Brittany 13

 Brittany 13

Batz_, on the same ridge as Le Croisic, is also a sea-bathing place

and in much resort. The church (S. Winwaloe) is of the 15th and 16th

cents., with a stately tower rebuilt in 1677. The pillars of the

earlier 13th cent. church remain. The church was restored in 1866. In

Batz is a little museum in which are preserved the old costumes of the

district.

 

_Pouliquen_ (The White Pool), also a sea-bathing place. On the rock of

Penchâteau is a chapel containing a 15th cent. alabaster bas-relief.

 

CROZON (F.) chl. arr. Châteaulin. The bleak promontory of Crozon

spreads out to the west and forms the headland of Camaret, then

intervenes the bay de la Chèvre, and to the north the headland of

Crozon. The church (1602-15) contains a retable representing the

martyrdom of the Theban Legion. The spire is modern. There is a stone

circle at Tyahurey in the midst of a vast lande, a dolmen at Rostudet,

and stone rows at Kercolleoch and Landaoudec. The coast to Morgat is

fine, much gnawed into by the Atlantic, and full of caverns. There are,

however, good stretches of sand. Dinant takes its name from the rocks

that shoot up like walls and towers of a fortress. The bay of Dinant is

beautiful, and here also are many caves, notably that of the Korrigans

or water-sprites. P. Sunday after 29th June.

 

_Camaret_ is a little port given over to the sardine fishing and to the

tinning. The Chapel of Rozmadou dates from 1560. At Toulinquel is a set

of stone rows. At Kerloch a little lake. The Benediction of the Sea

takes place on the 3rd Sunday in June.

 

_Lanveoc_ (S. Fiacc, B. of Sletty). Here are prehistoric remains. P.

Sunday nearest to 26th July.

 

DAOULAS (F.) chl. arr. Brest. An Augustinian abbey was founded here

in 1170. To this period belong the body of the church and portions of

the choir. A porch was added in renaissance times. Glass of the Breton

school of the 16th cent. remains in the church windows. The cloister

is Romanesque, and of the same date as the foundation of the abbey.

Semi-circular arches rest on columns alternately single and coupled,

and with early foliage in the capitals, and with ornamented bases. In

the midst of the cloister is a basin also of the 12th cent. Chapel

of B.V.M. 1550, and Chapel of S. Anne 1667. Daoulas is at the head

of a long tidal creek, between hills, in a pretty situation. The

Kersanton stone, so largely used for sculpture in the churches of Lower

Brittany in the 16th and 17th cents., is quarried not far from here.

 

[Illustration: N.D. DE LA FONTAINE, DAOULAS]

 

_L'Hôpital Comfront._ A commandery of the Knights of S. John was here.

The church is in the common transition style between flamboyant and a

renaissance, with an open bell tower for two bells and a side turret,

disengaged with cupola, containing the stair. The west front has a

doorway much like that at Rumengol. In the church is a statue of S.

Barbe of 1511. P. Easter Monday.

 

_Irvillac._ Church with a renaissance tower and spire. P. des Reliques

3rd Sunday in July. P. des Marches, with wrestling, 3rd Sunday in

October.

 

* DINAN (C.N.) chl. d'arrond. In a picturesque situation, 225 feet

above the Rance which flows through a gorge to the sea, between granite

cliffs broken by bays down which flows abundant foliage. The town is

walled round on all sides save that on which is the railway station.

Three gates remain, and a postern of the castle. The original castle

stood in a different position, and was called the Château de Gan. It

has disappeared, and a vulgar and pretentious modern house occupies

its site. The present castle was erected in 1458 and 1480. Of the

twenty-four towers which originally surrounded the town fifteen remain

in a more or less ruinous condition. Portions of the wall date from

the 13th cent. The most picturesque portion of the town is the Rue

de Jerzual leading to the old port on the Rance, in which are many

ancient houses. In some parts are houses with arcades. The Tour de

l'Horloge, singularly picturesque, is of the 15th cent. The Church of

S. Sauveur is in part Romanesque, the lower portion of the west front

to the bottom of the window, and the S. side of the nave. But the N.

aisle, transepts and choir are flamboyant inclining to renaissance. The

central slated crown to the tower is singularly beautiful in outline

and proportion. There is one window in the N. aisle which contains

old glass. A chapel contains the heart of Du Guesclin. The Church of

S. Malo is late flamboyant of the 16th cent. throughout, except the

S. transept front, which is renaissance. The W. window is modern, and

remarkably bad in design. The church contained good old glass of the

period, which the curé sold, and has supplied its place with utter

rubbish. The Chapel of S. Joachim outside the Porte S. Malo is mainly

Romanesque of the 11th cent. It was chapel to a priory. At Ste. Esprit

is a granite cross sculptured with figures on the site occupied by the

Earl of Lancaster when investing Dinan. Near this is a large lunatic

asylum, with beautiful grounds, to which admission is accorded. The

chapel built by the lunatics, if architecturally bad, is effective

after its fashion, and well intended. From the Porte S. Malo a pretty

walk, planted with limes, leads to La Fontaine, a chalybeate spring in

a deep valley. A noble viaduct connects Dinan with Lanvallay. In

summer an expedition may be made by boat or steamer to the Chapel of

S. Hubert, an expedition well repaying the trouble. The Château de la

Garraye is of the 16th cent., prettily situated, falling annually into

more complete ruin. That of La Conninais, however, is kept up. A tower

and the chapel are late flamboyant, but the main building is a century

later.

