Brittany

There is here a statue of the Duc de Chambord (1891) in bronze, flanked by those of Bayard, Du Guesclin, Ste. Geneviève, and Joan of Arc.

The Chartreuse near the Auray railway station is now a deaf and dumb asylum. It occupies the site of the battle in which, in 1364, Jean de Monfort defeated and killed Charles de Blois. He founded the monastery, but only a small portion of the old structure remains. Here is the chapel, on the N. side of the church, in which rest the bodies of the royalists who had been landed from English transports at Quiberon, and whom Hoche and his republican soldiers shot down in cold blood to the number of 952 between 1st and 25th August 1795. The butchery took place not far from the Chartreuse, and the bodies were buried on the spot since called le Champ des Martyrs. In 1814 they were transferred to this chapel erected to contain them. It was completed in 1829. In the midst of the chapel is the mausoleum of white marble.

The chapelle expiatoire is situated at a quarter of an hour's walk from the Chartreuse and is in the Greek style, and is on the site of the massacre. Near by is a cross commemorative of Montfort's victory over Charles de Blois.

Plougoumelin. The parish church modern and bad. The Chapel of N.D. de Becquerel has a fine west porch of the Breton commingling of flamboyant and renaissance. An unfailing spring issues from under the wall of the apse. The water is thought to cure diseases of the mouth. Several lechs are in the parish. One called the Pierre du Serment is about 4 ft. 6 in. long, is in the churchyard and lies prostrate. Another is between the parsonage and the cemetery, and a third, round, with three hollows sunk in it, is at the presbytère. A tumulus by the river of Auray at Le Rocher covers an allée couverte. There are six others, smaller, in a line with it running from S.W. to N.E. They have yielded copper vessels and flint weapons, and belong to the intermediate age, before alloy was introduced for the formation of bronze.

Crach. Here in the commune are numerous prehistoric remains. Rather over a mile from Auray on the road to Crach is a fine dolmen, the coverer 22 ft. long, and having on it a circle of hollows. Other dolmens at Keryn, Kergleverit, and Parq-er-Gueren, near the Chapel of S. Jean. Several menhirs on the common. The Château de Plessisker is of the 17th cent. P. at Crach on the 1st S. in July. See alsoLocmariaquer (#litres_trial_promo).

Bain (I.V.) chl. arr. Redon, on the Route nationale from Rennes to Nantes. In the cemetery a cross of the 16th cent. Château de la Noé of the 15th cent. By a little lake are the remains of a castle converted into a farmhouse.

* BAUD (M.) chl. arr. Pontivy. A district in which much hemp is grown and cordwaining is carried on. The women wear coiffes like sunbonnets, and sabots with leather toe-pieces and straps neatly embroidered. The church, a mean structure of 1687, is about to be pulled down. It is dominated by the far more stately Chapel of N.D. de la Clarté of the 16th cent. Vaulted throughout with very peculiar straight groining and vaulting in the S. aisle. The chapel has an apse, the tracery has been removed from the windows and the old stained glass got rid of to make way for sad modern rubbish. The tower is later than the chapel and is unfinished. A huge ducal crown of Brittany is suspended in the apse. The crown is closed above, a right claimed by the dukes. P. 2nd July.

In the woods of the old château of Quinipili (guide advisable) is the rude granite statue of the famous Venus of Quinipili removed from Castannec on the Blavet. It is 6 ft. high, with the hands crossed over the breast and with a sort of stole hanging down in front, and a band about the head on which are cut IIT. The statue, which received idolatrous worship, was transferred in 1695 to Quinipili, by Count Pierre de Lannion, along with a huge granite basin that stood before it. He set it up on a pedestal in his grounds and cut a pseudo-classic inscription on the base. As the original statue was indecent, he set a sculptor to alter it, and probably the stole is due to this man's chisel.

Camors. There are two dolmens in the forest, and an allée couverte at Kerpenru. Of menhirs, one is on the lande of Penher, three at Kerguelen, a stone-row of twenty uprights at Kernoul. Seven menhirs in the wood at Floranges, and six in the forest of Camors. At Porhoet-er-Saleu, are the remains of the castle of Conmore, Count of Poher, and regent of Domnonia. He is regarded as the Bluebeard of Brittany, although he was actually only thrice married, to the sister of Jonas, King of Domnonia, to that of Meliau, King of Cornouaille, and lastly to Triphena, daughter of Weroch, Count of Vannes. This latter marriage was effected by the persuasion of S. Gildas. Conmore, however, so ill-treated his wife that she ran away to her father at Vannes. Gildas, who was at the time at Castannec, was furious with Conmore, and local legend asserts, that he came before this castle, gathered up a handful of earth, and casting it against the walls cursed it, that it should never again be inhabited. S. Triphena is invoked in the neighbourhood by women with troublesome husbands, and little wooden crosses may be found on the site of the castle set up by them in token that they have made a vow to S. Triphena to rid them of their annoyance. The church of Camors is dedicated to S. Senan, abbot of Iniscathy.

