Brittany 21

Brittany 21

Kerfot._ The oldest parts of the church are of the 14th cent., but the

rest from 1514 to 1682. Remains of the roodscreen have been converted

into a pew.

 

_Kerity._ Fine ruins of the Abbey of _Beauport_, an unique example in

Brittany of a monastic establishment that has preserved its original

buildings of the 13th cent. All the rest were rebuilt in the 17th and

18th cents. The roof of the church has fallen in. The abbey consists

of a series of buildings about a cloister; on the N. are kitchen and

refectory over the cellars; S. is the church; E. the dormitory and

infirmary of the monks and the chapterhouse; W. the abbot's house.

 

LE PALAIS (M.) chl. arr. Lorient, in the island of Belle Ile. It has

a citadel constructed by Vauban. The old walls remain. A military

hospital and a reformatory for young criminals are at Le Palais.

The castle of Foulquet commands the little port of that name. The

church (S. Géran) bears as its dedication the name of the heroic

king of British Domnonia, who fell at Langport in Somersetshire in

522 fighting the Saxons. He had a fleet in the Severn, and his wife

was the beautiful Enid, whose story has been revived by Tennyson in

the Idylls of the King. The Bretons having forgotten who he was have

identified him now with S. Senan of Iniscathy and then with S. Curig,

and represent him as a bishop.

 

* PERROS GUIREC (C.N.) chl. arr. Lannion. The church has a Romanesque

nave with semi-circular arches resting on the N. side on capitals with

cable mouldings. The arcade on the S. side is somewhat later. The

chancel is early pointed, with an extraordinary east window of the 17th

cent., an instance of the complete extinction of the skill to design

and power to execute stone tracery. There is a Romanesque S. door. Of

the windows one is middle pointed, one flamboyant, and one debased 17th

cent., all in the S. aisle. The tower at the W. end and the porch under

it with open tracery are quaint.

 

N.D. de la Clarté is a delightful example of flamboyant work at its

best, 1414. The little harbour of Perros Guirec is illumined by five

lighthouses on account of its dangerous character, and there are five

more on the Sept Iles. The sandy cove of _Trestraou_ has a town built

round its lap that lives only in the bathing season, at all other times

it is uninhabited.

 

_S. Quay._ The church has no side aisles but double transepts, and is

good 2nd pointed. The W. tower is good renaissance of 1732.

 

_Ploumanach_, a fishing village among rocks, is only curious on account

of the oratory of S. Kirec (Curig) on a rock in the bay, surrounded at

every tide. The pillars and pillasters are of the 11th cent.

 

_Trégastel._ The village is situated about a mile from the coast,

which is composed of masses of weather-worn granite in strange forms,

among and against which modern residences have been run up for the

accommodation of lodgers during the bathing season. On the highest

point of ground inland a Calvary has been erected of masses of granite

piled up, surmounted by a cross, whence a fine view is obtained of the

coast and the Sept Iles. The Church of Trégastel is of the 13th cent.

with work of the 16th, and a very villainous, debased window at the

east end of the 17th cent. The pretty ossuary adjoining the porch is

renaissance.

 

[Illustration: CHURCH AND OSSUARY, TRÉGASTEL]

 

_Pleumeur-Bodou._ Beside the road from the village to Ile Grande is a

fine menhir 24 ft. high, the summit shaped into a cross, and the face

sculptured with the instruments of the Passion. In the _Ile Grande_ is

an allée couverte, composed of fourteen supporters and two coverers.

It is surrounded by a circle of stones. The Chapel of S. Samson is of

the 16th cent. with a spirelet on an octagonal turret. The E. window is

flamboyant.

