Brittany

* ROCHEFORT EN TERRE (M.) chl. arr. Vannes. A picturesquely situated little town on schist rocks above the Arz. The scenery of the valley is pleasing and it has become, like Pont-aven, headquarters of artists. Considerable ruins of the castle exist, and there are several old houses in the town. Rochefort was never walled in. Nevertheless it was furnished with gates in the 18th cent. The Church of N.D. de la Tronchaye having been erected on a slope to the south causes the N. side to appear buried. This side was altered in 1533. In the choir are oak stalls of 1590 and 1592. S. Roque, on a height near the town, was erected in 1527 in consequence of a vow made by the people who were decimated by a plague. It was ruined at the Revolution, but has been rebuilt, 1854. A fair is held at Rochefort on the 2nd Tuesday in every month. Rochefort affords good quarters whence excursions may be made to visit the prehistoric monuments scattered over the Lande de Lanvaux and Haut Branbien. The menhirs are for the most part higher than those of Carnac, but unhappily a great many of them are fallen. These collections of megalithic remains have never been properly investigated and planned, and have not been visited like those of Carnac and Locmariaquer and Erdeven.

Pluherlin on the Lande de Haut Branbien, N. of Rochefort, has many of these strewn over the commune. A menhir 15 feet high is in the Lande de Lanvaux beside the road to Pleucadeuc. Great havoc has been wrought throughout this neighbourhood among the churches; the interesting old structures have been wantonly torn down to make place for the exhibition of the incompetence of Vannes architects.

Rosporden (F.) chl. arr. Quimper. In a pretty situation by a lake that is, however, traversed by the line from Quimper to Vannes, and that from Rosporden to Carhaix. The church has a fine tower and well-proportioned spire of the 13th cent. On the S. side is a porch, one of the oldest in Finistère. The church contains a rude statue of Our Lady, much venerated. It was turned out of the church into the graveyard in 1870, to make way for one more artistic; but the parishioners rose in indignation and forced the curé to replace it. A statue of S. Barbara is erected on a fragment of the ancient Calvary that has been destroyed. P. of S. Eloi, 2nd Sunday in July. Patronal Feast, Aug. 15.

Rostrenen (C.N.) chl. arr. Guingamp, on the slope of a hill, with a great square in the midst, about which are old houses of the 16th and 17th cents. The parish church is modern, but retains a transept of the 14th cent. and a choir and tower of the 18th. The S. porch has in it statues of the apostles.

Glomel. The finest menhir in the Department is near the hamlet of Menhir, and is 25 feet high. Another is in the Bois de Coatcourcaral, 10 feet high. The church is of the 14th cent. with a flamboyant east window. Side windows under gables. N.D. de Trégernan has lost its tower, pulled down in 1842. The chapel has some good glass in it and possesses a Calvary.

Kergrist-Moelo. The parish church is of the 16th cent., with a square pinnacled tower and a rich porch of 1554.

Saint Aubin d'Aubigné (I.V.) chl. arr. Rennes. On the line from Dol to Rennes, a place devoid of interest.

Saint Aubin de Cormier (I.V.) chl. arr. Fougères. The church has a nave of the 14th cent. The rest is of the 16th. This was the scene of the battle fought in 1488, which dealt the last blow to the independence of Brittany. The Sire d'Albret at the head of 14,000 men entered the duchy as one of the suitors for the hand of Anne of Brittany, and he was supported by Henry VII. of England. Maximilian, King of the Romans, another pretender, hastened to enforce his claims as well. The King of France sent an army into the duchy which took Châteaubriant and Fougères and encountered that of Francis II. of Brittany at S. Aubin on the 28th July 1488. The French cavalry broke the ranks of the Breton infantry. Six thousand of these latter fell. The Duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis XII. and the Prince of Orange were taken prisoners. They were shut up in a cellar still shown under the Hôtel du Commerce.

Saint Brice-en-Cogles (I.V.) chl. arr. Fougères. Here are two châteaux, one La Roche Portal of the time of Henry IV.

