Latest Fieldnotes

There seems to be much confusion over which of the three Liscuis Allee Couvertes is which. Different sources call different monuments I, II & III. We have followed what seems to be the standard French numbering.

Pierre-Roland Giot, for example, calls this Liscuis II in ‘La Bretagne des Megalithes’, whereas Aubrey Burl seems to refer to it as Liscuis III.

Access: The nearest place to park is on a minor road to the north of the monuments just south of the N164. Once on this road, look out for a parking place by small christian monument on the north of the lane through trees. There is a track opposite, heading south – uphill. (There is also a map of the area here, though it doesn’t show the allee couvertes as far as we could tell.)

The track is reasonably steep for some distance but levels out and the path around the three monuments is pretty easy. I’d guess the whole round trip including all three monuments is around 2km, tops.

I’d advise continuing on the path until around the top of the hill where there is a track to the right with an infoboard.

Then follow this path past all three monuments (keeping right to follow a clockwise circuit). From Googlemaps it looks like you could do the circuit the other way round, but I think the turning would be harder to spot that way.

Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
The last of the Liscuis trio we saw is slightly overgrown and more ‘knocked-about’ than the other two. It retains only one capstone and is again constructed of the local schist (according to Burl).

Like the other Liscuis monuments it has an small triangular original entrance to its passage formed by a transverse stone with a lower corner missing.

As with Liscuis III this ‘entrance’ isn’t entirely convincing to me on its own, as the passage stone that forms the triangle with the transverse stone leans quite dramatically (surely more than it could have when it supported a capstone). But I guess the fact that all three neighbouring tombs have this feature in some form makes it pretty likely to be genuine!

There seems to be much confusion over which of the three Liscuis Allee Couvertes is which. Different sources call different monuments I, II & III. We have followed what seems to be the standard French numbering.

Pierre-Roland Giot, for example, calls this Liscuis III in ‘La Bretagne des Megalithes’, whereas Aubrey Burl seems to refer to it as Liscuis I.

Access: The nearest place to park is on a minor road to the north of the monuments just south of the N164. Once on this road, look out for a parking place by small christian monument on the north of the lane through trees. There is a track opposite, heading south – uphill. (There is also a map of the area here, though it doesn’t show the allee couvertes as far as we could tell.)

The track is reasonably steep for some distance but levels out and the path around the three monuments is pretty easy. I’d guess the whole round trip including all three monuments is around 2km, tops.

I’d advise continuing on the path until around the top of the hill where there is a track to the right with an infoboard.

Then follow this path past all three monuments (keeping right to follow a clockwise circuit). From Googlemaps it looks like you could do the circuit the other way round, but I think the turning would be harder to spot that way.

Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
The middle of the Liscuis trio we saw is less overgrown than the other two, though more so than in some photos I’ve seen.

It is the most complete and impressive of the three and occupies a dominant position on a ridge at the crest of the hill.

Very nice monument, again constructed of the local schist (according to Burl). Like the other Liscuis monuments it has an small triangular original entrance to its passage. To me it is less convincingly an entrance than at Liscuis I as the stone that forms it is less a complete transverse & more of ‘a stone at an angle’!

There seems to be much confusion over which of the three Liscuis Allee Couvertes is which. Different sources call different monuments I, II & III. We have followed what seems to be the standard French numbering.

Pierre-Roland Giot, for example, calls this Liscuis I in ‘La Bretagne des Megalithes’, whereas Aubrey Burl seems to refer to it as Liscuis II.

Access: The nearest place to park is on a minor road to the north of the monuments just south of the N164. Once on this road, look out for a parking place by small christian monument on the north of the lane through trees. There is a track opposite, heading south – uphill. (There is also a map of the area here, though it doesn’t show the allee couvertes as far as we could tell.)

The track is reasonably steep for some distance but levels out and the path around the three monuments is pretty easy. I’d guess the whole round trip including all three monuments is around 2km, tops.

I’d advise continuing on the path until around the top of the hill where there is a track to the right with an infoboard.

Then follow this path past all three monuments (keeping right to follow a clockwise circuit). From Googlemaps it looks like you could do the circuit the other way round, but I think the turning would be harder to spot that way.

Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
The first of the Liscuis trio we saw is still semi-subterranean & was rather overgrown. It was also in slightly less good condition than I expected though it retains three capstones.

