La Roche-aux-Fées

La Roche-aux-Fées ( German "Fels der Feen" ; also La Maison des Feins) in the village of Essé , between Vitré and Châteaubriant in Brittany in France , is a megalithic site from the Neolithic Age . The suffix "Fées" or "Fein" carry several French dolmens or Allées couvertes . In the department of Ille-et-Vilaine z. B. La Maison des Feins ( German "Feenhaus" ) or the Four-ès-Feins ( German "Furnace of the fairies" ). In France, dolmen is the generic term for Neolithic megalithic structures of all kinds (see: French nomenclature ).

La Roche-aux-Fées is a typical rectangular above-ground Angevin dolmen, as it was built in large numbers in the Maine-et-Loire department ( Dolmen of Bagneux near Saumur ). Such megalithic systems often consist of limestone slabs . Based on the pottery found, they can be traced back to 3500 to 3000 BC. To be dated.

La Roche-aux-Fées has been a monument historique since 1840 , making it one of the oldest protected objects.

La Roche-aux-Fées

Scheme top view - dark bearing stones, light cap stones

La Roches-aux-Fées is located on a hill in a small forest with oak and chestnut trees. 26 orthostats carry eight cap stones weighing between 20 and 45 t. The monument is 19.5 m long and oriented from north-northwest to south-southeast. The architecture comprises three areas:

First a low portal, consisting of a 5.5 m long block, which rests as a lintel on two pillars, each one meter high.
This is followed by an approximately 1.4 m high, 3.5 m wide and 2.7 m long anteroom with three side panels and one ceiling panel. The access is narrowed by means of two plates
the chamber, which is around 14.0 m long and four meters wide inside. It is two meters high inside. Three large side panels divide it into four compartments. The end plate is 5.7 m long, almost 1.6 m high and 0.75 m thick. The structure was covered by a tumulus that reached halfway up the pillars. It has been uncovered since Roman times how one can conclude from found enclosed bricks.

The huge dolmen was built from large slabs of red Cambrian slate on a floor of green slate . The next occurrence of purple slate is in the forest of Le Theil-de-Bretagne, four kilometers away. Experiments like the one in the Bougon necropolis have shown that 300 strong people, large wooden rollers and levers can move stone slabs weighing 40 tons. Fairies play a role in the legends about the transport of stones. They shipped those blocks and lost one along the way. This is the little menhir from Runfort. The menhirs Champ de la Pierre and Champ Horel are also associated with La Roche-aux-Fées.