* SAINT BRIEUC. Capital of the DEpartment of Côtes-du-Nord. Is a dull town situated on the Gouet to which a long descent leads and where is the tidal port. The estuary is between steep hills. The city is the seat of a bishop. It contains a number of picturesque old houses of carved wood with plaster between. The cathedral is low and disappointing externally, but not without dignity within. The only remains of the earlier church is the wall from the apse to the transepts that has been pierced to form chapels. In it are half pillars with capitals of a Romanesque character. The tower of S. Brieuc was formerly fortified and still preserves its loopholes for bowmen, but they have been blocked. This is of the 13th cent. The apse is of the 14th cent. with a triforium. The date is 1335-55. The lady-chapel is of the same period. The fine rose window of the S. transept is of the 15th cent., so is the Chapel of S. Guillaume, composed of two bays separated by tall cylindrical pillars without capitals but with the vaulting ribs springing out of them. The southern tower, with indications of fortification, belongs to the same century. The rose window between the towers is of the 16th cent. The stained glass and mural decorations in the spandrils of the arches of the apse are bad as bad can be. The organ case is composed of panels dated 1540. The plain leaded windows are far more pleasing than the garish stuff with which they are being replaced. In the church is the tomb of S. William, bishop of S. Brieuc. He was the son of Oliver Pinchon and was born at Saint Alban near Lamballe. He was elected bishop in 1220, and soon quarrelled with Pierre Mauclerc, Duke of Brittany, who drove him from his see, and he was obliged to take refuge at Poitiers. He returned to his diocese in 1230, and at once began the rebuilding of his cathedral, but died in 1234. He was an amiable, harmless man, and very considerate to the poor and suffering.

The chapel and fountain of S. Brieuc, on the height to the N.W., are flamboyant and picturesque. On the S. side of the altar is a descent to the cave to which the Saint was wont to retire for prayer. Brioc was the son of an Irish occupant of Cardigan and a Saxon wife. He was educated by the Armorican S. Germain, a nephew of S. Patrick, who afterwards became Apostle of the Isle of Man. On the expulsion of the Irish from S.W. Wales Brioc left with a large number of followers and arrived at the mouth of the Gouet, where a kinsman, by marriage, Rigual had already settled, and he gave him the land where is now the city of S. Brieuc, and where had been a Gallo-Roman town. He died about the middle of the 6th cent. In the Rue Fardel is a house dated 1572. The modern churches in the town are architectural monstrosities. The Chapel of N.D. de l'Esperance is vastly pretentious, but wretched architecturally. The clerestory is filled with stained glass representing Breton Saints. Patronal Feast, S. Brieuc, 1st May. The valley of the Gouet may be followed down to the mouth, and an ascent made to the Tour de Cesson, which has Roman substructions, but was built up and altered at various times.

At Ploufragan is an allée couverte, buried in brambles. The church is modern with a spindly tower and spire.

At La Méaugon is a fine railway viaduct in two stages. The church has in one window a small but admirably drawn representation of the patron saint S. Meugaint, and a carved granite Calvary in the churchyard. Some remains of the screen removed to the west end.

Pledran. A vitrified fort. The vitrification was done by fires lighted in the depth of the wall. As the result was not satisfactory, the face outwards was subsequently banked up.

Saint Jean Brévelay (M.) chl. d'arr Ploermel. On the side of the road to Vannes, near Kerdramel, are two menhirs. A kilometre west of le Moustoir, on the Lande de Coh-Coet, a large dolmen formed of three blocks only; the coverer is 18 feet long. It has the ruins of an allée couverte leading to it. A kilometre south of it is a menhir 18 feet high. The natives of this district fled to England from the Northmen in the 9th cent., and brought back with them, when returning some relics of S. John of Beverley, Archbishop of York, who died in 721.

Plumelec. Between Trégoët and Kersimon is an allée couverte. In the coppice of Château Béauce a large dolmen called Migourdy, which on being explored yielded fragments of a figure of Venus Anadyomene, and a coin of Diocletian, showing that it had been utilised for some unknown purpose in historic times. It is supposed that the place owes its name to S. Meletius, B. of London, who died in 624, and that the refugees to England brought back his relics. But this is not probable; it must have been called plou after a founder of the clan, and the title of plou would hardly have attached to relics. The church is modern; the Chapel of S. Aubin is of 1513, and has some curious carving on the capitals, a fox preaching to geese, etc. Above the N. transept rises a slated spire.

Guéhenno. A modern church, but the porch of 1547 has been preserved. In the graveyard is a fine Calvary of the 16th cent., the finest in Morbihan. On it are numerous single figures as well as groups. It was taken down and buried at the time of the Revolution, so as to preserve it, and was restored in 1855. The Republican ruffians burnt the church. P. on 1st Sunday in September.