Still a nice monument made of local almost slate-like stone (schist, according to Burl). Interestingly it has a transverse stone with one lower corner chipped away which (again according to Burl) was the original entrance.

Access: A few hundred yards into a wood on a pretty good path. A bit further into the wood, I believe there is a fairly impressive menhir ‘Mein al Has’ but this was already a detour & we didn’t have time for menhirs today! (Roc’h ar Lein menhir is also nearby, further up the road.)

Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
This wasn’t in the plan, but we saw signs to it & just went. Actually, if we’d realised the sign was ‘just’ for this fairly unimpressive capless allee couverte & the menhirs mentioned above, we may not have detoured!

Visited Wednesday 30 September 2009
No proper access notes, as I can’t remember how easy it was to get into the field.

Living proof that you can’t go far in Brittany without seeing something megalithic – we just happened to notice it as we were driving past....

Nice menhir.

Been meaning to come here for ages, Cannock Wood being not far from the M56 junction of the M6 ‘n all. But you know how things are? Well, finally made it on the way back to Essex from Cumbria – a bit of a pain to find without an OS map – but well worth the effort for hillfort fans.

Now Sunday morning’s probably not the best time to come here, judging by the hordes of local dog walkers letting their stinking creatures do their ‘business’ all over the ramparts, but there you are. ‘Take your opportunities while you can’ has always been my motto.

So what of the hillfort, if understandably somewhat lacking in vibe? Actually I’m impressed. A large, powerful inner rampart is fully accessible (shame about the outer defences, however), the gorgeous autumn colours of Cannock Chase adding a, well, gorgeous backdrop. Why, even the cooling towers of Rugeley Power Station do not particularly detract from the scene as I munch my chicken and mushroom slice at the highest point. The defences appear bi-vallate at this point (to the north), multiplying to at least three – possible more – ramparts and ditches at the more vulnerable southern approach. Trouble is the fern cover is so extensive it’s difficult to be certain. I make the main entrance to be at the eastern end – traces of ‘barbican’ outworks? – but whether this is original? Hard to be sure with such accessible sites.

So, probably not worth a long drive to get here, but well worth a diversion if travelling up/down the M6!

‘Attempted visit’ Monday 28 September 2009
We so wanted to see this one, up to its knees in the sea!

Unfortunately we were let down by our lack of mapping & didn’t follow Burl’s instructions in ‘Megalithic Brittany’ well enough. (By this time we’d discovered that his descriptions weren’t always that great. Typically, they seem to have been pretty good for this one now I read them.)

We ran out of time as we were driving right across Brittany today, but I can now see exactly where we went wrong for future visitors....

Turn east off the D2 onto Route de Queffen about 2km south of Pont L’Abbe, maybe a few hundred yards south of a (new) roundabout. Once you’ve turned, I think you cross a little crossroads after a short distance. Continue for a short time from there, but when you reach a point where the road swings right and on the left there is a little laybyish bit and a path into the woods, STOP!

Take the path & this should take you to the menhir (according to Burl, around 100m but I’d guess it’s a bit further).

Don’t do what we did & follow the road right down to the sea & along. You’ll have terrible trouble turning & get really frustrated. We did! Not as frustrated as when we realised that the little layby where we ate our butties was right by the path to the menhir though!!!

This visit was set to be a ‘nothing better to do on a hostile day in Cumbria’ trip, so ended up well pleased with the result, it has to be said.

OK, so the circle isn’t exactly the finest you’ll ever come across and – to be honest – confused the hell out of me until I walked around a bit and sussed out the large, eroded stone placed somewhat off-centre (or so it appeared to me, anyway). The problem in this respect is that the circle is situated in deep fern cover behind an area of eroded limestone pavement, making it very difficult to distinguish the two. Hmm. If it wasn’t for THAT pole there would not be any fieldnotes........

However, once you’ve sorted out what’s what.... the atmosphere – the sheer silence – takes over and you’ll immediately forget you’re in the most visited National Park in these Isles. If ever there’s a place to simply hang out away from it all, this is it. Superb! The map showed an ‘enclosure’ of some description within the trees beyond the substantial dry stone wall to the east – but such was the vibe here that the thought was just too much to even contemplate. Lazy sod.

