La Garnerie menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.276  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Saw from a distance on 6th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 4 Access 2

Log Text: This is a great big menhir in a field of barley, and there was no way I was going to get to it. I would estimate it to be 4 to 5 metres tall and it is nicely rounded. My gps position is to the field gate from where it can be seen.

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

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

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.

La Meinge du Diable

Trip No.203  Entry No.286  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Couldn't find on 7th Jun 2005

Log Text: I found a signpost to this one, but despite walking along every track and footpath in the vicinity, I found no semblance of any menhir. I wish that when there are signposts from the road, they are followed up later. I must have walked many miles in the baking hot sun here. At least it should be doing me good.

La Pierre Folle (Commequiers)

Trip No.203  Entry No.288  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Passage Grave Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 7th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Once a very nice example of an Angevin type dolmen, this has now mostly collapsed. Only three support stones are left standing, with a part of the capstone on top of them. The chamber would have been rectangular, 5 metres by 3 metres, and over 2 metres in height. The entrance is as usual to the east, and only the eastern part of the dolmen is still standing, with the rest of the stones being a bit of a jumble, although the basics can still be made out. One of the fallen sidestones has been recently broken.

This poor place suffers badly from vandals and idiots. Apart from graffitti, it looks like somebody set about it with a grindstone, amd its noticeboard has some poor disillusioned souls rantings all over it.

La Pointe de l'Herbaudière dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.291  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Couldn't find on 7th Jun 2005

Log Text: I camped for the night at the large campsite which now occupies most of the northern point of the Ile Noirmoutiers, but could find no signs of any dolmen. The chap running the campsite said he had no knowledge of any dolmen there. There are however, lots of concrete bunkers, blockhouses and gun emplacements, no doubt built by the Germans in World War 2 as part of the Atlantic defenses. These have no doubt been built on and destroyed any dolmen which might once have been here.

There was a fantastic sunset over the sea and smaller offshore islands from here, with many lighthouses flashing away at various points all around. The swallows flying around here are amazing, into and out of the bunkers, swooping low over the grasslands and in and out of the little cliff faces. Wish I could fly like them. Then the bats came out to play. What a lovely place.

La Palissonnière

Trip No.203  Entry No.289  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 7th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: In a field of barley, just to the south of the D.82 road to the northwest of Commequiers village, can be found this menhir. However, as is often the case, there is a way through to it by following through some tracks made by the tractor wheels. It is about 2.5 metres high, 2 metres wide and has one or two strange shapes in the grey stone.

Pierre Levée de Soullans

Trip No.203  Entry No.290  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 7th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: In a little forest clearing beside the busy D. 69 road to the south of Challons, I found this stone because of the restaurante of the same name. It is a big stone, 4 metres high, more than 3 metres wide and 1 metre thick. It suffers badly from vandalism and graffitti, including lots of hippy crap in English. Nearby is a Rue de Pierre Levée, and a sign to menhir which I followed thinking that there might be another. I couldnt find anything, and so asked a chap out in his garden. It basically takes you round a back way through the woods to the same stone I had just visited, rather than getting to it by walking along and crossing the busy main road.

Pierre Levée de Soubise

Trip No.203  Entry No.287  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 7th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: I cant see much of a future for this poor little dolmen, which is currently pleasantly situated on a little mound on some sandy heathland. Marker tape and trenches are set out around it, with diggers and other heavy plant, and I would think that before too long this whole area will be a building site for yet more holiday homes in this very popular beach and holiday area.

The dolmen is a simple thing, with its 2.5 by 2 metre capstone sat at a jaunty angle on top of three support stones. A few other stones lay scattered around on the remains of its tumulus. A sarcophagus and three bodies were found here in 1901. According to legend, the table spins at the sound of the bells of the nearby St Nicholas-de-Brem church.

Menhir de la Crulière

Trip No.203  Entry No.285  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 7th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Signposted from the road, 0.5 kilometres walk, and having a little white signpost at the field entrance, I somehow walked right past, and took ages before I turned round and came back. How on earth did I miss it ? I probably wasted almost an hour here ! The menhir, 2.4 metres tall, and a triangular block of white granite, is in a field which is well fenced. The sign tells me that it is the last of four megaliths which existed in the commune of Brem-sur-Mer only a hundred years ago. There is a legend that a fifteen year old boy and his cow were crushed beneath the stone, which was thrown by the devil.

Menhir dit la Conche-Verte

Trip No.203  Entry No.284  Date Added: 24th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Vendée (85))
Visited: Yes on 7th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: In a little forest clearing amongst the sand dunes to the north of Olonnes-sur-Mer, this 2 metre tall granite menhir is easily found due to the signposted footpaths. It leans slightly and has a pointed top. I suspect that there are others around here buried under the sand dunes.