 

_Trébeurden._ Nine menhirs within sight of one another. One is a

hundred paces (S.) from the windmill of Trévern, and is 7 ft. high;

another is on the Lande de Véades of the same height; a third is a

hundred paces from this, and is 12 ft. high; a fourth at the Château

de Kerrariou, 7 ft. 6 in. high; a fifth between Kerrariou and the

windmill, broken; a sixth near Bologne, 10 ft. high; a seventh W. of

the preceding and at the edge of the shore, 10 ft. high; the eighth

near Bonne Nouvelle, 7 ft.; the last is near the peninsula of Toënnou,

about the same height. There is a fine dolmen on the Ile Milliau,

measuring 28 ft. long, covered by three slabs on eleven supporters;

another is on the shore at Prajou-menhir, half fallen, 34 ft. long,

composed of twenty-one supporters and four coverers; a third is at

Kevellec, four stones support a single coverer; a fourth in ruins is

near the Chapelle du Christ. The chapel has a lancet window of the 12th

cent. The parish church is very villainous, 1835.

 

_Trévou-Tréguignec._ Three menhirs in the Ile Balanec, and a partly

ruined dolmen near the modern Château de Boisriou. Seven uprights

support two coverers.

 

PIPRIAC (I.V.) chl. arr. Redon. A dull, uninteresting place.

 

_Guipry._ At Fougères is an alignment of seven upright stones. In the

Lande de Godier is an ancient camp. N.D. de Bon-Port, 1644, is resorted

to by pilgrims.

 

_Saint Just._ On the Lande de Cojoux several megalithic monuments, and

on that of Tréal an allée couverte, called La Grotte aux Fées, 40 ft.

long.

 

PLANCOET (C.N.) chl. arr. Dinan. Pleasantly situated on the tidal

Argenton, which above the turn flows through a pleasant picturesque

valley. Plancoet (Plou-lann-coet = the Clan of the Church in the Wood),

has a modern vulgar church. In a little lake 3 kilometres from the

town are the scanty remains of the Château de la Tour de la Vache,

13th cent., consisting of one square tower. From Plancoet several

interesting excursions may be made.

 

_Crehen._ The allée couverte of La Ville-Génouan is 42 ft. long, and is

composed of eleven supporters on the N. and twelve on the S., and five

covering stones. It is the finest example in the Department, and is in

private grounds.

 

_Landebia._ The church has been restored. It possesses a curious

bénitier of granite supported by human figures, and has animals carved

on the bowl. A house has a fine portal of the 16th cent. A Calvary

of the same date with several groups of figures. Another cross dated

1545, called la Croix de S. David. In the village is a house called

Presbytère des Templiers.

 

The visitor will probably start from Landebia to visit the Château _de

la Hunaudaye_ in the parish of Plédeliac. The ruins of this magnificent

castle are extensive. The castle dates from 1578, except one tower that

is over a century earlier. It is a pentagon flanked by five towers

at the angles, and surrounded by deep ditches. Why so strong a pile

should have been planted where the ground does not in any way lend

itself to defence is hard to see. The state hall and staircase were

especially fine, but are far gone in ruin. The earliest tower has about

the entrance from the court some rude carvings, executed perhaps by a

prisoner on the jamb of the door on which light fell. The date of this

carving is early 17th cent. Near the hamlet of Hazardine is a coarse

menhir 16 ft. high and 30 ft. in circumference. The ruins of the Abbey

of Saint Aubin des bois are scanty. The chapel is of the end of the

15th cent.

 

PLEINE-FOUGÈRES (I.V.) chl. arr. S. Malo. Destitute of interest.

 

PLÉLAN LE PETIT (C.N.) chl. arr. Dinan. On high bleak country, mostly

moor and only partially reclaimed.

 

PLÉNEUF (C.N.) chl. arr. S. Brieuc, reached from Lamballe. In the

parish is the favourite seaside resort of Val-André. Except the sea and

the coast, there is nothing of interest at Pléneuf.

 

_Erguy._ An old Roman station, Rheginea, and numerous substructures

of Gallo-Roman times have been uncovered here, also a mosaic pavement

found and destroyed in 1835 by the boor to whom the land belonged.

Numerous finds of Roman coins are made here. At the northern headland

of the Lande de la Garenne is a prehistoric coast castle.

 

_Planguenoual._ The church is partly Romanesque, partly 13th cent.

The bénitier shows signs of having been systematically employed as a

knife-sharpener.