As regards access, I parked by Postman’s cattle-grid coming from the direction of Askham (take the Haweswater road out of town, veering left past Whale. Then, after negotiating a couple of gates by a ‘phone box now acting as a rather odd greenhouse – a red greenhouse, that is – pass the Howgate turn-off on your left and there you are). Facing the ridge, the public footpath heads for the right hand shoulder, but needless to say I made for the left-hand (northern) edge. Quite a slog, but the views across Bampton Grange etc towards Haweswater, with High Street crowning the horizon, are superb and extensive.

The pole advertising the circle isn’t visible from the escarpment edge. I’d suggest you make your way to the highest point – there’s a circular OS fitting instead of the usual trig point – and head ‘inland’ towards the trees. Worked for me, anyway.

Access: Pretty easy. You can park on the road down to the coast. You can see it from there & it’s an extremely short walk across bedrock & brushy grass.

Visited Monday 28 September 2009
I first saw this one in June 1999 & knew it was worth seeing again. I was also pretty sure that it was spectacular enough to overcome Jane’s ‘menhir fatigue’.

I was right! It was way taller than I remembered & Jane loved it, plus I noticed Le Ruen V-shaped passage grave just on the other side of the road where we parked!

Access: Easy – you will probably park right beside it or opposite it if you go to Le Ruen menhir.

Visited Monday 28 September 2009
I noticed this vaguely dolmenny thing as we got out of the car to go to Le Ruen menhir, which I had visited in 1999.

Checking Burl’s ‘Megalithic Brittany’, he says it’s a (rare) V-shaped passage grave, the best example of which is Ty-ar-Boudiquet. He’s right – Ty-ar-Boudiquet is spectacular. This isn’t, but is worth a look....

talking about spoiling the ambience, a large group of neo-nazi’s camping there, lighting fires, pissing all over the monument and making us feel very unwelcome. Wotansvolk flags all over the entrance to the tomb....I tried to find the number to contact the ranger but to no avail. A very upsetting experience.

Approximate co-ordinates only

‘Visited’ Sunday 27 September 2009
I don’t usually add destroyed sites, but these two are in Burl’s ‘Megalithic Brittany’ (1984 edition). We scoured the area’s crossroads (as per his instructions) for this one. I wouldn’t want anyone to get as frustrated as we did, unnecessarily!

I’ve just searched Google and found in sevearal places that they are both thought to have been destroyed.

Access: Farm lane it stands on was more difficult to spot than we expected. Stands in middle of field.

‘Visited’ Monday 28 September 2009
We were virtually passing so I whanged out a big lens shot of this fairly run-of-the mill looking menhir.

Access: You can drive right up to it. It’s by a restaurant with a name summat like ‘The Menhir’.

Visited Sunday 27 September 2009 (& sometime in June 1999)
In ‘Megalithic Brittany’, Burl does not say so, but surely this must be modern – so much so that I nearly didn’t post it.

Nice setting, but a bit crap really. The text carved into it seems to be about some geezer from Jersey who had a miraculous escape. (Can you tell I’m rubbish at French?)

What a bugger to find, well worth the effort though and once there you can totally understand why it is where it is.
There are no paths leading to it, the only route is to trudge through the heather.
Excellent site.

...........................................

Bell barrows are ten-a-penny in this neck of the woods and even the odd long barrow isn’t too much of a surprise so I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I noticed these two disc barrows. They’re right next to the footpath of the SDW near the carpark and disused and quaintly named ‘Bo Peep’ chalk pit. There are also fantastic views over the Downs here and the tiny village of Alciston.

This Scheduled Monument is actually quite difficult to find in the heavily afforested slopes of Cnoc Navie.

Enter the plantation from the Scotsburn road and follow a forestry Commission track around the southern slopes until it comes to an abrupt end. (The last mile of the track is not shown on the latest OS map).

Directly uphill and North of the tracks end is an old dry stone dyke. Follow this steeply uphill through very rough terrain until you are on the western spur of the summit of Cnoc Navie.

The remains of Carn na Croich lie about 200m west in a small clearing surrounded by Pines of varying maturity.

The monument has been well robbed out (dry stone dykes!!) but the outer circumference of the cairn can be easily seen.

The central chamber depression can be seen but individual stones are difficult to see due to a deep covering of moss and heather.

Its isolation in a very quiet, atmospheric and secluded spot makes this a worthwhile site to visit.

Its also a cracking walk through some excellent Pine, Larch and Birch woodlands – but be warned, its virtually all uphill.

Co-ordinates a little approximate because of cloud on Googlemaps! The site is signposted once you get near it, so should not be difficult to find.

