Brittany 18

Brittany 18

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.