Saint Malo (I.V.) chl. d'arr. Occupies the old island of S. Aaron. It is now united to Rocabey by an embankment, the Sillon, along which runs a tramline. The town is walled in and a pleasant walk is on them; the circuit of the walls may thus be made. The castle is of the 15th cent.; it is square with flanking towers. Six gates give admission to the town, in which the streets are very narrow and odorous, and the houses lofty. At the highest point of the island, but smothered among houses, is the Chapel of S. Aaron (Aelhaiarn). This Welsh hermit occupied the island when S. Malo arrived. The cathedral is of the 14th cent. The choir is very English in character, with a square east end. The nave is of the 12th cent. but W. front and sides have been entirely Italianised. The fine central spire was added in 1859, and was the gift to the town of Napoleon III. The tide at S. Malo rises to an extraordinary height. At ebb by a causeway the islets of le Grand and le Petit Bey can be reached. On the nearest are ruins of a castle, and the tomb of Châteaubriant. On the further is a fort that is not occupied. In the offing is the island of Cézambre. Here S. Brendan, when obliged to quit Ireland, founded a monastery, in or about 524; and when S. Malo arrived about a quarter of a century later, he was well received by the abbot and monks on it. There are a cave and a chapel of S. Brendan on the island. But the Government has extended the fortifications on Cézambre and no one without a special authorisation is now allowed to set foot on the island. In S. Malo there are a little museum and a passable library in the Hôtel de Ville. The Breton museum in the Cassino should be visited. It contains good specimens of local carved oak, and chambers fitted with lit-clos, and figures in costume. A flying bridge invented by a native, who invested all his capital in it, connects S. Malo with S. Servan. S. Servan, Dinard, Paramé, are watering places.

S. Servan. The cité marks the site of the ancient city of Aleth and the substructions of the early cathedral have been discovered there. The seat of the bishopric was removed from Aleth to S. Malo by S. John of the Grate, the Bishop in 1142. The reason for the change was the insecurity of Aleth, whereas it was possible to thoroughly fortify the island of Aaron.

Paramé is a watering place, with a low shelving shore, facing north and miserably cold in winter, dusty in summer, and detestable at all times, except to such as frequent the gaming tables.

Saint Méen (I.V.) chl. arr. Montfort. A dull town in uninteresting country. It was the seat of an abbot, head of an important abbey in the Middle Ages. In 1554, S. Samson of Dol, who was engaged in working up a revolt against Conmore the Regent of Domnonia, sent his nephew Mevan across the great central forest to Vannes, probably to consult with Gildas, and to ascertain whether any assistance could be obtained from Count Weroch. On his way, Mevan lighted on a clearing in the forest, where now stands the little town bearing his name. In this clearing lived a British colonist, named Cadvan, who welcomed him and invited him to establish a lann hard by and take over the religious charge of his colony. Mevan agreed, and when Cadvan died, as he had no children, he bequeathed the whole of his plou to Mevan as well as the lann already granted. This was the origin of the abbey, and around the abbey grew the town. The abbey is now turned into a petit séminaire. The nave of the church was pulled down in 1771. The tower belongs to the end of the 12th cent. The transept is of the 13th cent. The choir is of the 14th cent. In the church is the tomb of S. Méen or Mevan, a granite sarcophagus. A pretty chapel of the 12th cent. turned into a sacristy. A Holy Well of S. Méen.

* SAINT NAZAIRE (L.I.) chl. d'arr. Is the seventh most important port in France and is situated at the extremity of a promontory of a gneiss rock that runs along the bank of the Loire. There is nothing of antiquity in the place, which is wholly modern and built on a stiff and formal plan, the houses rivalling each other in ugliness. But there is one curious object in it, an enormous dolmen in the midst of a square, that has been spared, and has given its name to the street leading to it. Five lighthouses guard the entrance of the Loire. From S. Nazaire a visit may be paid to La Grande Brière, a vast turf deposit, once an inland lake. The peculiar costume has almost disappeared, only the women retaining their coiffe. The population of all this district is British, and the descendants of the very earliest immigrants. The hair is for the most part fair, the eyes grey or blue. Formerly the Breton tongue was spoken throughout this district, but it is now spoken by only about 400 persons in the neighbourhood of Batz by Croisic. Curiously enough, the villagers of Batz regard themselves as of different blood from the rest, and to be descendants of Scandinavian pirates who were suffered to settle there. Till quite recently it was an unheard of event for a young man of Batz to marry a girl of what he regarded as the Breton villages. That in colour of hair and eyes there should be no distinction does not militate against the tradition, for the pure blooded Celt is as fair as the Scandinavian.

