Brittany

Locqueltas. A menhir, called Le Fuseau de la Femme de Gargantua, 15 feet high. At Plaudren another 18 feet high, and bearing the same name. It is near the road to Josselin on the Lande. The whole neighbourhood is strewn with remains of dolmens and with fallen menhirs.

Guéméné (M.) chl. arr. Pontivy. Anciently Kemenet-Guegnant, owes its origin to a castle of Guegnant, nephew of Alan Canhart, who erected it. The fief passed to the family of Rohan. The castle was converted into a prison for English soldiers in 1792. It is now a ruin.

Silfiac. A Chapel of S. Laurent of the 16th cent. with curious carvings; near it the Holy Well of S. Nodez, which is supposed to cure corns, and other maladies of the feet.

Langoelan. A dolmen on the E. of the hamlet of Villeneuve and in an islet of the Scorff. The church is flamboyant. Le Merzer marks the spot where Selyf or Solomon, King of Devon and Cornwall, coming to Armorica to see his domains there, encountered the pagan natives and was murdered by them. He was son of Geraint, who fell at Langport in Somersetshire in 522, fighting against the Saxons. His wife was S. Gwen, sister of Nonna, mother of S. David, and he was the father of S. Cuby. The Chapel of S. Solomon has been destroyed.

* GUÉRANDE (L.I.) chl. arr. S. Nazaire. An interesting town surrounded by its machicolated walls of granite, erected in 1431 by John V., and flanked by ten towers. There are four gates; that of S. Michel is a veritable fortress in itself defended by two lofty towers. The Church of S. Aubin is of the 12th and 16th cents., and has two porches, and an external pulpit of stone of the 16th cent. Within the church the pillars have carved Romanesque capitals. There is good glass of the 16th cent. N.D. la Blanche is a graceful chapel, erected in 1348 by Jean de Montfort. A menhir with cup-markings at Escoblac. Dolmens at Kerléour, Kerlo, and Sandun. A circle of stones at Kerbourg. Guérande is a good place for a botanist to stay at who desires to study the flora of the saltmarshes on one hand, and of the Grande Brière on the other. The production of salt goes on largely in the salines, and is carried on by private owners. It requires about 40 consecutive dry days between June and September to evaporate the water. The annual production averages 6600 tons. The Grande Brière is divided into 17 communes, and is a vast freshwater peat bed occupying the basin of an ancient lake.

S. Lyphard was a Roman station at the point where the lake of La Brière formerly discharged into the sea. The church is of the 11th cent. The peasants of the Bruyère wear a peculiar costume, and are true Bretons.

La Guerche (I.V.) chl. arr. Vitré. The church, of which portions belong to the 13th and 14th cents., contains some old stained glass. At 2 kilometres to the S. is the Church of Rannée, in part Romanesque.

Guichen (I.V.) chl. arr. Redon. Old chateaux at Gaylieu and Gressillonnoye.

Hédé (I.V.) chl. arr. Rennes. Ruins of the castle on a rock. The church is Romanesque. S. Gaudran, good glass of the 17th cent. in the church, and two silver reliquaries of the 12th cent.

Hennebont (M.) chl. arr. Lorient. Prettily situated on the river Blavet. The town is divided into the Ville Clos within its ancient walls and the new town. A bridge connects them. The old town was fortified by Duke Jean I. (1237-86). It played a signal part in the War of Succession. Jean de Montfort had secured the place. At the end of May 1342, Charles of Blois laid siege to it. Within was the Countess Jeanne, who held out with determination, set fire to the camp of the enemy, and leaving the town unperceived threw herself into Auray, where she gathered reinforcements which she introduced into Hennebont without the feeble Charles being aware what she was about. At last provisions failed, and the magistrates insisted on capitulation. The countess entreated for a couple of days' delay, and at the last moment saw gleaming in the west on the sea the sails of an English fleet sent to her relief. Charles hastily retreated, but again a few months later laid siege to the place. He was, however, again repulsed. The parish church (N.D. de Paradis) on the further side of the river. It is the principal monument in Hennebont, and was erected in 1514-24, and is consequently flamboyant before it sank in debasement. The W. front is light and graceful and has a porch and a tower flanked by a couple of turrets tied to it by galleries sustained on flying buttresses. The spire rises to 150 feet. The choir ends in an apse lighted by two stages of windows. A procession takes place on the last Sunday in Sept. in commemoration of the cessation of an epidemic in 1699. The chapel of S. Antoine is partly Romanesque.

