Brittany 19

Brittany 19

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.

 

[Illustration: Musical score with lyrics

 

Pa-tronez dous ar Fol-goat, Hor mam ak non

I-troun, An dour en non da-ou-lagat Ni no-ped a ga-toun!

Har-pit an I-liz san-tel! A-vel-di-roll-a

ra Tenn ok hir eo ar brezel! Ar peoc'h, O ma-ri-a!]

 

_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.