Latest Fieldnotes

Approximate long/lat coordinates, as I couldn’t see the site among the trees on the aerial photomap. We just happened to spot the site on the right of the road travelling NW from Frydendal Kro, so shouldn’t be too hard to find!

Access: Through reasonably even undulating wood, visible from road, at least when trees are not in leaf!. For directions, see Frydendal Kro.

Visited 3 April 2006
Spotted this one from the road just after leaving Frydendal Kro. Nothing terribly spectacular, but worth keeping an eye-out for – chunky chamber stones & large mound.

The first row you reach heading west is the northern row. It’s a long row of white, quartzy, sugar lumps.

Saint-Just, a very ordinary and comfortably pleasant French village, is the guardian to a wild and wacky ribbon of monuments which will have me scratching my head quizzically for the rest of my life. Nothing here makes any sense at all as the path to the west of the village leads you on a megalithic mystery tour.

Each monument on its own is intriguing … beguiling … but together, so close together they become a megalithic headf*ck.

We parked to the west of the village and followed the ample and informative signs which led us under the pines towards the Cojoux heathland glowing golden with gorse and ringing with birdsong. Apart from us, there was no one else around at all. The monuments – and the birds – just kept on coming.

Following the path west out of St Just as it snakes its way through the dense, tall gorse forest for a few hundred metres we reached the stones of Les Demoiselles Piquées – the ‘worm-eaten women’. Not a very nice name, but you can see why they are called this. These are big stones, too. I stood next to one and felt like a midget. A novel feeling for me.

Chateau Bû! What on earth is it??? Chateau Bû is caged up. Straight-jacketed. Probably for its own protection because it is insane. Without being able to get right up to it, walk round it, get into it, it’s hard to make any sense of it. It has a mound, perhaps two metres tall, with a chamber in it like a cairn. Then it has four uprights – a four-poster – plonked on top.

And then a bit of a cromlech at one end. I’ve seen a lot of old crumblies in my time, but this one I can’t fathom. You’ll have to see it for yourself.

For 200 metres westwards over the health from Chateau Bû lie a whole pile of monuments, some – quite literally – within spitting distance of each other.

La Croix de St Pierre are three nice-but-nothing-to-write-home-about burial chambers. Two are now little more than ground plans and the other is just a stone cist. However in the context of the St Just complex they simply add to the mystery.

We were about to leave Saint-Just and as I looked on the map, I noticed another monument marked very close by but not featured in any of the literature we had. We had to go and see if we could sniff it out. Without having a clue what it would be, we picked up a sign to a ‘dolmen’ and parked. Scrambling up a steep bank into some woodland punctuated with amazing natural rocks, we followed the path until … WOW! What a find! Treal allee couverte. An absolute beauty.

My first ever allee-couverte! And I wasn’t disappointed at all. Hidden away in the forest this was much longer than I expected and much squarer inside. On some of the stones in the terminal cell some little raised knobbly bits have been carved in lines. These are quite common around these parts. Someone somewhere considers these to represent pairs of breasts, but frankly I’m not convinced. Not a bit!

Featured in The Megalithic European (TME) page 159.

Access: Walk of around 500m along clear and reasonably even track, gently climbing. Very muddy in the weather I was there in! The final section is a path across a field, which may be slippery and is a good bit steeper.

Troldkirken is about 9km west of Aalborg. To reach the monument, take the 187 E-W between Aalborg and Sønderholm.

Just to the east of Sønderholm, turn south to Store Restrup (St Restrup). When you reach a crossroads with a more major road, turn right (west) and continue for about 1km – when the road is going uphill you are close.

There is a layby on the north side of the road for parking, and a signpost for Troldkirken – but it’s so huge you’ll be able to see it clearly on its little hill from the road.

Visited 6 April 2006
‘The Troll’s Church’ is a big ‘un!! On the day I saw it, it was a big wet ‘un! (Please excuse the raindrops on the photos!)

The small hill (exaggerated by quarrying in the past) it stands on is visible from miles around. From the south, the langdysse, and particularly the huge chamber are clearly visible.

