Brittany

S. Thégonnec. This place is richly deserving of a visit with its church, and churchyard overcrowded with piles of granite, Calvary and ossuary and triumphal arch. The last mentioned is of 1587 and is cumbrous but effective. These triumphal arches first made their appearance at the close of the Gothic period. This is wholly Italian in character. The ossuary adjoins it and belongs to a later period, but is far purer in design, 1676-7. The façade is very rich and beautiful. Within in a crypt is a Holy Sepulchre, life sized figures of 1702. The Calvary dates from 1610 and represents scenes of the Passion. The oldest portion of the church is the west doorway with the little bell-turret rising above it; this dates from 1563. At a later date the huge tower was erected on the south with a porch in its basement, built between 1599 and 1610, the statues added in 1632. Above the porch is the statue of S. Thégonnec (To-quessnac, a disciple of Paul of Léon). The window tracery is modern and does not faithfully represent the old tracery. The nave was built in 1777. The furniture of the church is interesting. The pulpit, though late, is fine. A niche with shutters painted with scenes from the Saint's life contains a statue of the patron. Opposite is another statue of the B.V.M. with painted shutters. The tower is heavy, and the effect of chamfering the angles very unpleasing. To support the gallery the angles of the tower are very massive, buttresses are added and between them the wall is reduced, and the gallery sustained on heavy corbels. The platform is surmounted by a dome and lantern and little side pepper-boxes. The interior effect of the church is rich and harmonious in gold and colour, if somewhat barbaric.

Locmelar is reached by ascending a pretty valley that contains an affluent of the Elorn. The church is late flamboyant, with apse and gables. The porch is of the common type of the period and contains statues of the apostles. There is a Calvary. The tower dates from 1656. Over a side altar is a painting representing in a series of groups the legend of S. Hervé, a blind bard saint who contributed greatly to the downfall of Conmore, acting in conjunction with Gildas and S. Samson.

Bodilis. The tower of this church was erected when Gothic architecture was in its decline. It is surmounted by a spire with spirelets at the angles rising from a gallery. The porch is of 1570, and is of unusual beauty. Within are the apostles; below the niches runs a band of marvellous richness of sculpture and great variety. The font is surmounted by a baldachin in Kersanton stone of 1680. P. on Ascension Day.

S. Servais. This church has an early renaissance tower with double galleries and two bell cages, the whole surmounted by a spire and pinnacles. The body of the church is of the latter half of the 17th cent. The graveyard cross has sculptured scenes on it, and there is an ossuary like that at Landivisiau.

Guimiliau. Annually numerous tourists visit this village to see its very remarkable ecclesiastical monuments, its church, porch, sacristy, calvary, and the little Chapel of Ste. Anne. The porch rivals that of Bodilis and Landerneau. The doorway into the porch has a series of biblical scenes in sculpture in the mouldings. The date is 1617. The voluted keystone alone proclaims the abandonment of Gothic for Italian architecture. To the west side of the porch is attached an ossuary, the roof supported by columns. The sacristy was erected in 1683. The Calvary consists of a mass of masonry, pierced by arches in the angle buttresses, the whole sustaining a frieze covered with sculptured figures, and the platform above crowded with statues. The whole surmounted by the cross with SS. Mary and John at the sides. The groups are very curious and represent soldiers and peasants of the close of the 16th cent. The Calvary was erected in 1581. Near the Calvary is the mortuary chapel of Ste. Anne, 1648. The interior of the church contains a magnificent baldachino over the font in carved oak; it was constructed in 1675. The organ case is of much the same date, the pulpit of 1677. The church possesses two embroidered banners of 1678. Guimiliau (Vicus Miliai) has as patron Miliau, King of Cornouaille, who was basely assassinated by his brother Rivold in 537, who also mutilated his nephew Melor, by amputating a hand and a foot, and finally by having him murdered by his foster-father, whom he had bribed to do the deed.

There is a Holy Well of S. Miliau outside the village.

Lampaul-Guimiliau. The great tower of this church (S. Paul of Léon) was founded in 1573, and is very lofty and surmounted by a spire which has remained incomplete. The porch is fifty years older. Within are the apostles in very quaint niches. The sculpture of the Holy Water Stoup and of the inner doorway is remarkably rich. The font is of 1651, and is surrounded and surmounted by a baldachino of 1650. The pulpit, that is late, is a fine piece of wood carving. The east end of the choir terminates in an apse with gables. The Calvary, triumphal arch, and ossuary belong to 1668. P. 1st S. in May. At the Chapel of S. Anne, S. after 15th August.