Guénin. The church is of 1773. The Chapel of N.D. de Menez-guen is flamboyant but late, 1577, with alterations made in 1604 and 1751. It is a cross church with a central tower. One descends by several steps into the chapel. Lean and lanky girls go to it and pray for fat to be laid on. P. 1st S. in July. Pilgrims take water from the fountain to give to their cattle.

Questinic. Chapel of S. Mathurin, P. 2nd S. in May. Chapel of Locmaria, renaissance 1574, a cross church with central tower and spire, and some old glass.

Bieuzy. The station of S. Nicolas des Eaux gives access to several points of historical and architectural interest. The train from Auray to Pontivy cuts by a tunnel through a neck of land round which the river Blavet makes a great loop. This loop was occupied in Roman times by a walled town Sulim, of which numerous remains have been found; and the sides are so precipitous that no enemy could attack it, save on the north. The road from the station to Bieuzy has been engineered by a great sweep up the height, but the pedestrian can ascend to the Chapel of La Trinité by a sharp scramble, and by clinging to the broom and heather. This finger of land, almost surrounded by the river on all sides, was covered with ruins in the beginning of the 6th cent. S. Gildas came hither from Rhuys about the year 530, and founded a little colony of monks where is now the hamlet of Castannec. Finding that there was a gross image of Venus among the ruins that the people worshipped, he and Budoc (Bieuzy) his disciple threw it down and rolled it along to their monastery and built their wall over it. The image remained buried thus under the wall till the ruin of the monastery by the Northmen, and perhaps for some time after. Castannec was never restored to any extent, by the returned monks of Rhuys. In 1125 Castannec was made into a parish, and the church was where is now the Chapel of La Trinité, and it was served by the monks of Redon, but the population was small and the revenue insufficient, and was united to Bieuzy. Then it was that in removing the remains of the old priory the image of the Venus was restored to light, and at once received a religious cult from the peasants, who called it Groah en Goard, the Woman of la Couarde, which is the name of the promontory. It was placed near a large basin scooped out of granite, and in this women came to bathe, invoking the assistance of the Venus of Couarde. In 1661 a mission was held at Baud, and the missioners besought Count Claude of Lannion to destroy the idol. He had it accordingly rolled down the hillside into the river. However, the peasants fished it up and replaced it in 1664. Then the Bishop of Vannes interfered, and at his request the Count sent masons to smash it. They, however, contented themselves with injuring one arm and one of the breasts and again rolled it down into the Blavet. In 1695, Pierre de Lannion, who had succeeded his father, drew it forth from the water and had it conveyed to Baud to ornament his château of Quinipili; and there it remains to the present day with the granite basin before it, but not in quite the same condition, for, as has been said already, the Count employed a sculptor to work the statue over and give it a more decent appearance.

Near the Chapel of Ste. Trinité a path leads to the hermitage of S. Gildas. It is advisable to obtain a child as guide. The Saint with his disciple Budoc, or Bieuzy, was wont to retire to a cave under an overhanging rock beside the Blavet during Lent, and at certain times when he desired to be private. He built up the face of the cave and divided it into two parts, one for himself and one for Bieuzy. A chapel was added in the Middle Ages, and this was restored in 1837. It consists of two parts, and is under the rock in a most picturesque situation. The bell is attached to the rock. The structure is of the 15th cent., but the E. window and an arch are 1st pointed (perhaps the window is due to the restorer) and there are rude windows round-headed, that may possibly be of a still earlier date. An arch divides the chapel into two with an altar in each. In the outer chapel, on a pedestal, is the bell-stone of Gildas, a slab of diorite, on which stands a couple of pebbles, and when the stone is struck with these it rings. At Mass on the day of the Pardon, Whitsun-Monday, and on S. Gildas's day, Jan. 29, the bell-stone is used for ringing at the Sanctus, Elevation and Communion. On the left side of the principal altar is a block of rock and masonry used for the pain bénit, which is distributed among the pilgrims. There was another bell-stone, that of S. Bieuzy himself, but this was carried away, and broken in the transaction, by a seigneur of Kervèno in 1660, but the rector reclaimed it and in 1702 succeeded in recovering it, and it is now placed in the churchyard of S. Bieuzy near the cross. The church of Bieuzy has a modern spire and nave. The choir and transepts are renaissance of 1560. There are three superb stained glass windows of this date in the apse representing the scenes of the Passion; one subject, the Risen Lord, appearing as a gardener to the Magdalen, deserves notice. The S. door of the church is flamboyant with a flamboyant window above. A S. door, blocked in the choir, has some lovely flamboyant foliage on it. There is a picturesque renaissance house opposite the church. It is worth the visitor noticing the type of well in all this district. The structure of granite for the support of the drum for the chain is very striking, and there is an excellent example in a yard near the E. end of the church at Bieuzy. A few yards from the village is the Holy Well with a niche for the Saint. The water is sought for those who are off their heads.