Saint Nicolas du Pélem (C.N.) chl. arr. Guingamp. A menhir in the forest of Kerhuel, and another near Kerhuel, 9 ft. high. In the valley of Prat-roury another, fusiform, about 11 ft. high. The old Roman road from Aleth to Carhaix ran through this parish, and it remains in fairly perfect condition in several places. On a height is the camp of Dzillon near Kerimard, circular with a tump hollowed out within, certainly a Norseman burh. The Château de Pélem is in ruins, but two of the towers are standing. The Church of S. Nicolas has got very fine restored stained glass of the 14th cent., representing in twenty-four medallions scenes from the gospel story; at the bottom of the window the donors are represented kneeling. Another window contains fragments of medallions representing the life of the Baptist. The roodscreen was wantonly destroyed in 1861. The Chapel of S. Eloi has a fine flamboyant east window with remains of stained glass in it. The Chapel of Riolon is mainly of the 15th cent., and has an east window of the renaissance with stained glass in it representing the Eternal Father seated in the midst of a rose, surrounded by the evangelists, the prophets, and angels playing instruments of music. Another window has fragments of stained glass in it representing saints.

Canihuel. A huge menhir called Coz-resto, 23 ft. high, has been split by lightning. It is in a line with other menhirs at Kergornec, Saint Gilles-Pligeaux, and Crech Ogel in the old bourg of Quintin. At Botquelen is another menhir 13 ft. high.

The parish church was built in 1474, burnt in 1595 and repaired in 1598; it is almost wholly of the 16th cent. with a flamboyant E. window.

Kerpert. Church of the flamboyant period; in the E. window glass of the 16th cent. representing the life of S. Peter; ossuary.

Lanrivain. Ossuary and Calvary of 1548. On the platform are several figures; there are three crosses, the principal one sustains a group of eleven figures carved in one block.

Peumerit-Quintin. Near the hamlet of Pempoul a ruined allée couverte. The Chapel of S. Jean du Loch is mainly of the 15th cent. but retains some portions of the earlier 12th cent. building.

S. Connan.. Near the Mill of Kerdic a ruined allée couverte. Dolmen in the Parc-an-Neurn.

S. Gilles Pligeaux. Two menhirs at Kergornec, one in the Parc-er-Pélem, is 22 ft. high and leans. The other at four hundred paces from it, near the bottom of the valley in Parc-ar-golven, is 13 ft. high. They seem to belong to a system of which only some remain, as Crech Ogel in Vieux Bourg, Coz-resto in Canihuel, and one in the Lande de Bohan in S. Mayeux. Dolmen called Roc-ar-Velcien, the table supported by three uprights. The coverer is almost circular, about 23 ft. in diameter. The church is of the 16th cent., tower and porch of 1644. In the cemetery a chapel dedicated to S. Laurence, with an entombment in the crypt of terracotta of the 17th cent. Date of chapel 1538.

* S. POL DE LÉON (F.) chl. arr. Morlaix. An ancient cathedral town, but the diocese has been united to that of Quimper. The cathedral has two western towers and spires and façade of 1st pointed. The nave is entirely 2nd pointed and has a very beautiful arcade. The cleristory is quite simple, mostly with 1st pointed windows. The side aisles have an arcade under the windows. The transepts are double, i. e. with aisles to the east, fine 2nd pointed. The E. aisle of the S. transept contains very bad flamboyant windows. The choir, ending in an apse, is flamboyant 1431-50, and contains fine carved oak stalls of 1512. The choir has double aisles, N. and S. On the N. side is the Chapel of S. Paul, with his skull, hand, and bell in shrines. The pillars and vaulting of the S. aisle may be noticed.

The Chapel of Kreisker possesses a tower and spire that are supposed by Bretons to be the glory of Finistère. It is badly proportioned; the spire and spirelets overload the summit of the tower. It may be regarded as curious and a clever bit of architecture, but it is not pleasing. This tower is central. The windows are all flamboyant but affect an earlier type. The chapel has triforium and circular cleristory windows on the S. side but none on the N. There is a noble N. porch very richly carved. A very rich W. window. The E. window contains bad modern glass reproducing old figures of Breton saints. The S. side has an arcade under the windows with small lights pierced at intervals. There is a good piscina in the S. aisle. The Church of S. Pierre is now turned into a cemetery chapel. It is 15th cent. but has a baroque west front. Ossuaries (small) are in the wall surrounding the cemetery. On the way to Roscoff, just beyond the railway, is an allée couverte or dolmen.