Kervignac. A fine dolmen near the road from Hennebont to Landévant. On the south, near Kermadio, is another. A third, small, near Lopriac. This is one of the most ancient parishes in the diocese of Vannes. It is mentioned as early as the 6th cent. At this time a cloud of locusts came down on the country, and the Count Weroch, fearing famine, sought Gunthiern, a refugee king of Gwent, who had settled at Quimperlé and was in great repute for his austerities. Gunthiern gave water he had blessed to the envoys of Weroch, and this drove the locusts away. In return for this favour, Weroch granted to Gunthiern the plou of Vineac. The Chapel of N.D. de la Clarté is of the 15th cent. That of S. Laurent contains some remains of the screen. A Holy Well of S. Gildas is still in request in the hamlet of Kanden.

* HUELGOAT (F.) chl. arr. Châteaulin. A picturesquely situated townlet at the extremity of a lake that discharges amongst masses of granite down a ravine. The ruinous condition of the granite is not due to earthquake or to glacial action as supposed by some, but to its composition. It contains a large amount of soluble silicate of potass. This disappears under the action of the rain and the granite crumbles away. Huelgoat is four miles from the nearest railway station. The road is through the valley of the Argent, between pine-clad hills. The granite here encounters the schist. The church is a mean renaissance structure, but the Chapel of N.D. des Cieux is more interesting. It is of the 16th cent. and contains some old glass of the period. A camp on a height above the town is attributed to King Arthur.

S. Herbot. A chapel in the parish of Loqeffret is a picturesque structure at the roots of the Monts d'Arrée. A stream here falls in a pretty cascade 400 feet over rocks, and at no great distance from the chapel are the inconsiderable remains of the renaissance Château de Rusquec. The Chapel of S. Herbot is actually a large church and merits attentive study. It possesses a fine square tower without spire or pinnacles. The date is 1516. The W. front is fine. Throughout, the carving of the granite is admirable, the foliage is treated with great boldness. The tower of S. Herbot seems to have served as a model for that of Carhaix, which is a few years later. On the south is a deep porch also well sculptured, with the apostles within, and 24 little statues in the arcade of the entrance. The date of the porch is 1498. The apse is flamboyant like the rest of the church, but the buttresses are later additions in 1618 and 1619. The interior is adorned with a beautiful renaissance screen and returned stalls, but no roodloft. On the W. face the twelve apostles, on that inside the minor prophets and the sibyls. In the chancel is the tomb of the Saint, a hermit of whom nothing authentic is known. It is a work of the 15th cent. There are some old stained glass windows. That on the S. at the E. end represents S. Yves between a rich man and a poor suitor. The date is 1556. The central window contains the story of the Passion, that on the N., S. Laurence on the gridiron. The date 1556, which is also probably that of the central window. Outside the screen are two altars piled up with cows' tails. These are offered to the Saint. Formerly they were hung about the sanctuary. There is a little ossuary on the W. side of the porch. The E. window is of earlier character than the rest in the church, and is of the same character as that of Pont l'Abbé with a transom supporting a rose. Most of the windows testify to the decline of flamboyant, when the flames assume a tadpole form and the lights are uncusped. In the churchyard is a Calvary.

Brennilis has a church with tower and W. façade of 1485. There are two windows of good old glass representing the Conception, S. Christopher, and a monk. Also the life of the Virgin. The church possesses a processional cross of 1650.

Janzé (I.V.) chl. arr. Rennes. The church is partly Romanesque. In the suburbs a menhir with a hole cut in the face to receive an image of the B.V.M.

Essé. Here is one of the finest covered avenues in Brittany. It consists of a main structure with an ante-chamber, and is divided within into compartments. The total length is 43 feet.