Returning to the station, S. Nicolas des Eaux is next visited. The chapel is in a very dilapidated condition. It is a flamboyant cruciform structure (1524) with a fine double doorway and with foliage about it, and with late flamboyant tracery in some of the windows, but from most it has been hacked away.

S. Nicodème is perhaps the most beautiful example of flamboyant in Morbihan. It was completed in 1539, and a bell bears the date 1507 which is about the date of the spire and tower. The west entrance under the tower is peculiarly bold and beautiful, with its lace work fringed arch. A flight of steps leads down to the chapel, and on the left is a singular Holy Well, composed of three gabled structures united at the back. The date on this well is 1608, but it is impossible to hold this to be the true indication of its erection, and must commemorate a reparation, for the character of the sculpture and the general design are of a century earlier, and in its quaintness and originality indicate the same master hand that had planned and drawn the marvellous tower and spire. The three fountains are to (1) S. Gamaliel with an ox at his side and a biniou player; (2) S. Nicodemus with a human-headed ox by him; and (3) S. Abibo with a horseman at his side. Hard by is an immeasurably inferior Holy Well to S. Cornelius, constructed in 1790.

The chapel itself is not equal in beauty to tower and spire. It contains a minstrel gallery of stone in the N. transept. The altarpieces are bad rococo. Two little oxen are stuck up against the N. wall of the chancel to commemorate the success of an invocation to S. Cornély. There is a very curious retable at the side representing the Resurrection. S. Nicodemus is represented carrying a napkin, three nails and with a heraldic wreath about his head. Most of the windows have had their tracery removed. The Pardon here is very famous and largely attended. The first Saturday in August is held as a great fair here, and at it girls sell their hair. Young women wearing black caps and not coiffes are such as have parted with their natural ornament. On the Sunday following is the Pardon. An angel descends from the gallery of the spire and sets fire to a great pile of brushwood and firework hoops.

Bubry. The church is modern and bad, near it are two lechs, one with four equal faces, and the other has a cross pattée on two faces. The ossuary is full of skulls arranged in order. In the "place" is a great granite basin fed with water from the fountain of S. Helen. The Chapel of S. Yves is five kilometres to the south of this village, and is in a jumble of flamboyant and renaissance. The date 1598. This chapel drew so many pilgrims, and such abundant donations, that the near-by Seigneur de Kernivinen became jealous, and going to the chapel one day of the Pardon, fell on the rector and boxed his ears, because he refused to give up to him a share of the spoil. This was in 1630. He was put into the ecclesiastical court and condemned to restore 10,000 livres which he had carried off from the chapel, and to pay a fine of 2000 which was to be given to the hospital. P. of Ste. Helene, 4th S. in July. This is spoken of as well attended.

Melrand. The Chapel of Locmaria is fine. It has a bold, square tower surmounted by a spire: it is all of flamboyant work with a few details showing that the renaissance was at hand. The E. window, partly hidden by a retable of 1680, contains in twelve tableaux scenes from the Life and Passion of our Lord. In the N. transept window is a fine Jesse tree, in one of the S. transept the angelic salutation. Near the chapel is a Holy Well of 1574. P. at Guellouët in Melrand, 1st Sunday in July.

Becherel (I.V.) chl. arr. Montfort. On high ground. In the church a Romanesque font. Old gateway, 16th cent. House of the Little Sisters of the Poor is here. The headquarters or Mother-House. Les Iffs has a church of the 15th cent. containing nine windows of superb stained glass, the finest in the Department. The tower is of the 16th cent. On a height is the Château de Montmuran of various dates. In the chapel, Du Guesclin was dubbed knight in 1354. He married Jeanne de Laval, granddaughter of the Countess of Montmuran, for whom he defended the castle against the English. The E. window of the chapel is good early flamboyant and contains fine old glass. The château is very picturesque. The Château de Caradeuc, partly ancient, in a park with fine trees, and well kept, has within, among other paintings, two Murillos.