See also Lambader and Plouneour-Menez.

* LANMEUR (F.) chl. arr. Morlaix. The church surmounts a crypt that is very curious and rude, and is attributed to the 10th cent. In this crypt was once the tomb of S. Melor (see under Guimiliau), whose body was transferred in the 9th cent. by refugee Bretons to Amesbury. There is a fountain in the crypt. Of the upper church only four piers and a small door belong to the original building. Near the church is the Romanesque Chapel of Kernitron (12th cent.). It is a cross church with a bold central tower. Some of the windows are late. The P. of Kernitron is on the 15th August.

S. Jean du Doigt is a complete and interesting collection of structures such as were wont to be grouped about a parish church. There is first the monumental church itself, in the midst of a graveyard entered by a triumphal arch, a Holy Well, a Calvary, an ossuary, and an open oratory, where mass is celebrated before an enormous crowd on the occasion of the Pardon, and, finally, the church possesses a rare collection of precious ornaments, such as belong to no other parish in the diocese. The triumphal arch is of the 15th cent. The Holy Well is in the churchyard, and is a noble renaissance structure composed of a large basin, with two superposed vessels, from which heads of angels spout water. The whole is surmounted by a group representing the Baptism of Christ. Almost in face of this is a pretty oratory of 1574, very elaborately and quaintly sculptured. The tower is surmounted by spire and spirelets covered with lead. The east end of the church has in it a noble rose window. At the foot of the tower is an ossuary, and a second of 1618 is on the S.W. The S. porch has a parvise chamber above the doorway. The interior is rich, and the inner doorway is surmounted by a statue of the Baptist in a Gothic niche with wings. The church was commenced in 1440, and was completed in 1513, so that it belongs to an excellent period of flamboyant, of which unfortunately examples are few. Internally the exaggerated height of the pillars as compared with the arches deserves notice. The treasury is extraordinarily rich in chalices, reliquaries, and a processional cross of the 16th cent. A reliquary of the finger of S. John is of 1429. The P. is on the 24th June, and draws vast crowds of pilgrims. The object of the cult is a finger of the Baptist, which is supposed to have its nail pared annually. It was stolen from some chapel in Normandy by a native of Plougasnou, who successfully conveyed it to his native village. There is, of course, not a particle of evidence worth a rush that substantiates the relic as genuine.

Plougasnou has an interesting church on a storm-beaten coast. The interior is Romanesque, but the exterior dates from 1574. It has a tower of 1582. A curious Chapel of N.D. de Lorette with caryatides is shaped like an old Lycian tomb.

Guimaec. Here are two cromlechs or stone-circles.

Lannilis (F.) chl. arr. Brest. The church modern and bad. The tower is of 1774, in the true Léon style, and interesting as showing to how late a date the style continued. It has two galleries for four bells, and spire with ample spirelets. The line is carried on to the sea, where there is a watering place at Abervach. The coast is not remarkable, but there are good sands.

Plouguerneau. On the east is the site of Tolente, a town that was completely destroyed by the Northmen in 875. P. of Tréminach on 1st S. after the 10th Aug. P. of S. Cava on the last S. in August; at S. Michel on the last S. in September.

Locbrévelaire. The valley of the Abervach is here pretty. The place is mainly of interest to the geologist. The whole hill on which Locbrévelaire stands is composed of Tertiary Oligocene, the ruins of granite, and is of a spongy nature, full of kaolin and with lumps and bands of quartz undissolved, and much mica. It is quarried for road-making, but the quartz alone is of value for that purpose. Almost certainly below this spongy mass a bed of kaolin would be found. The church (S. Brevelaire = S. Brendan) lies on one side of the valley in a lap of the hills, and opposite are the noble woods and park of the Château de Liscoat. The church contains an arcade of the 11th cent., very rude. The S. wall is 17th cent. The tower of the same. There is, in the churchyard wall, a Holy Well surmounted by a statue of the Saint. S. Brendan, afterwards Abbot of Clonfert, was forced to leave Ireland in 520, owing to his having unintentionally caused the death of one of his pupils, and he spent seven years away from it, during which time he founded a monastery on the island of Cézambre, opposite S. Malo, and another in a different part of Brittany. This latter may be Locbrévelaire.