As a matter of fact, I’d forgotten that there is more here than just the dolmen. Although reduced to the level of the bottom of the chamber, this is still an impressive earthwork, 90m long, with plenty of big kerbstones to impress. (Bit of a shame they’ve been joined by a concrete ‘trig’ point!)

You have plenty of time to get to appreciate its positioning on the walk up Troldkirkenvej, and there is a very nice round barrow ‘høj’ to add some extra interest to the walk. The view of Troldirken itself to the NW from the top of the høj is superb – I recommend it highly.

By the way, if you look at the ‘inline map’ for Troldkirken by clicking the ‘Show map’ link near the top of this page, there are some interesting cropmarks around the site, most noticeably some immediately to the SW of Troldkirken itself.

14:08:03ce

This Kercado sized tumulus outside the village of Le Bono is fascinating for a number of reasons. The great mound itself covers a very long passage of orthostats and drystone which bends through almost 90degrees partway along. This then opens out into a chamber with almost enough room to stand. The faint remains of carvings can be seen along the passage including a goddess figurine. This chamber, if required, could be pitch black at any time of day.
Inspite of the condensation on the stones themselves the floor in here is remarkably dry.
What is also fascinating though is the surroundings. Around the tumulus are a number of burial mounds dated to the Iron Age. However they are very much like megalithic structures, one still having, what Aubrey Burl describes as, a small dolmen like structure at its centre. South of the tumulus are a number of fantastic natural rock outcrops, maybe part shaped by man.
Clearly this area was sacred for a long time. From the time before the megaliths to a time when they had long since ceased to be constructed. Were the pine trees not here there would be views out to the Gulf of Morbihan. But how did that area look back then when sea levels meant it was no sea at all…

14:08:03

For many years I have planned a trip out here and finally I have made it. This is one fantastic site. The carved figurine which was the Guard stone for the passage is long gone but there is a cast in the museum and its image forms the head of ‘Neo’ the mascot who guides children through the artifacts.
The passage here is relatively short, if all the area past the, almost 90degree, bend is counted as the chamber. This part of the passage-grave is a long passage too which widens slightly at the end and is terminated by a large slab. Burl says some of the stones are carved but the moss and weather have made these carvings invisible to my eye.
It is hard to imagine what this place would have been like when it was complete. The long stoop down the pitch-dark tunnel to the wider area must have been frightening. No natural light would have penetrated so deep and the guarding goddess must have seemed imposing.
Who knows why these were so planned but les Pierres Plats and the Tumulus at le Bono are similar in plan so they were popular in this area.
Someone seems to have built some kind of ‘den’ between the entrance stones, which is curious and makes me think of the village idiot at Crucuno, is it just kids or does some modern idiot retire here for his rest?
Sitting in these woods by these ancient and deserted stones has a profound resonance with me now. The years of antiquarians, archaeologists, enthusiast and tourists seem to almost haunt the trees. One can almost see them standing around in the clothes of centuries, almost imagine some weary travelers stopping here for rest, although it is not really on the way anywhere.

The Dolmen de Kerlutu sits at the edge of a track near Belz, just to the northwest of Erdeven. The dolmen appears to have had some kind of restoration at sometime, as there is some fairly ‘new’ looking drystone walling inside.
There is no evidence of a passage remaining here. The chamber though is set in a low mound, which reaches the tops of the uprights but does not encroach on the outsize capstone.
And what a capstone, almost inappropriately large for the chamber it covers; it is supported by drystone walling and three of the four megalithic orthostats.
One can imagine that these five stones were at one time all that remained at Kerlutu. And a splendid denuded dolmen it would have been. The restoration, that I am guessing replaced the walls and mound, created a rather odd dolmen/tumulus hybrid, which is nonetheless still impressive.