Access: Easy once you’ve navigated the back-roads towards Lesconil and found the signposts & info board. Down a small path to the edge of a wood. Vaguely think there may have been a kissing-gate.

Visited Sunday 27 October 2009
Stunning. Must-see. I’d longed to see an arc-boutee passage-grave for years but it had never been practical on my previous trips to Brittany.

Much more impressive & complete than the more famous Castel Rufel arc-boutee which had been the one I was longing to see! (Though Castel Rufel may ‘have the edge’ on setting.)

Not sure this is a bone fide menhir – can’t find any trace of it in books on the area. No idea what it’s called if it is genuine, so I’ve given it a name myself.

‘Visited’ Saturday 3 October 2009
Looking for Menhirs de Roch Toul and Menhirs de Trimen we came across this stone. It’s quite nice & very easy to find, but didn’t look quite right if you know what I mean! (Though it looks more convincing in the photo....)

‘Visited’ Saturday 3 October 2009
We had planned to see these stones as they are so close to Castel Rufel and close to the road. (See also Menhirs de Roch Toul.)

In the end, it looked as if they were in crop. The weather was also poor & we had a fairly long journey ahead, so we didn’t check for possible access.

From ‘Guide to the Menhirs and other Megaliths of Central Brittany’ (Mezert Books) by Samuel Lewis there are three menhirs, one standing, two fallen. From photos, they look quite big.

Approximate co-ordinates only

‘Visited’ Saturday 3 October 2009
We had planned to see these stones as they are so close to Castel Rufel and next to the road. (See also Trimen.)

In the end, the weather was poor & we had a fairly long journey ahead, so as they don’t look that spectacular in the photos we’d seen, we didn’t try very hard. We thought we saw one of them as we drove past, but I’m not sure.

In ‘Guide to the Menhirs and other Megaliths of Central Brittany’ (Mezert Books) Samuel Lewis says:

“The stones are not hard to find as they actually stretch across the road, two on one side and one on the other. Close by, and also beside the road, is another menhir of the same height.”

I think it was this ‘extra’ stone we saw.

Access: Easy 5 minute walk to the alignments from the end of the road across brushy/moorland-type grass. Not much space for parking.

Visited Sunday 27 September 2009
A beautiful setting. Difficult to know what’s prehistoric & what’s natural, as there are lots of stones lying about. Some bits are obvious – & I suspect these are the only bone fide bits!

There’s also a strange little setting of rocks by a small ruined building on a smaller promontory down the hill towards the beach. I suspect these are associated with the building, but difficult to be sure.

Access: Amongst labyrinthine country roads. The stone lies near the centre of a field is all I can say – see below....

Visited Saturday 26 September 2009
First one of the holiday. In crop. Bugger.

Some proper pics here, under Plouguin in the horizontal dropdown menu of villages across the top of the page. (Couldn’t find a way to link to the particular page.)

Dyer describes this long cairn as being ‘badly damaged’......... but don’t let that put you off for I believe this to be an essential visit. Despite the obvious robbing of the chamber areas, this remains a very substantial monument, the environs full of atmosphere, the state of preservation no doubt assisted by the relative isolation of the site – but yes, I agree that the dry stone structure within the eastern end of the cairn is modern. More’s the pity, but you can’t have everything, can you?

I approached from the cattle grid on the minor road to the east(ish) at approx SH69350680, a great road, as it happens, with a stunning panorama of the Howgills as you put on your boots. For put on your boots you must if you want to avoid soggy feet. From here a prominent fence line follows the course of Rayseat Sike (stream) towards the monument. There’s a path of sorts to the left of the fence, but I’d recommend sticking to the right to avoid having to climb the barbed-wire later on. Although very boggy, with heather underfoot to twist those ankles if you don’t concentrate, persevere because in about half a mile or so (I think) the long cairn is unmissable above to your right.

As mentioned, the vibe here is incredible, the landscape wild and uncompromising, a harrier (or similar bird of prey) hovering just above my head before obviously deciding a Gladman wasn’t worth the effort. Probably too stringy or something. The Howgills skyline is the finishing touch.

Sad to report, however, the decomposing head of a ram caught in the aforementioned fence. Sure this wasn’t some sort of offering, judging by the entanglement of the horns. I once had to free such a creature from a similar fate at Kilmartin with the hacksaw from my car tool-kit... but not today. Such is life... and death at Rayseat.