Begard (C.N.) chl. arr. Guingamp. A Cistercian abbey was founded here in 1130 by Stephen III., Count of Penthièvre. It was rebuilt in the 17th century, except the Romanesque church. It is now a lunatic asylum. According to local tradition, Begard was first settled by such ragged hermits that the place was called after them, a settlement of "Beggars." A menhir is at Kergouézennic 18 ft. high.

Kermoroch. The chapel of Langoerat, 1373, has in it stained glass and paintings. There are ruined castles at Perrier and Leshorz.

Pedernec. A ruined castle at Runangoff. The Chapel of N.D. de Lorette dates from 1514. A 16th cent. manor house at Kermathaman. A menhir 25 ft. 6 in. high.

Belle Ile (C.N.) chl. arr. Guingamp. Prettily situated in the valley of the Guindy. The church is modern, the old church is turned into halle. The Chapel of Locmaria is made into the cemetery chapel. It stands on a rocky height above the river and the road to Trégrom. It is late flamboyant, the pillars are surrounded by stone seats. The W. door has boldly carved foliage in coarse granite. The roodscreen, with figures and foliage in the panels of the gallery, has been removed to the W. end.

Plounevez-Moedec on very high ground, traversed by the main road from Paris to Brest, straight as a bowstring. The church has a 2nd pointed arcade and E. windows and N. aisle. The rest flamboyant. The gallery at the W. end is one removed from the chapel of Keramanach, with the vaulting wantonly taken away. The tower, renaissance, has been restored recently. The chapel of Keramanach (S. Fiacre) may be visited equally well from Belle Ile or from Plouaret. It is late 2nd pointed with square end, E. window and S.E. window of same period, as also N. aisle. There are remains of good stained glass in the windows. The porch has rich 16th cent. groining. The W. bell turret has a gallery. The chapel contains a fine alabaster reredos of the 15th cent., each panel has been let into a wooden frame. On the road from Plounevez to Trégrom is a menhir 30 ft. high.

Locquenvel. Church of 15th and 16th cents. with stained glass representing the legend of S. Envel.

Belz (M.) chl. arr. Lorient. In very desolate country. The road from Auray runs through plantations of Austrian pine grown for the Welsh collieries, or over furzy moors. Belz itself is an utterly uninteresting place, with an ugly church, and a ruinous but large chapel near it. Belz lies, however, near the curious inland sea of Etel, and was formerly head of a pou or pagus. A mile and a half beyond Belz is the hamlet of S. Cadou, occupied entirely by fishermen and their families. The women wear scarlet petticoats which they take care to display. A stone causeway 140 ft. leads to the Isle of S. Cadou and his chapel. S. Cadoc, son of Gwynllyw, King of Gwent or Monmouthshire, arrived here about 525 and founded a monastery and school on the island. To facilitate the passage and repassage of his pupils he constructed the causeway, having learned the art of dyking at Llancarvan. It was here, pacing it with Gildas, that they discussed the salvability of Virgil. Cadoc, who loved that author, could not believe that he was lost, but Gildas held the harsher view. As they talked, Cadoc turned over his Virgil to point out some remarkable passages, probably the prophecy of the Incarnation, to his friend, when the wind swept the volume out of his hand into the sea. He slipped in rushing to recover it, and some pieces of iron in the causeway are supposed to indicate where his foot slid. Only with difficulty did Cadoc recover the precious book. The chapel has an early Romanesque apse, with rudely carved capitals to the pillars supporting the chancel arch. The chapel was much spoiled at its alteration in 1842. In the S. transept is the stone bed of S. Cadoc with a receptacle under it, in which strange sounds are thought to be heard. These are due to the echo of the waves and winds. The gallery of the flamboyant screen has been removed to the W. end. In the nave are four paintings. (1) S. Cadoc arriving at the isle; (2) S. Cadoc settling on it; (3) Pirates land and he protests that he has nothing; (4) Cadoc departing, with the inscription: —

Oratoire mon œuvre adieu, dit-il pleurant,

Belz t'oublierai je? Non. Il cingla de céans.

P. S. after 21st Sept. Numerous megalithic remains are to be found about Belz. A menhir at Kervoen, another at Mélionec; remains of an allée couverte 30 ft. long at Kernours; a dolmen in good condition at Kerlutu; others at Kerhuen, Kervoen and Kerlourd. At Crubelz in a tumulus is a chamber of masonry nearly 11 ft. high. Roman bricks were found in it, and it would seem to have been constructed in Gallo-Roman times, but in accordance with earlier traditions and usages.