18:06:03

At the side of the road, in the hamlet of Kerguérhen near Belz sits the Dolmen de Er Roc’h. This is more like the Carnac dolmens I’m used too. It is a mid-period passage grave with some differentiation between the passage and the chamber. A smallish and understated dolmen it is today half covered by ivy, and even the floor inside is carpeted with the voracious climber.
These are the unpretentious, unimposing dolmens that one finds all over this area. These are not such monsters as the Grand Tumuli, which would draw pilgrims from miles around, but the small family tombs serving the outlying communities of the Carnac area. Almost like the domestic shrines found in the homes of Hindus.
But still I must visit for that is my mission, and in order to get the whole picture one must see all the pixels…

18/06/03ce

These two dolmens at the summit of a natural hill over looking some of the islands that lie in the Riviere d’Etel, the Ile de Niheu, Ile de Reic’h, Ile des Moines and the Ile du Petit Niheu.
Of the two the northern most is more complete, having, it seems, all it’s uprights and two capstones, including a rippling weetabix that covers the chamber. The second as faired less well and only the low stones of the chamber and a few uprights of the passage remain. It seems unlikely that this second dolmen ever had capstones, it being more likely to have had a corbelled chamber instead, the uprights are two low, I feel, to directly support a capstone. This dolmen is also surrounded by the remains of a low mound.
From this evidence and also from looking at the way the chambers are differentiated from the passages I would guess that the hatless dolmen is the earlier of the two as it’s chamber is somewhat more clearly defined as being separate from the passage.
The location of two dolmens from different time periods atop this same hill does then point to its importance as a sacred area. The river valley would not have been so flooded as it is now so maybe those islands were similar hills which were addressed by the dolmens here.
I’m now going to try and find a dolmen which my guidebook describes as being ‘completely invaded by vegetation’, I have not high hopes for finding it.

18:06:03

I have managed to find the Dolmen de Sept Saints. Almost as hard to find as Kerluir, this again involved some bramble trampling, gorse avoiding action.
The book I’m using now says this is in a sad state, and since the photo therein was taken it’s got worse. The dolmen is completely overgrown, one can just see the stones of the passage and the capstone peering through the vegetation but the situation will only get worse here.
A fairly long passage, that is now uncovered, leads to a very low chamber covered by a capstone. It could be that the chamber was originally deep but has been filled in through time.
I’m going to go now because something large and alive is in these woods and scaring me!
Later:
As I fought my way out of the woods I was walking along what I believed to be an overgrown path, however it seems that it may well have been the capstones of the chambers of a second dolmen, totally overwhelmed by the foliage.

Map co-ordinates are probably right, I hope, but it was difficult to spot for sure in aerial photos. Should be easy to find anyway if you know it’s around there, as we just spotted it while passing!

Access: Short walk down fairly rough field-edge ‘verge’.

For directions, see Mols/Porskær Stenhus. Continue east along this road, keeping a watch out to the left (NW) as you go up the hill.

Visited 4 April 2006
Made up name, as I’ve not been able to find out anything at all about this barrow.

Not spectacular by any means, but worth a look for the chunky capstone alone. A nice surprise, especially considering we nearly didn’t go and look!

St Uzec menhir is just bizarre and thanks to the Christians, its ancient power now seems to glow more strongly. Some zealous twat in the 16th century decided to attempt to mute its pagan power by carving a crucifix on the top. All it does, however, is to make Christianity seem like a fly-by-night and pathetically bullying force. Still, the menhir is beautiful, striking and much larger than I had imagined at more than 8ms tall! I wonder how tall it was before the Christians got their dirty hands on it?

Over on the touristy island of Ile Grande, which you can drive over a causeway to, is this allée couverte which is rather pleasant being neither small or big, long nor short. Just yer average local allée couverte for local people. With it teeming with rain and completely free of any tourists, the best place to be was inside it. Me, allée couvertes, rats, drainpipes.

Featured in The Megalithic European (TME) page 161.

Access: Bit of a walk from the carpark – perhaps a few hundred metres along a decent path, down into a reasonably steep little valley, across a wooden bridge and up the other side.

In Djursland, NE of Århus.

We went here from Mols (or Porskær Stenhus, as it’s more often known). It’s a bit of a winding wander through minor roads, but very rewarding, as there are a few other minor (but cool) sites to search out on the way. The first few of these are spottable if you contininue on the road past Porskær Stenhus.