Platennes Menhirs

Trip No.203  Entry No.294  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Stone Row / Alignment Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: A bit further on past the Pierre Le Matz up the D.5 road north of Chauvé, these menhirs are signposted on the right. It is hard to tell exactly what was once here, but it was probably pretty impressive. The first thing you see is a lot oof broken stones, which was once a menhir which has been toppled and broken into many pieces. Then just the other side of the lane are seen three more menhirs in a row, now all fallen, and facing towards the broken one. All would have been 4 metres high or thereabouts, and it is possible that there was once several more here.

Chevanou Menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.295  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stones Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Still further north up the D.5 road from Chauvé, is he Chevanou menhir, right by the roadside. This one is quite famous for its bottle shape, but this is only apparent in one view, from edge on. The stone is over 4 metres high and 3 metres wide, and from this view it is more sharks fin shaped than bottle shaped in profile. Just beside it is another large stone. A fallen menhir companion maybe ? Its hard to say for sure.

Le Riverais 1

Trip No.203  Entry No.296  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 2 Access 4

Log Text: Just beside the road in the hamlet of Riverais, to the west of St-Père-en-Retz, can be found this menhir beside a farmyard entrance. Its about 2.5 metres tall, but looks like the top has been broken off.

Megerie Menhir

Trip No.203  Entry No.297  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 3

Log Text: This is a nearly 3 metres tall menhir, signposted down a little track at the hamlet of La Mégerie, in a field full of cows. It makes a strange hollow sound when I tapped it, perhaps its cracking apart, or perhaps its magic !

Menhir dit la Pierre Bonde

Trip No.203  Entry No.299  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Couldn't find on 8th Jun 2005

Log Text: I found a signpost pointing down a track to this menhir, but could only park the campervan by blocking the lane. Following the track, it divided into three, and there was no indication which way to go to the menhir. I had a quick look along two of the possible directions, but I found no stone before I decided I had better move on. I have since found that the stone may be quite some distance walk along one of the tracks, but which one I still do not know.

Menhir de Couëtcas

Trip No.203  Entry No.303  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Standing Stone (Menhir) Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Couldn't find on 8th Jun 2005

Log Text: At the village of Avrillac, near St-André-des-Eaux, is marked a dolmen and menhir on my maps. I parked my van and had a good look all around, including a 3 kilometre walk around various lanes, but I saw nothing, and there was nobody to ask. Whatever megalithic remains there might be here are either in somebodies garden, or hidden away out of sight in the large wooded area.

Having just crossed the Loire, I am now in Brittany, and I thought that finding these stones would get easier from now on, especially after the multitudes of signposted menhirs I had found this afternoon.

La Grée Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.304  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Couldn't find on 8th Jun 2005

Log Text: At the village of Avrillac, near St-André-des-Eaux, is marked a dolmen and menhir on my maps. I parked my van and had a good look all around, including a 3 kilometre walk around various lanes, but I saw nothing, and there was nobody to ask. Whatever megalithic remains there might be here are either in somebodies garden, or hidden away out of sight in the large wooded area. Having just crossed the Loire, I am now in Brittany, and I thought that finding these stones would get easier from now on, especially after the multitudes of signposted menjhirs I had found this afternoon.

Croix de Sandun Dolmen

Trip No.203  Entry No.305  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Despite asking, this dolmen was a difficult one to find. I parked and walked up Rue de la Butte expecting to find it there, but all I found was a natural rock outcrop with a cross on top However, the dolmen remains are about 50 metres to the north of this hillock, well hidden in the undergrowth.

There is not much to see of what was once an Allee Couverte, just a couple of stones left standing. There is the backstone and one sidestone standing, with several other bits of stone laying about, and remains of the passageway can be determined within what is left of its mound.

Rocher Du Rohain

Trip No.203  Entry No.306  Date Added: 26th Apr 2020
Site Type: Rock Outcrop Country: France (Pays de la Loire:Loire-Atlantique)
Visited: Yes on 8th Jun 2005. My rating: Condition 1 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: I spent ages trying to find this, and in the end found what was a natural granite outcrop on a little mound, up a trackway round the back of some houses. It looked to me like a couple of stones have been moved and sculpted, and may be the remains of some form of burial monument. However, I later found out that the proper dolmen here is not at the rock outcrop, but somewhere to the northwest of it. I went back in the morning for another look, but still found nothing. It must be well hidden in amongst the very dense gorse and bramble ridden undergrowth somewhere.