 

* PLESTIN LES GRÈVES (C.N.) chl. arr. Lannion. Fine sands. The tide

recedes here to a great distance. Plestin (Plou-Jestin) owes its origin

to an Irish emigrant Efflam, who settled here with a colony of his

countrymen in the 6th cent. He found that a British settler was there

before him, Jestin, probably the son of Geraint, prince of Devon. He

came to terms with him without a quarrel, the arrangement being that

one should rule the secular and the other the ecclesiastical tribe.

Plestin before this would seem to have been a Gallo-Roman town, as

numerous remains as well as coins indicate. The church, much altered,

contains the tomb of S. Efflam, of the 16th cent. The porch is of 1575,

and contains statues of the twelve apostles. The Chapel of S. Jacut of

the 16th cent. has some old glass. Near the Chapel of S. Efflam (1620)

is his Holy Well.

 

_Plou Miliau_ was the plebs or tribal land of Miliau, King of

Cornouaille, who was murdered by his brother Rivold. The church is in

debased Gothic of 1602.

 

_Plouzélambre._ The church is of the 15th and 16th cents., with

flamboyant windows. The tower of 1753. In the church a fine renaissance

carved oak retable, with seven groups of figures on it, representing

scenes of the Passion. In the churchyard a pretty ossuary of granite

of the 17th cent. An oratory, consisting of a vault sustained by four

columns, is called Le Réposoir. Ruins of the Château of Kerbané of the

15th cent.

 

_Trédez._ A menhir 13 ft. high, with another near it that has fallen,

that measured 24 ft. Near the Château de Coatredrez another, 19 ft.

high. At Lan Saliou another of about the same height. In the church is

a triptych representing a Jesse tree. The font has a fine baldachino of

carved oak, of the 17th cent. The Chapel of Loquémeau is of the 16th

cent., except one window in the N. transept, of the 14th. The frieze

within is fantastically carved.

 

_Trémel._ A menhir at Kerguiniou, 16 ft. high, and near by a dolmen.

The church is of the 16th cent., with apse; the porch has within

statues of the apostles.

 

_Plufur._ Church of 1764; but it retains remains of a retable of

the 16th cent. Sculptured scenes in relief of the Passion. In the

churchyard is the Chapel of S. Yves, 17th cent., with paintings on the

ceiling. The Chapel of S. Nicolas forms a latin cross, and has seven

flamboyant windows.

 

_S. Michel-en-Grèves._ The Chapel of S. Geneviève has an early rude

altar, and remains of a 16th cent. screen.

 

PLEYBEN (F.) chl. arr. Châteaulin. The noble church (S. Germain) of

1564 exhibits the transition from Gothic to Italian style. The church

is regarded as one of the most beautiful ecclesiastical monuments

in Finistère. From whatever point of view seen, the grouping of the

towers, though so different in character, is most pleasing. The

principal tower is tall and square, with a balustrade to the platform

on the summit, and on this platform rises a cupola crowned by a

lantern, and there are four lesser lanterns at the corners. The tower

exhibits the renaissance style fully developed, yet it was constructed

only twenty years after the rest of the church, which is instinct with

Gothic feeling. The second tower was raised in 1588-91, and is in the

late flamboyant style. It is graceful and quaint. The stair to the

bellcage is carried up in a turret detached save for a flying gallery

supported on a couple of arches. The fine porch dates from 1588-91,

and contains statues of the apostles. It is surrounded by a cordon of

niches, shallow but lofty, and forming an exterior enrichment. The

statuary is stiff, but not without character. The east end of the

church is an apse, with gables over the windows, which are flamboyant.

That over the high altar contains old glass representing the story of

the Passion, 1564. The wooden waggon roof of the church is supported on

a cornice quaintly carved. A curious little box for the holy oils is in

the sacristy. The ossuary of Pleyben is the earliest in the Department;

separate from the church. It belongs to the 16th cent. The Calvary of

1650 consists of four great spurs sustaining a central platform on

vault and arches. The platform is crowded with figures in 28 groups,

representing the scenes of the Nativity and the Passion, and, above

all, as the 29th, is the Crucifixion. The Chapel of Lannelec, two

kilometres distant, is in itself uninteresting, but contains curious

statues and sculptures. The P. at Pleyben is on the 1st Sunday in August.