Frébouchère dolmen, Passage grave in Le Bernard, France
The Frébouchère dolmen is an Angevin-type passage grave oriented southeast, with a rectangular chamber 7.20 m long and about 3.50 m wide, bounded by nine orthostats, seven of granite and two of sandstone. A single capstone 8.30 m long, 5.50 m wide and 0.65 m thick, estimated at over 80 tonnes, covers it; the chevet slab overhangs the chamber on both sides. Two pillars of the portico entrance survive, and a conical stone column stands inside the chamber without supporting the roof.
Built probably in the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age (3000–2000 BC), the dolmen was emptied in prehistoric times and later served as a sheepfold. Around 1833 treasure hunters' digging tipped two pillars inward; it was restored in 1887 and classified as a monument historique in 1889. Three stones of the mound's kerb survive, and the pear-shaped tumulus remains are visible south of the monument.
Folklore credits the dolmen to fairies and fadets. A testimony from 1840 records that on feast days girls danced on the capstone while wine was served to the elders inside the burial chamber; the angered fairies then cursed the neighbouring farms and their livestock. The capstone is said to bear a hollow called the Devil's footprint.
The dolmen stands in the hamlet of La Frébouchère, north of Le Bernard, between La Roche-sur-Yon and La Rochelle. The chamber is open and entered from the southeast side; the ground around the stones is flat and sandy. The remains of the pear-shaped tumulus lie to the south, hidden behind a hedge, and the satellite menhirs are a few hundred metres to the north and northeast.
The chamber holds a truncated cone-shaped stone that supports nothing; its purpose is unknown. The German source calls it a pointed menhir with religious meaning. The capstone also bears a hollow said to be the Devil's footprint, and tradition links its lightning fracture to a divine punishment of a pagan monument.
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