Josselin (M.) chl. arr. Ploermel. The capital of the ancient county of Porhoet (Poutre-coet = the land beyond the wood). The story goes that once upon a time a workman here found an image of the Virgin in a bramble bush. As it soon established its character as miraculous, a town sprang up about the sanctuary. Guethenoc, Count of Porhoet, planted a castle here and called it after his son, who completed his father's work in 1053. The castle became the headquarters of the counts and then dukes of Rohan. The original castle had been taken in 1168 by Henry II. of England, and utterly destroyed, but it was rebuilt by Eudes II. in 1173, and was held throughout the War of Succession by the partisans of Charles de Blois. In 1370 it was acquired by Olivier de Clisson, when fresh fortifications were added, notably the keep. Alan IX. Viscount, (1429-62) constructed the beautiful front towards the court. Richelieu had the towers and about half the castle blown up, in 1629, and in 1760 the duke himself pulled down two more towers. What remains of the castle has been most carefully and tastefully restored by the present duke, who graciously allows it to be shown to visitors. The front to the river which bathes its walls is furnished with three towers resting on the rock, and gives some idea of what the castle must have been when complete. The inner façade that looks upon what was the Cour d'honeur is a superb example of domestic architecture in the 15th cent., already under the influence of renaissance ideas. The ten gables of the dormer windows are connected by a balustrade of the richest design, greatly varied, but repeating the device of the Rohans, A Plus. The Church of Notre Dame was originally late Romanesque, and still retains pillars and a window of the period, but the bulk of the church is much posterior. The choir and lateral chapels and the crossing of the transepts date from 1390-1407. The rest of the church is later still. The N. transept was added in 1491. In this church, in 1351, the Franco-Breton company of Thirty made their communion before meeting in deadly combat the Anglo-Bretons of the same number at the cross of Mi-voie. They made a vow before the statue of S. Cadoc that still remains in the church. In Notre Dame is the tomb of Olivier de Clisson, 1507, who married Marguerite de Rohan. An "indulgenced" procession takes place here on Whitsun-Monday. Formerly it was accompanied by barking women, taken with hysterical excitement which made them utter sounds like the barking of dogs. This phenomenon first appeared in 1728 and was renewed annually. Nothing of the sort takes place now. The bold square tower is of the 17th cent. with picturesque slate cap. A new tower and spire are being added at the E. end. This is well enough, if the old tower be left, and the grouping will be effective; but if the latter be pulled down as is proposed, the new spire will be a poor substitute. Inside the church on the right hand is a niche containing a skull to which the peasants make offerings of grain, to cure headaches. None know whose skull it is, but it has recently been enclosed in a wooden silvered bust of S. Laurence.

The priory church of Ste. Croix is of the 11th cent. Romanesque. S. Martin's was erected in the 12th cent. and is now a ruin. In 1793 the Republican garrison of Josselin swept the country to capture the priests, and was fallen upon and defeated by the exasperated peasantry. In 1795 they burned the church of Guegon and smashed the Calvary, but were again attacked and driven off by the peasants.

The famous Battle of the Thirty took place on the Lande de Mi-Voie, between Ploermel and Josselin. The English-Bretons were under Captain Bramber or Bemborough, and the French-Bretons under the Sire de Beaumanoir, governor of Josselin. Although it has been regarded as a battle between English and French, there were actually but three or four of English nationality on the De Montfort side, the rest were Gascons, Angevins and Flemings. Success would perhaps have been with the Anglo-Bretons, had not one of the French perfidiously violated the rules laid down before the engagement, mounted his horse and by this means broke the Anglo-Breton line.

The country around is well-wooded and pretty. The town is dirty and ruinous.

Guegon. The church is in the late Romanesque of the 12th cent., when the style was in transition to 1st pointed. The south aisle is of 1560 and late flamboyant. In a window is stained glass representing the apostles; it is of 1563. The tower and spire were the loftiest in the diocese, but were struck by lightning in 1705.

S. Servan. To this parish Gobrian, Bishop of Vannes, retired in 717 and here died in 725. He was buried in his oratory. A village grew up about his tomb that bore his name. This is now a chapelry, and the chapel is of the 11th cent. with additions of the 15th cent. The nave is floored, forming an upper chamber which served as a hospital for the sick seeking health at the tomb of the Saint.

Jugon (C.N.) chl. arr. Dinan. A prettily situated town at the junction of two valleys, each occupied formerly by a lake and dominated by a strong castle at the fork. One of the lakes has been drained and the castle has been destroyed. The church has nave and S. tower, 2nd pointed and good. There is a curious W. doorway. Choir and transepts are flamboyant. The church has been "restored" in execrable taste. The road from Jugon to Dinan runs over high and dreary country, moors only partially reclaimed.