 

[Illustration: S. SAUVEUR, DINAN]

 

_Léhon_ has a ruined castle on the height, and by the river the remains

of a priory. The church, of the 13th cent., has been restored; the

ugly east window is modern, and the stained glass is all bad. In the

churchyard is the Romanesque doorway of the parish church, which was

pulled down when the priory church was put in order.

 

_Corseul._ The ancient capital of the Curiosoliti, with Roman remains,

notably a temple of Mars, of very peculiar construction, an apsidal

chapel with a huge extended peristyle before it, like a cloister. The

parish church, a wretched modern structure, contains a Roman cippus.

In a picturesque situation is the Château de Montfilant, of the 12th

cent., with to the N. traces of a prehistoric camp. In the farmhouse

on the site of the castle are some statues, one of 16th cent., of S.

Agatha carrying her amputated feet, and another of S. Anne of the 17th

cent.

 

_S. Helan._ The church has some old glass in the E. window,

representing the saint, who with six other Irish bishops visited S.

Remigius at Rheims in 509. On their way, after having landed at

the mouth of the Rance, they founded churches along their route up

the river. At La Ganterie on the road to Dol, at the 8½ kilometre

milestone, a little to the left is a ruined allée couverte, on the site

of a prehistoric workshop for tools. The site is interesting not to the

archæologist alone, but also to the mineralogist. The stones of which

the dolmen is composed are diorite, and the material of which the tools

were fashioned is the silex in the granite fused by a dyke of diorite

which has run it into flint clots. The tools here fabricated were of a

rude description.

 

_S. Samson._ A fine menhir at La Tremblaye, in a little wood, 30

ft. high, but inclining, as it was undermined by treasure seekers.

According to popular superstition, if re-erected, Dinan would perish

by a flood. A delightful walk may be taken from S. Samson to Dinan,

by a road that leads down to the river, and comes out by the mouth

of the glen of La Fontaine. From it the grand view of Dinan with its

spires and viaduct may be obtained. The Rance at this point formerly

swept round a rocky peninsula, but this was cut through and the course

rectified, when the river was canalised. The walk may be extended by

taking in _Taden_, where are the neglected tombs of the Count and

Countess de la Garaye. At their own desire they were buried among the

poor, to whom they had devoted their lives, in the churchyard.

 

[Illustration: TOWER, DINARD]

 

_Trigavou_, between this place and Pleslin, is a wrecked series of

alignments. Though a monument historique, the peasants have been

recently blowing up the stones with gunpowder, and the remains are in

too great disorder to be planned. In the church on a beam is a carving

that represents a hare which when pursued by hunters took refuge in the

sacred edifice.

 

_Le Hinglé_, a walk of a mile and a half from the station, takes to the

Château of Chalonge, with a tower and picturesque gables. It is being

well restored by the proprietor.

 

DINARD-SAINT ENOGAT (I.V.) chl. arr. S. Malo. Picturesquely situated

on an indented coastline opposite S. Malo, and connected by a tramline

with S. Lunaire and S. Briac. It is a favourite resort for wealthy

Americans during the summer, and has a casino, where those who like

to lose their money may do so. Bathing is best obtained at S. Lunaire

where are good sands. Scanty remains of a priory founded in 1324. The

chapel in ruins contains a colossal statue of the Virgin and child of

the 15th cent. An old house, traditionally supposed to have been once

occupied by the Black Prince, has a couple of picturesque towers with

conical roofs and gables. A house quaintly decorated with numerous

statues of saints.

 

_S. Lunaire_ has an excellent beach. Lodging houses are extending

rapidly along the coast from Dinard to S. Briac, and in process of

time there will be a continuous line of houses. The modern church

is portentously vulgar, but the little old church has been happily

spared. It has a low slated tower at the junction of the transepts.

Within is the tomb of the saint, who was son of Hoel and Pompeia,

and born in South Wales. His father was founder of Llanhywel in

Pembrokeshire, and his mother lies buried at Langoat near La Roche

Derrien. He was brother of S. Tugdual the founder of Tréguier, and

nephew of S. Brioc. The story goes that he left his portable altar

behind him in Wales, and that two doves crossed the sea bringing it to

him in their beaks. On his tomb a dove is represented with the slab in

its beak. The fact on which this legend is founded is probably that

his sisters, crossing later, brought to him what he had forgotten. One

sister was called Sceva, Ste. Sève as she is now called. Another story

told of him is that when he settled at this spot on the coast, with

his monks, to his dismay it was discovered that seed corn had been

forgotten. Then Leonore knelt in prayer, and presently a robin was seen

perched on a stone with an ear of wheat in its beak which it let fall

when scared. The grains were sown, and on the following year all the

produce of the little harvest, and eventually all the district round,

derived its wheat from "Robin Redbreast's Corn."

 

_S. Briac._ Situated above a picturesque bay partly closed by an islet.

It has a little port. The church is modern except the tower, which is

renaissance. An extensive alignment existed here, extending to the

headland above the sea, but the exigences of builders have almost if

not wholly destroyed it. The saint from whom the place takes its name

was an Irishman, a native of Ulster, who joined Tugdual and Leonore

in South Wales and followed them to Brittany. Briac was given a site

for a monastery where now stands the town of Bourgbriac, where is his

Holy Well. He soon made of it a flourishing school for missionaries,

who were sent throughout the district. After many years he went on

pilgrimage to Rome, and on his way back halted at Arles, where he

remained two years. Then he returned to Brittany, where he died at an

advanced age about 570, and was buried at Bourgbriac.