* LANNION (C.N.) chl. d'arr. A picturesquely situated town on the Guer that reaches the sea seven kilometres below. The tide reaches as far as Lannion, and it has a little port. The Church of S. Jean de Balay consists of a nave and four aisles under one roof, and without clerestory and without transepts. It is lighted through side windows under gables. These windows are of various periods. One is of the 14th cent., others of the 16th, and there are instructive examples of the debased tracery of the 17th. In the market place are some picturesque old houses. By the river is a fine pile of buildings now used as a hospital. Particularly noticeable is a rich late window, an attempt – and an expiring one – to design a rose with flowing and beautiful tracery. In another twenty or thirty years, as may be seen in the windows of S. Jean de Balay on the N. side, the skill was wholly lost. Divided from Lannion by a deep valley is the Church of Brévelenz. The east part and crypt are Romanesque. There is a good early pointed porch. An ossuary and a mortuary chapel are in the graveyard. The pinnacles, one a chimney to the fireplace for heating baptismal water, at the porch are peculiar.

Loquivy is in a charming situation. The church (S. David) is interesting. In the churchyard is a noble renaissance fountain, and outside the graveyard a Holy Well, flamboyant, surmounted by a statue of the patron saint of Wales. The church is of the 16th cent. An old carved oak retable representing the Adoration of the Magi and a crowd of other figures is in the baptistery.

Ploubezre. The church was rebuilt in 1851, but the fine tower is of 1577. Within have been preserved two Romano-byzantine capitals from the old church, and one window of the 14th cent. remains. The chapel of Kerfons is flamboyant, and is in the form of a T. One of the gables bears the date 1559. The magnificent roodscreen is of 1533. It is a beautiful example of good flamboyant work, with apostles and other figures on the gallery on one side, and tracery on the other. The castle of Coetfrec occupies the summit of a hill above the Guer. Four towers remain, and the castle is in a tolerable condition. The court is looked into by the windows of the state apartments, in one of these, a fireplace with bold chimney-piece, remains. The Château de Kergrist is a ruin, complete. Tonquedec is another old castle in a most picturesque situation. On the N. is the donjon, which is reached by a door high up in the wall. The Chapel of S. Gildas is of 15th cent., with the legend of the Saint within in sculptured oak.

Lanvollon (C.N.) chl. arr. S. Brieuc. Reached by carrier from Châtelaudren, is a dull town with one curious old house in it at the junction of two streets; it is of wood and plaster, the wood covered with carving. The church (S. Vollon = Foelan) belongs internally to the 14th cent., and has a good E. window, but externally the church has been sadly maltreated by incompetent "restorers."

* LESNEVEN (F.) chl. arr. Brest. An uninteresting place in itself, but headquarters to one attending the Pardon at Folgoët. Its fine halles of the 15th or 16th cent. has been destroyed to make way for a "place" with a statue in the midst of a General Floh, of bronze. When this statue was sent down, and the Mayor opened the case, to his dismay he found it was green. So he set his wife, cook, and house-maid to sandpaper and scrape it, till it shone as gold, and then had it hoisted to its pedestal, and it was solemnly unveiled. But the artist, who beheld it thus burnished, was furious, and complained to the prefêt and the authorities at Paris, and orders came to the Mayor to take down the statue and restore to it the green rust. He was obliged accordingly to re-erect the scaffold and crane, and have General Floh transferred to his own house again, where he expended some barrels of cider over him to reinvest him in verdigris. The church is very ugly, but it has a late renaissance porch in the basement of the tower on the N. side.

The branch line is carried on to Brignogan, which is a watering-place, and where there is a fine menhir 30 ft. high, the most remarkable in the Department. At Plounéour-trez the church is new, but the old tower and spire are retained till they also can be pulled down and replaced by something more in proportion with the new church. The windows represent scenes in Breton history. The coast is not fine, the sandy shore slopes very gently into the waves. But the good bathing is an advantage.

Folgoët. This famous pilgrimage church was founded in the 14th cent. when an imbecile youth died who could say no other words than Ave Maria, Salaun a zepre bara, or Salaun wants bread. A lily grew out of his grave and it was concluded accordingly that he was a saint. This was in 1358. At the west end are two towers. That on the north is admirably proportioned with spire and angle spirelets of the period, 1365, when Jean de Montfort laid the first stone. That on the S. was never finished. It is surmounted by an upper stage with Ionic pillasters added in the 17th cent. The S. side has a noble porch and transept, the E. wall of which is a continuation of that of the choir. The E. and S. transept windows are examples of the geometric style in Brittany, a rose resting on a transom. Within the stone screen is formed of three compartments, and though fine, is certainly inferior to such as are in wood. A spring wells up under the high altar and is conveyed to a Holy Well outside. La Doyenne is a picturesque building with turrets erected by Anne of Brittany, converted into Mairie and school. The P. is on the 7th and 8th September, and begins with vespers and a procession bearing candles; many beautiful costumes may be seen on this occasion.