Lamballe (C.N.) chl. arr. S. Brieuc. A little town in a plain dominated by a ridge of granite that runs to the east and is crowned at its W. termination by the beautiful Chapel of Notre Dame, and by a windmill at the E. termination. In Lamballe are some picturesque old houses, and there is a haras for the improvement of the breed of horses in Brittany. The town possesses three churches, one of which is Notre Dame, and was a chapel of the counts of Penthièvre, and is by far the finest in the town, but it is now only occasionally that divine service is performed in it.

The parish church of S. Jean is of the late middle pointed style, 1425, with an octagonal tower of 1420 at the base, but much later at the crown. The church has been atrociously mutilated, all the tracery cut out of the windows in the 18th cent. to be replaced by an iron framework to sustain the glass. The Church of S. Martin was of early Romanesque of the beginning of the 11th cent., but the arches to the east show the beginning of the pointed style. The S. transept possesses a good middle pointed geometric window. The tower was begun in 1551 and became purely renaissance before completion. The quaint wooden porch was added in 1519.

The Church of Notre Dame is a magnificent structure, and richly repays a close study. The most ancient portions are the N. transept, with lancet windows, the noble gateway and the W. front, together with the arcade of the nave. But the side aisles are late flamboyant. The choir and S. transept were erected by Charles de Blois and are admirable examples of 2nd or middle pointed architecture at its very best. The choir is vaulted but not the nave. To sustain the vault on the S. side are buttresses within the church forming side chapels and pierced with delicate tracery. There is a double triforium. The choir has a square end lighted by a noble E. window, very tall and of only four lights. The clustered pillars on the S. side of the choir and the piers sustaining the central tower are remarkably fine. There is a little flamboyant screen with a renaissance organ-case above it in the S. aisle of the choir.

S. Aaron. On the Lande du Chêne-hut is an allée couverte composed of 13 stones, three of which are coverers, and two others lie in the soil. The whole is 30 feet long.

Meslin. Five allées couvertes on the Lande du Gras. One is in the middle of the Lande, one just below the mill, a third in the Champ des Caves, a fourth at Bourdonnais. In the Lande du Gras is a menhir 10 feet high.

* Landerneau (F.) chl. arr. Brest. An excellent centre for many interesting excursions. The town is commercial and thriving. It possesses a few old houses and a quaint mill. The Church of S. Houardon has been rebuilt, but the beautiful tower and superb porch have been preserved. The date of the porch is 1604, and the tower is of much the same date. Landerneau was a great artistic centre in the 16th and 17th cents., and its architects and sculptors erected the splendid work in the Elorn valley and the region around. The style they created is very original and deserves attention. They delighted in adorning the churches with noble porches, bold, and often with the gable crowned with a spirelet. Within, niches hold statues of the twelve apostles. When all other detail is Italian, the foliage remains of flamboyant character. The second church in Landerneau is that of S. Thomas à Becket, 1607, small and uninteresting. To the W. is an ossuary of 1632 converted into a habitation. The valley of the Elorn presents many scenes of considerable beauty. The rocks are of white quartz breaking through the leafy covert of the hills.

Pencran. A steep ascent of a mile leads to this very interesting church, with fine porch and two calvaries and a spire. The date of the porch is 1553. The sculpture here in Kersanton stone is peculiarly rich and delicate. Among the groups of figures may be distinguished Adam and Eve, and the serpent, the expulsion from Paradise, Cain and Abel, Adam delving whilst Eve spins, the Ark and the drunkenness of Noah. In the tymphanum is the Nativity, much mutilated. Within the church are the Descent from the Cross and the Mater dolorosa, groups carved in 1517.

La Roche Maurice. In a most picturesque situation, the church embowered in trees on a height above the river, and a ruined castle on a rock of white quartz. The castle belonged to the dukes of Rohan whose eldest sons bore the title of Princes de Léon, on account of the large family possessions in Léon. The church has a slim tower with double galleries and two sets of open bell cages, and is an excellent typical example of a style very common in the Department of Finistère. Its date is 1589. The porch with some fine foliage in Kersanton stone is of 1530-40. In the churchyard is a good ossuary of 1640. On it is represented Death darting at all sorts and conditions of men, with the inscription "Je vous tue tous." At the entrance to the churchyard are three pillars that support the cross of Christ and the two thieves. Within the church the magnificent east window with its stained glass of 1539 at once arrests the eye. It represents the story of the Passion and reproduces that in S. Mathieu at Quimper, and that in the church of Tourch. After the stained glass, the screen attracts attention. It is renaissance and is the sole example left in its proper position in a parish church in the dioceses of Léon and Quimper. P. Ascension Day. But at Pontchrist, a ruined renaissance church by the river in a picturesque situation, on the 4th S. in July.