Locoal, on an arm of the sea of Etel, united to the mainland by a causeway like that at S. Cadou. Locoal was a locus penitentiæ of S. Gudeval or Gurval, Bishop of Aleth. He scooped out a cave and dwelt therein. Disciples came to him to the number of 188. To protect themselves against the high tides they erected the dykes that still remain. At length, desiring greater retirement in his extreme old age, Gudeval retired with seven disciples into the forest of Camors, where he died in 640. Some lechs remain; one near the cemetery is 4 ft. high, with a cross cut on it in relief, surmounted by a circle and cross. Another on the way from Locoal to Mendon, 7 ft. 6 in. high, with two crosses cut on it, bears on it the words CRUX PROSTLON; it is the tombstone of the wife of Count Pasquitien, the murderer of King Solomon. She died in 875. The parish church was burnt by the Spaniards in 1592, and again accidentally in 1765.

Etel, at the mouth of the channel that connects the inland sea with the ocean, is a small port partly closed by a rock and by moving sands. Near the village is a dolmen with seven supporters. A little further on is one with five.

Erdeven (Ar deven = on the sand-downs). All this district is covered with wind-blown sands. The most remarkable prehistoric monument is the alignment of Kerzerho, which extends over two miles and a quarter, and is composed of 1030 stones, with, however, gaps caused by pilferers. Unhappily the stones are still being broken up and carried away. The lines are on the S. and S.E. of the village. After passing an isolated menhir and a ruined cairn, the rows are reached running east. Then comes a gap where the stones have been carried off to build walls, but presently they reappear, the blocks smaller. Then ensues another hiatus, and then another succession of ranges of fine stones stretching to a tumulus. The northern line reaches to a tumulus, the Mané Bras. On the summit are the ruins of two dolmens, with traces of an enclosing circle of uprights. To the east of Kerangre is another group of monoliths. At Mané Groh are two dolmens. The dolmen of Corcomo is the finest in Morbihan.

Plouhinic. Near Kerfourchen two fallen dolmens and a menhir. From the windmill to the west alignments running S.E. Near the Mill of Gueldra the lines recommence in eight rows, and may be traced to Kervué and Kervelhué.

Bourbriac (C.N.) chl. arr. Guingamp. The church is in part Romanesque, and possesses a crypt. The windows are of 15th cent. The tower 1635. At Tanvedou is a tumulus enclosing a dolmen.

S. Adrien. Chapel of Avangour, 1576, with marble retable of same period.

Cadout (S. Illtyd). Church of 14th and 15th cents., with a sculptured retable. On high ground the manor house of Bois-de-la-Roche, 15th cent. restored.

Bréhat (Isle de) (C.N.). Opposite Roscoff lighthouses. On the Isle of Lavré the remains of a Celtic monastery have been traced, consisting of a group of bee-hive huts and an oblong chapel. One hut is fairly perfect, and is kept in repair as a sea mark. In the church is preserved a piece of oriental silk called the stole of S. Pol de Léon.

* BREST (F.) chl. d'arrond. Was a fishing village about a mediæval castle on the site of a Roman camp, till Cardinal Richelieu resolved on giving to France the command of the seas, when he fixed on Brest for a great dockyard, 1631. His undertaking was not followed up by Mazarin, but Colbert pursued it with energy, and extensive works were executed. Thanks to this great minister and to Admiral Duquesne, Brest became a naval and military port of the first class. The Breton parliament had not relished the undertaking, and forbade the delivery of timber to the royal works, and ordered the cessation of the forging of cannon, but the royal will was supreme, and the opposition of the parliament disregarded. The port was extended, and the rocks blasted; barracks, storehouses, workshops, were created, and fine quays were constructed. Vauban fortified it, Recouvrance was united to Brest by a turning bridge. From Brest issued a fleet of 80 ships of the line under Tourville in the naval campaigns of 1690 and 1691. In 1694 an Anglo-Dutch fleet in vain attempted an attack on Brest. In the 18th cent. its quays and fortifications were extended. Granite basins were constructed capable of receiving vessels of 120 guns. Dajot, whilst engaged on the defences of the place, constructed the terrace planted with elms, that gives such a fine view of the harbour. Issuing from Brest, the fleet commanded by d'Orvilliers met, July 27, 1778 the English fleet off Ouessant. A French convoy was guarding a fleet of vessels laden with grain from America, when it was attacked by Admiral Howe. The French were under Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse. The English fleet, which had been in quest, had been for four days unable to find the French owing to fog. The engagement took place on the 27th July. There were 26 French men-of-war and 35 English.