The processions arrive with banners for High Mass, singing this hymn.

Patronez dous ar Folgoat, Hor mam ak nonItroun, An dour en non daoulagat Ni noped a gatoun!Harpit an Iliz santel! Aveldirollara Tenn ok hir eo ar brezel! Ar peoc'h, O maria!

Goulven. The church is late flamboyant with a fine renaissance tower and porch within which are the apostles. Side by side may be seen a doorway of the earlier and of the later periods. There is a fine painted 16th cent. reredos in the church to a side altar. The gallery of the roodscreen has been made into a west gallery. About a mile distant is the Holy Well, with a stone trough at the side in which patients were placed and given a bath in the miraculous water. No such an attempt to recover health has however been made of late years. There is a chapel at the Peniti of S. Goulven at a little distance. A double dolmen at a junction of two lanes has been much injured, several of the stones that composed one of the chambers, and perhaps an enclosing circle, have been employed for the hedge. The P. is on June 30, the costumes then seen are very rich, and the parish possesses very fine old embroidered banners then produced.

Treflez. Tomb of 16th cent. of S. Elfleda or Ediltruda, daughter of Oswy, King of Northumberland, and Abbess of Whitby. She died in 715, but how her body comes to be at Treflez passes knowledge.

Guiseny. Church of S. Sezni (Setna or in Cornwall, Sithney) renaissance. There is a N. late flamboyant porch. Curious early Calvary with four figures on the branches. P. 3rd Sunday in September.

Lézardrieux (C.N.) chl. arr. Lannion, on a little tidal port, between Pampol and Tréguier. An excursion may be made to the Ile Modez. See Bréhat.

Locmariaquer (M.) com. in arr. Auray. A most interesting place that seems to have been crowded with monuments of the prehistoric dead, and although destruction has been carried on for two thousand years, many still remain. Locmariaquer is situated on a spit of land between the estuary of Crach and the Rivière de la Trinité, but it is itself split by the creek of S. Philibert. The shores that are low are covered far inland at the high tides, and the sea has gained considerably on the land. Roman constructions noted in 1727 are now permanently under water. A camp in the hamlet of Lannbric is now eaten into by the waves. The principal prehistoric monuments are the Mané-er-hroeg, south of the village; a tumulus containing a dolmen that was explored in 1863 and yielded 103 polished stone axes, a collar of callais, and a jade ring. Near it was found a slab on which are mysterious markings representing cartouches, celts with handles, and other symbols unexplained. On the summit of the tumulus were found coins of Tiberius and Trajan. The tumulus of Mané Lud to the N.E. of the village contained two skeletons, one a case of carnal interment, the other had been burnt. At the W. end of the tumulus is a sepulchral chamber led to by a passage, and here also are carvings. Between this tumulus and the village is the huge dolmen called Table des Marchands. On the stone at the back are also carvings. Close to this is the longest menhir known. It is 64 ft. long, but was struck by lightning, thrown down and broken into four pieces. In a field near the village is the Mein Rutal, another dolmen of considerable size. West of the village and near the sea are the remains of an allée couverte, 74 ft. long, called Les Pierres plates. On this also are inexplicable carvings, next to those on Gavr Inis, the most remarkable in the country. There are smaller dolmens at Pont-el-leu, Kercadoret-er-Gal, Coetcourzo, Kerhan, Porher, Kerlud, Locperhet, Pont-er-vel, Kervéres, Kerdaniel, Kervoch, and Cocordeau; and menhirs at Kerpenhir, Bronso, Porher, Mané-er-hroeg, Kerguelvan and Lannbric. Locmariaquer was a Roman station. P. 1st Sunday in July; that of S. Philibert on the 3rd Sunday in August.