I’ll try to describe this way, as the route directly from the E45 is pretty simple until you join our route anyway! (Junction 42 onto the 16 east, which becomes the 21. Left onto the 547 and then right to Tustrup village before you reach Fjellerup. Then 0.5km before Tustrup village, turn right (west). The carpark is on the left about 1.5km-2km along this road.

So, from Porskær Stenhus we coninued east along the same road towards Agri. Within a couple of km at most, we noticed a wrecked barrow to the left in a scrubby bit of a field boundary – which I’ve called Porskærvej un-named.

We went straight through Agri (pretty place), and after about half a km, the barrows of Stabelhøje are unmissable on the left. At some point around here, we also saw a couple of wrecked barrows I’ve yet to identify, but you won’t miss them as they were right next to the road. We continued on towards Tåstrup (not Tustrup!!!).

From Tåstrup it gets difficult to remember for sure exactly the way we navigated the maze of minor roads, which is a shame because we saw a really nice dolmen (to be identified) on the right of one of the little lanes.

Given that, I’ll just say that we headed for Kolind, Koed, Nimtofte and then Tustrup. Just over 0.5km north of Tustrup, there is a crossroads – turn west here. The carpark for the site is about 1.5km-2km along on the left with a sign.

Visited 4 April 2006
Good map (& probably info boards if we could have read them) in the carpark to whet the megalithic appetite. A short walk crossing a pretty stream and then – a small megalithic showroom!!

We were blessed with the weather again and were able to spend a goodly time wandering here and getting our heads round this place. Another spellbinder.

Visited 4 April 2006
Essentially a dolmen – probably a passage grave – without a capstone. Still very impressive, as the remaining slabs are very substantial chunks of stone!

Just after you have driven over the causeway on the way back from Ile Grande is Prajou allée couverte which is much longer than Ile Grande allée couverte.

We were intrigued by the carvings on the inside of the end chamber which was cut off by a blocking stone. Moth crawled in for a better look. Two pairs of carved semi-hemispheres and a couple of long lines with dots running parallel have been interpreted as pairs of breasts by ‘experts’ – probably men – but I asked, could they not be testicles or even eyes? We were to keep seeing these odd carvings on stones all over Brittany…

Visited 4 April 2006
An impressive passage grave with mound pretty much intact, but one of the (I think) 5 capstones is missing from its 10m chamber.

The passage is short, but has no capstones, making it fairly easy to get into, though the chamber itself is fairly low – you have to squat when under the capstones.

We noticed this little chambered tomb at the roadside near Keryvon, we hadn’t been expecting it so it was nice little bonus site! Aubrey Burl calls it ‘unimpressive’ but I give it full marks for simply surviving, sandwiched as it is at the roadside before the land dips away onto the beach. The end of it is practically falling away onto the beach! Only one capstone remains up but I liked it a lot.

There are two monuments in the same field at Kerguntuil and they proved harder to find than I thought due to sh*tty, ambiguous roadsigns and an inadequately scaled map. I got very cross. Finally, as we located them, a pair of jays swooped down in front of us.

Kerguntuil dolmen is less of a dolmen and more of a large stone room at the roadside.

It was so tall inside that I could only just reach up and touch the *whopping* capstone. It has been shored up with walling on one side for stability. You get the impression it has been used for centuries as an animal shelter. Well, wouldn’t you? On the other side of the field, crouching now as part of a field wall is the Kerguntuil allée couverte.

On the other side of the field from Kerguntuil dolmen crouching now as part of a field wall is the Kerguntuil allée couverte. It’s an average sized allée couverte and like so many round here has strange carved semi hemispheres on one of its wall slabs. Here, there are six pairs of them, on this occasion each pair has a smiley curve below them. Moth read them as pairs of breasts with pregnant bellies below. We read somewhere that they were pairs of breasts with necklaces. But, I ask you, have you ever seen a woman wear a necklace below her cherry-muffins? No. Me neither. Perhaps they did all those years ago and I’m being terribly naive. Anyway, this is a cracker over 9ms long and well worth seeking out.