Roscoff is a quaint place, with an old house or two, situated near the sea, and commanding the Island of Batz. The church has a very remarkable renaissance tower and spire (1550), more fantastic than pleasing, with ships carved on it and cannons or culverins as gargoyles. It is in three stages with galleries. The church is late flamboyant. There are two ossuaries; one is very rich. In the church are preserved the panels of an alabaster retable of the 15th cent. of Flemish work. The Chapel of S. Ninian in the street is in ruins; it was erected by Mary Stuart to commemorate her landing at Roscoff, 1548. The hospital dates from 1573. A Chapel of Ste. Barbe is on a height. P. of Santec, 2nd Sunday after Trinity. P. of Ste. Barbe, 3rd Monday in July. P. in the parish church, August 15.

Sibiril. The Château of Keronzéré erected in 1458 was restored in 1602.

Ile de Batz. It takes a quarter of an hour to cross from Roscoff to the island, and is only to be attempted when the sea is calm. The tide here rises 30 ft. But a visit hardly repays the trouble. When Paulus Aurelianus, a native of Glamorganshire, landed on the west coast of Finistère, he heard that a kinsman, Withur, was living in these parts, and had made himself count or chieftain. He went to visit him, and found him on the Isle of Batz, very old, busy making a copy of the Gospels with his own hand. Withur received him cordially, and advised him to settle among the ruins of an old Roman town on the mainland. Paulus did so, and hence the city of S. Pol de Léon. Legend says that there was a dragon on the island, which S. Paul tamed by binding his stole about its neck and then bidding it precipitate itself into the sea. This is an allegorical way of saying that he put an end to paganism in Batz. The Toul-ar-Sarpant, where the dragon is supposed to have haunted, is pointed out, and the stole of S. Paul, a piece of Byzantine work, is preserved in the church. It is a silk tissue, with a blue ground worked over with white and yellow, to figure a set of warriors facing each other, with a sort of turban head-dress and holding falcons on their wrists, and with a dog between the legs of each horse. A Romanesque chapel stood on the site of S. Paul's monastery on the island. This is called the Peniti; the chapel is ruinous and half-buried in sand. There is a lighthouse on the island.

Saint Rénan (F.) chl. arr. Brest. Pleasantly situated in a woody basin, through which flows the little stream of the Aberildut. The church has a Romanesque choir, and a tower and spire, ill proportioned, of 1772. There are some old and picturesque houses.

Lanrivoaré. The church has a tower in two stages and spire of the usual type but erected in 1727. The church itself is flamboyant. The chancel is Italian. In the N. transept is a singularly uncouth flamboyant window. Above the arches into the choir, transept and nave, the twelve apostles are painted. On the south side of the church is a walled-in quadrangular space where, according to tradition, a whole Christian population was massacred by pagans. No certain details exist, and it is probable that the pagans were the Northmen, who committed frightful atrocities in Brittany in the 10th cent. In the midst of the enclosure is the graveyard of the unnamed saints, laid down with polygonal and various shaped pieces of granite. It is enclosed by a dwarf wall overlaid with pieces of slate. At the east end is a sort of altar sustaining a cross and some fragments of carving. Before the altar lie eight rolled boulders. These are popularly supposed to have been loaves turned into bread. S. Huarvé asked a woman to give him bread, and she refused. As a judgment for her hardheartedness all her loaves were petrified. Actually these pebbles are "cursing stones," and such boulders exist in several chapels in Ireland, and are used for calling down disease or destruction on an enemy. The person invoking the curse, after a certain number of prayers turns the stone round seven times. That these pebbles have been so employed is probable, as the under surfaces of the stones are well rubbed. But happily this pagan usage is no longer in resort, and the stones remain with only the childish legend attached to them to explain their presence. S. Rivoaré, the patron of the church, was a priest, brother of Rivanon the mother of S. Huarvé or Hérvé, the blind bard saint. It is not unusual to see pilgrims, also the parishioners of Lanrivoaré enter the enclosure, take off their shoes and stockings, kneel, and recite prayers and then pace on the slates thrice about the burial place, taking care to step on each slab of slate, and omit none. In the village is a curious stone cross with a clothed figure of Christ upon it. A short walk from Lanrivoaré leads to the ruined Château of Kergroades, situated in beautiful woods, with avenues of oak and chestnut. It is difficult to find, and a guide must be taken. The château is in a charming position; it is of renaissance architecture throughout, and the court of honour front is in fair condition. But the gates are locked and admission is not easily obtained. The patronal feast at Lanrivoaré is on the 3rd Sunday in October, and P. at the Chapel of Lanvennec the 4th Sunday in September.