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All French heritage classified by regions, departments and cities

  2. Patrimoine
  3. Pays-de-la-Loire
  4. Vendée
  5. 85440 Avrillé

  6. Menhir from Bourg-Jardin to Avrillé

 Menhir from Bourg-Jardin to Avrillé en Vendée

Patrimoine classé
Patrimoine Celtique
Menhirs
Vendée

Menhir from Bourg-Jardin to Avrillé

    La Maisonnette
    85440 Avrillé
Menhir de Bourg-Jardin à Avrillé
Menhir de Bourg-Jardin à Avrillé
Menhir de Bourg-Jardin à Avrillé
Menhir de Bourg-Jardin à Avrillé
Menhir de Bourg-Jardin à Avrillé
Crédit photo : Liberliger - Sous licence Creative Commons

Timeline

Néolithique
Âge du Bronze
Âge du Fer
Antiquité
Haut Moyen Âge
Moyen Âge central
Bas Moyen Âge
Renaissance
Temps modernes
Révolution/Empire
XIXe siècle
Époque contemporaine
4100 av. J.-C.
4000 av. J.-C.
…
0
1800
1900
2000
Néolithique
Menhir erection
1889
MH classification
1962-1963
Falling in a pond
1986
Menhir adjustment
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui

Heritage classified

Menhir number 8 (Box B2,218): classification by list of 1889

Key figures

Marcel Baudouin - Archaeologist Report the menhir in the early twentieth century.
Gérard Benéteau - Restaurant restaurant Redress the menhir in 1986 after excavations.
Ferdinand Baudry - Abbé and local historian Performs a second block like menhir (1862).

Origin and history

The Menhir de Bourg-Jardin, also known as Menhir de la Boilière, is a megalithic monument located in Avrillé, in the department of Vendée (Pays de la Loire). Dating from Neolithic, it is a local granite block measuring 4.70 meters in height, with an estimated weight of 25 tons. Ranked as historical monuments in 1889, it was rediscovered and studied in the 20th century after being overthrown in a pond in 1962-1963, and then rearranged in 1986 by Gérard Benéteau.

Archaeological excavations revealed key elements: an original calving pit, flints (including an arrow frame of the Middle Neolithic), and a straight ditch dating back to the early C.E., suggesting a palissade surrounding the menhir. A second block of granite of 1.80 m, interpreted as a possible second menhir by Abbé Ferdinand Baudry in 1862, presents cups and striations due to modern ploughs. These discoveries illustrate the ritual or symbolic importance of the site.

The menhir was reported by Marcel Baudouin at the beginning of the 20th century, then documented in works such as Bertrand Poissonnier's La Vendée préhistorique (1997). Its state of conservation and the traces of subsequent developments (fossed, palisade) underline its prolonged use, well beyond its erection period. Today, there remains a major testimony of megalithic practices in Vendée, accessible in the municipality of Avrillé (code INSEE 85010).

External links

Page Wikipedia
Page Monumentum