La Martyr. This was the scene of the murder of Solomon, King of Brittany, in 874. Solomon had assassinated his cousin Erispoe, who was king, before the altar of the church of Penpont, and so won the crown for himself. He was a contemptible creature. He proceeded to buy off the Northmen and to promise to pay tribute to Charles the Bald, and undertook to undo all the ecclesiastical organisation formed by Nominoe and surrender the jurisdiction over the Breton sees to the Archbishop of Tours, if the Pope would absolve him of the murder. But this was too much for the Bretons to endure, they rose in revolt, headed by Pasquitien, son of the assassinated king, and Solomon, finding himself deserted on all hands, fled with his son towards the coast, hoping to take refuge in England. But he was overtaken where is now La Martyr, where he had taken sanctuary in the church, dragged forth along with the boy and both were killed (874). For some unaccountable reason the Bretons have regarded this despicable murderer as a saint. The tower of the church belongs to the 13th cent. The entrance to the churchyard is by a triumphal arch adorned with statuary. This is the earliest of the kind in the country and belongs to the 16th cent. The porch is remarkable for its style and for the delicacy and richness of the sculpture. It belongs to the latter part of the 15th cent. The ossuary is of 1619 and is attached to the porch. The interior of the church is of the 14th cent. It had originally a fine screen in Kersanton stone, that has been destroyed, but the basement of the parclose screens remains. Four stained windows of 1567 represent the Passion, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Noli me tangere, the apparition of the risen Christ to His mother, and the Ascension. Also the death, assumption and coronation of the Virgin, and a Jesse tree. The Duke and Duchess of Rohan are represented as the donors. The church possesses a magnificent reliquary of the renaissance period. P. on the 2nd S. in July. A great horse fair follows, lasting three days.

S. Divy. This church possesses a ceiling painted with a series of subjects from the life of S. David. P. Sunday after Ascension and 2nd S. in September.

Dirinon (S. Nonna). The name signifies the steps of Nonna. The church stands on very high ground. It is in the usual style of transition between flamboyant and renaissance (1588-93). A chapel in the churchyard contains the tomb of S. Nonna, mother of S. David, and wife of Sandde, grandson of Ceredig, who drove the Irish out of S.W. Wales and gave its name to Cardigan. The tomb, however, is a work of the 15th cent. At a little distance from the village is her well (1623). At the further end of the village is that of S. David. P. 2nd S. after Trinity.

Plougastel. The costumes of this district are very picturesque. The men wear blue or violet jackets and three waistcoats and sashes. The church is modern, but in the churchyard is a marvellous Calvary (1602-4) consisting of an arcade under a platform crowded with statues, and a frieze surrounds it, carved with subjects in bas-relief. P. at La Fontaine Blanche, Easter Monday and the 15th August; at S. Jean on the 24th June. By the Chapel of S. Guénolé is a rude stone, against which barren women rub themselves in the hope of becoming mothers.

* LANDIVISIAU (F.) chl. arr. Morlaix. A small town on the high road from Morlaix to Brest. It forms an excellent starting point for several interesting excursions. The church is modern, but has a tower and spire of 1590, partaking of the fault of all those in Léon and Cornouailles of this period. It is thin and pinched. The date of the superb porch is 1554. It is an interesting study, as it serves as a link between those of pure flamboyant and such as are true renaissance. About the great arch are subjects from the Old Testament. Within are the twelve apostles; the corbels supporting them are curious and varied; symbolical. For instance, one represents two drunken soldiers carrying off two girls, one carrying a mirror, another a sceptre, signifying that damsels with vanity or arrogance fall an easy prey. In the cemetery outside the town is an ossuary, date about 1620. In the town is the Holy Well of S. Divisiau, almost buried among houses. It supplies a large public washing basin. Two ranges of an arcade surmount it, containing ten panels that have come from some tomb of the 16th cent. Landivisiau, with its comfortable hotel, is a good starting-place for excursions to places where the accommodation is not all that could be desired.