two rows of stones, lined up at about 100°, which are 20 metres long and 10 metres apart. The two rows are of different stones, the northern row being being chunky blocks of grey quartz, while the southern row is tall slender pointy green dolerite. Around the western end are some more blocks which could be seen as making a horseshoe. So perhaps it is all of the above, the outer ring of stones around a barrow, from which the remains of any allée couverte have long since gone.

Whatever, it is all in a very pleasant position, high up on a hilltop with glimpses of splendid views between the trees. It's all very nicely tended green parkland with a few picnic tables. Obviously a special place for many thousands of years, with many different signs of human reverence.

Notre-Dame-de-Lorette spring

Trip No.203  Entry No.585  Date Added: 8th Jun 2020
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 26th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 5

Log Text: Just to the west of the little chapel at the top of the hill is a nice little spring with a full blown well house built on top of it. Water gushes up into a crystal clear pool, and there is even a tap with a local authority certificate of cleanliness. There is of course a cross and suchlike also. The well is legendary for curing earache !

Île-Coalen allée couverte

Trip No.203  Entry No.577  Date Added: 5th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 25th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: The remains of this monument can be found at low tide on the beach at the southwestern corner of Ile Coalen, which is just offshore from the mainland at the northwest entry to the Trieux river estuary. The island can be reached by walking from the mainland when the tide is out.

It is the remains of an allée couverte, the chamber of which has an orientation of 155°, the length of which was indeterminate to me. At the northwestern end is the remains of a seperate cell a couple of metres in length. Several side slabs, plus the two cross slabs are still in position, but the rest of it is a bit of a jumble, and has been knocked about a bit over the years. There is possibly the remains of a peristalith around it, or perhaps its bits of broken capstone, I cannot tell.

I enjoy coming to these island places - much more fun to come to than a field wall or suchlike.

Tossen-Keler Cromlech (1964-2018)

Trip No.203  Entry No.573  Date Added: 5th Jun 2020
Site Type: Stone Circle Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 25th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: For a reason unknown to me, the 40 metre diameter and 7 metres high Tossen Keler tumulus from Penvénan was excavated and totally removed in about 1960. The horseshoe of stones (cromlech) that surrounded it were moved to a position in a little public garden on the quayside here at the pleasant old port town of Tréguier. Much of the horseshoe is here, but there was once a few stones with engravings on them, which are now in some museum or other somewhere, and have been replaced here with more modern stones.

I remember this as a pleasant grassy park from my previous visit, but when I revisited in 2005, apart from the grass within it, it is in a massive dusty car and bus park, looking very unloved. Its a shame.

Menhir de Kermarker

Trip No.203  Entry No.572  Date Added: 5th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Couldn't find on 25th Jun 2005

Log Text: This menhir is suposedly right beside the road, but I could not find it. According to the map, it is just into the woodland, which is exceedingly densely covered in ferns, and inaccsessible.

Menhir de Kervéniou

Trip No.203  Entry No.570  Date Added: 5th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 25th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 2

Log Text: This little menhir, which I estimate to be about 2.5 metres tall, can just be seen in a private garden round the back of a house. It is difficult to get to see, if indeed it is what I saw.

Kerpeulven Menhir (Penvénan)

Trip No.203  Entry No.571  Date Added: 5th Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 25th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: This pleasant menhir is about 4 metres tall, and trapped in a garden about 250 metres north of the church along Rue de Menhir in the village of Penvénan. It is however only a few metres from the road, and easily visible from it.

Tour-ar-Varquez

Trip No.203  Entry No.576  Date Added: 5th Jun 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 25th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Two standing and one fallen stone make up this alignement of stones in a field wall to the northeast of Pleubian. The two standing stones are about 2.5 metres tall, but the fallen one is of indeterminate length and lost in the undergrowth. It is situated about 100 metres across a field beside the road north from St Antoine. The orientation is 065°.

Men-ar-Rompet

Trip No.203  Entry No.575  Date Added: 5th Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 25th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: The remains of this allée couverte, "the Giants Stones", sit within a field wall (which is no doubt the reason for its survival) just 25 metres from the sea at high tide, near to the entrance of the Tréguier estuary. The chamber is quite short at about 6 metres, probably due to the eastern end being destroyed. The western end is intact with not only a back stone, but also an internal dividing stone a couple of metres in. Three capstones sit in place, with another one fallen at the east.