Locminé (M.) chl. arr. Pontivy (Locus Monachorum). A considerable district was here made over to Gildas who founded a monastery where now stands the village of Moustoir. Owing to the ravages of the Northmen the monks of S. Gildas de Rhuys and of Locminé fled into Berry. They returned in 1001, and set about restoring their ruined monasteries, but the old site at Moustoir was not rebuilt upon; the abbey was transferred to Locminé. The parish church and the Chapel of S. Columbanus are side by side, in communication through an arch. The latter owes its origin to some relics of S. Columbanus having been brought hither. The chapel is late flamboyant, but has a 17th cent. tower, under it an earlier doorway with mutilated tracery above it. The parish church has a slated spire, that of S. Columbanus is surmounted by a small cupola. A quaint ossuary of good renaissance work is on the N. side. The east window of the chapel contains 16th cent. glass representing the life of S. Columbanus in four groups, but in a very poor condition. East of the chapel is the beautiful Chapel of N.D. de Plasquer, of the finest flamboyant work. The W. doorway has disengaged pinnacles and some curious carving. The E. window tracery forms three fleurs-de-lys. Within is a pretty flamboyant credence in the N. chapel under the tower. In a corner thrown aside is a noble carved oak statue of S. Gildas of the 15th cent. with his symbol, a snarling dog, at his side. P. 31st June, but that of Locminé is the Sunday nearest 27th June and lasts three days.

Remungol has a Holy Well near the church, a work of the 16th cent.

Lorient, chl. d'arr. A port. The town is composed of Lorient itself, a fortified place, and the Faubourg of Kérentrech, where a suspension bridge crosses the Scorff. Lorient owes its origin to the East India Company. That company, created in 1664, was in quest of a port. The Duc de la Meilleraye offered Port Louis, and in 1666 royal authority was granted to the company to form there quays, factories and storehouses. The village founded by La Compagnie de l'Orient took thence its name. The company having got over a financial crisis in 1669 bought up land in the neighbourhood. In 1712 the settlement comprised 700 families; it was raised to be a parish in 1709. In 1717 the company began to build and lay out quays and form basins on a grand scale, and in 1739 Lorient attained the dignity of being accounted a town. In 1745, the company had reached its highest point of prosperity, and had become a veritable maritime power, with 35 frigates in the harbour. Its flag was blue charged with a fleur-de-lys or, and it had as device Florebo quocunque ferar. English jealousies were aroused, and in 1746 an English fleet anchored in the Bay of Pont-du. Seven thousand men were disembarked under General Sinclair and summoned the town to surrender. As this was refused it was besieged, but after a few days General Sinclair withdrew without having effected anything. Curiously enough, the garrison had resolved on surrender, and sent to notify their purpose to the general, but found that the English had departed. The company failed, partly through internal dissension, mainly through the loss of Bengal, which was secured by the English in 1753. From this time the fortunes of the company declined, and at last it became bankrupt in 1769. It was then that Lorient passed to the Crown. The town is supremely uninteresting, and no visitor will stay in it except under constraint.

Port Louis. The Church of N.D., 1665. The citadel of the 18th cent., at one time served as a prison to Louis Napoleon.

Ploemeur. A circle of standing stones 20 ft. in diameter surrounds a tumulus, on the top of which is a dolmen fallen, thrown down by clumsy excavators. Near Kerroch a dolmen, the table sustained by three uprights, and near it the supporter of another. On the S. some menhirs, the remains of an alignment. At Kerpape, near the powder mill, another dolmen. At the Pointe du Tallut a menhir 12 ft. high, and near it another fallen. Ploumaur, the Great Tribe, was one of the largest parishes in the diocese; it was settled by S. Ninnoc, supposed to have been a daughter of the King of Brecknock. Her double monastery for both sexes was destroyed by the Northmen, and it was not rebuilt till the 12th cent. The church contains Romanesque work, but the tower was built in 1686, and the chancel was altered and disfigured in 1783. P. 1st Sunday in May. The Chapel of N.D. de Larmor was built in 1506, the tower and spire added in 1615. It was a great place of pilgrim resort till S. Anne d'Auray drew away the seamen who were wont to resort to Larmor. The benediction of the sea takes place on the 24th June.

Plouhinec. On the N. near Kerfourches two ruined dolmens and a menhir. The W., near the mill of Keronsine, alignments running parallel with the coast. Near Kersur a small menhir and four dolmens. At the mill of Gueldro the alignments recommence in seven or eight rows, and run on to Keroué and Kervelhué. At Magouer a tumulus with a dolmen and a group of menhirs, most of them fallen, and others have been split and used for building purposes.