The Boundstone Trail from Nommay to Brevilliers in the Principality of Montbéliard

(S/E) At the top of Rue sous les Coteaux in Nommay, at the edge of the tarmac, continue straight ahead. Pass under the high-voltage power lines.

(1) Turn left.

(2) You’ll reach the first boundary stones, nos. 205 and 206, situated side by side with an information sign. Carry on straight ahead.

(3) At the junction with a forest track, carry on straight ahead. Then, after a few hundred metres, leave the forest track which branches off to the right.

(4) Turn left before the high-speed rail line (LGV) to pass underneath it 400 metres further on.
200 m after the high-speed rail line, turn right to rejoin the GR®5. On this section, there are two boundary stones (dated 1764 and 1761).

(5) At the junction with the^GR®5, turn right (Blue Triangle markings). Continue for 500 m.

(6) At this point, there is a triangular boundary stone marking the border between three departments: Haute-Saône, Territoire de Belfort and Doubs (the Seigneurie d’Héricourt, the County of Belfort and the County of Montbéliard in the 17th and 18th centuries).
Turn left uphill (Blue Triangle signposting).

(7) Historic boundary stone; continue straight ahead.

(8) At the crossroads, turn right (Blue Triangle signposting).

(9) At this other junction, continue left, heading downhill.

(10) At the junction with a forest track, turn left.

(11) Junction with access to the dolmen (indicated by a sign).
Turn left (marked with a Red Triangle). Continue to the sheltered dolmen.

(12) Brévilliers dolmen.

(13) Junction with^{the GR®5}. Turn left onto the forest track (^GR®5markings) and follow the markings to a crossroads you have already passed on the way there.

(5) Turn left then carry on straight ahead to a junction you have already passed on the way there.

(6) Carry on straight ahead.

(14) Junction with a forest track before the tunnel under the high-speed rail line.
Carry on straight ahead under the high-speed rail line until you reach the recycling centre.

(15) Turn right, leaving the^GR®. Pass under the power lines.

(16) Turn right twice.

(17) At the crossroads, turn right; then, under the high-voltage power line, turn left and follow it for 250 m. After the^first climb, continue straight on down the slope at the^first junction and climb back up under the high-voltage power line, then turn right at the boundary of the municipality and follow an unmarked path through the forest.

(1) At the junction with the outbound path, turn left and retrace your steps to the Rue sous les Coteaux de Nommay (S/E).

The boundary stones: history
Until the 18th century, the town of Montbéliard was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The name ‘Principality of Montbéliard’ dates from the 15th century. Throughout this route, you can discover the boundary stones that bear witness to the upheavals in the history of this region.
The boundary stones bear a coat of arms on each side: the Bear of Bern, a bishop’s crozier from Basel, three fleurs-de-lis for the King of France, and three pairs of deer antlers for the County of Montbéliard.
As for Belfort, it became French during the Thirty Years’ War (16th century). After Louis XIV gifted Belfort, along with the seigneury of Delle, to Cardinal Mazarin, the boundary stones along this border came to bear Mazarin’s coat of arms: a battle-axe with three stars, sometimes surmounted by a ducal crown. These boundary stones are sometimes referred to as ‘Mazarines’.

The sheltered dolmen at Brevilliers is the remains of a burial site dating from between 3,400 and 2,300 years before Christ.

It is the Randonnée Hérimoncourtoise that has signposted and maintains the Historic Trail of the Boundary Stones of the Principality of Montbéliard.