This would be a lovely place to sit and watch the boats and birds on a nice day, but a sea fog has developed and is enveloping everything, so the visibility is lacking. So much for my plans to go to the big sand spit (Siillon de Talbert) later. Uh Oh, its now started to rain. This allée couverte is signposted from the nearby Kerbors village, and is just a few hundred metres walk from a parking place.

Allée couverte de Mélus

Trip No.203  Entry No.574  Date Added: 28th Oct 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 25th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Despite looking very difficult to get to on the maps, this allée couverte is actually very easy to find, as a new housing development has been made, with the roads through it signposted to the allée couverte, and then a little trackway made up to it. The monument is now contained within a little walled area in the fields, a couple of hundred metres from a parking area.

It is about 14 metres long, with an orientation of 110°, with the entrance on the southern side, about two thirds the way along from the western end. The passageway is about 1.5 metres wide and less than a metre high, and still covered with nine capstones. Traces of a mound exist, particularly at the west end.

It looks to me as though it has been messed about with substantially, and maybe rebuilt fairly recently, as lots of the stones have sharpish edges, and don't look weathered right. It is also suffering from being where it is, and it is now a bit of a childrens playground, with the rubbish and suchlike that that entails. Still, it is here with us today.

Saint-Uzec menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.562  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 5 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Signposted from all around, and with its own parking area, this is a truly massive menhir in all senses. It must be about 6 metres tall or more, and impressively bulky in its other dimensions also. But its crowning glory is the granite cross on top, and also the tremendous carvings on its front (southern) face, which show scenes from the bible and the "roughly hewn instruments of passion". In the past it was also painted.

The menhir's back face is lovely and weather worn, with lots of grooves running down it where the rain has run down. It is set in a little stone area complete with a little pillar for offerings. Outside the stone setting is a nice little garden area, with a tremendously colourful display when I was here - poppies, hydrangea, stocks and many others I did not know. This is a smashing place to visit, so long as you avoid the coach parties that are regularly brought here.

L'Armor menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.567  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Couldn't find on 24th Jun 2005

Log Text: This menhir is in a private garden with a massive thick hedge surrounding it. I didn't get to see the stone, but it is supposedly about 2 metres in height.

Menhir a Vertu

Trip No.203  Entry No.561  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Oooh errrr, this one's a bit rude ! This is a wonderful little menhir, less than 2 metres tall, but a tremendous phallic shape, which was no doubt recognised by the ancient people. It has been revered so much over time that it is still standing erect, and indeed has had a chapel built with its front door no more than 8 metres from the stone, and opening directly onto it. This place has been christianised not only by the chapel, but the head of the menhir has at some point been attempted to be shaped into a cross, but in some ways this just accentuates the phallic nature of the stone.

At the time of my visit, there was a little offering of flowers and sea shells placed very neatly on a little ledge at the base of the stone. This is very definately one for the ladies, and no doubt has great powers.

Prajou-Menhir menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.554  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The "indicator menhir" just outside and in front of the allée couverte. It is about 1.7 metres high but nicely weathered.

Prajou-Menhir allée couverte

Trip No.203  Entry No.555  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: This is a terriffic allée couverte approaching 14 metres long and facing towards its indicator menhir at orientation 103°. Seven capstones of varying sizes are still in place, the two westernmost being the covers for a separate end cell of about 2.5 metres length. Within this end cell are many carvings, including pairs of breasts, cartouches, palettes and many others. Approaching 2 metres wide, it is not much more than a metre in height.

It has probably been helped in its survival by being incorporated into a wall at some stage in the past, but of which all immediate traces have now been removed.

It is easily found in a little grassy area just to the south of the road to Ile Grande, with a signpost, and is a part of a local "Megalith Trail", details of which can be obtained from the local tourist office. There are several other menhirs in this area of land, just above the high tide level and marshy.

Kerguntuil Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.557  Date Added: 3rd Jun 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Bretagne:Côtes-D'Armor (22))
Visited: Yes on 24th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: This is a large single chambered dolmen, easily found and signposted, and kept in a little fenced off area in a field. It has at times in the more recent past as both a stable and a house. The chamber is about 5 metres by 2 metres, and a good 2 metres in height, all covered with a single large capstone. Three large side supports remain, but the others have been broken up and made into large block walls around the chamber.

There is evidence of a fireplace with chimney, an oven, a doorway with hinges and windows, all created with the stones. Quite a desireable residence in its time, no doubt, and a pleasant and interesting place to visit nowadays. It is still partially below ground level, and much of its mound remains behind it, at the west side.