La Barbière dolmen, Neolithic gallery grave in Crossac, France

La Barbière is a partly ruined gallery grave about 12 metres long. One capstone, 5 metres long and 2.90 metres wide, still rests on four upright stones 1.20 to 1.30 metres high, covering a chamber 2.70 metres long, 2.10 metres wide and 1.52 metres high. A second capstone, 4.95 metres long and 1.50 metres wide, lies toppled at the far end, and other blocks form a double row of uprights without capstones. A fallen slab bears cup marks on a pecked surface.

The gallery grave was likely built in the Neolithic, but its exact date is unknown. In the 19th century a poor woman lived inside the chamber, which had been converted into a small cottage; she is said to have inspired the character Florence in Alphonse de Châteaubriant's novel La Brière. The nearby calvary cross was probably cut from an old slab of the monument.

Local tradition holds that a poor woman lived in the chamber, fitted out as a small thatched cottage, in the mid-19th century. She is said to have inspired the character Florence in Châteaubriant's novel La Brière. Another tale tells of quarrymen who tried to cut the slabs and were interrupted by a flight of white doves.

The dolmen stands on a small hilltop about ten metres north of the D4 departmental road, east of Crossac village at the lieu-dit La Ricortais. It is reached from the road on foot; the stones lie on grass beneath trees, with fallen slabs in the foreground and to the right.

The cross of the small calvary a short distance west of the monument was probably cut from an old slab of the dolmen. Local tradition also tells of quarrymen who wanted to cut up the stones and were interrupted by a flight of white doves.