Brittany 25

Brittany 25

Villard, who has an extensive collection of really artistic photographs

of Breton costumes and architecture. Quimper market should be visited

on Saturday, when various costumes may be seen, the white quilted

collars of the Pont-aven district, and the curious head dresses of the

Bigauden women.

 

_Locmaria_ is only a stroll down the left bank of the Odet, and there

may be seen a very beautiful example of a Romanesque church with

central tower, transepts and apse.

 

[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, QUIMPER]

 

Quimper forms an admirable centre for a number of excursions, as branch

lines run thence to Pont l'Abbé and to Pont Croix and Audierne.

The great horse fair is on April 15. The patronal feast at the

cathedral is on August 15; the P. at Locmaria is on the Sunday after

December 12.

 

_Plogonnec_, a very interesting late flamboyant church with a

renaissance tower. It has magnificent old glass in the windows,

representing the Last Judgment, the Story of the Cross, the

Transfiguration, and some Celtic Saints, S. Cadoc with a bell, S.

Edern, son of Vortigern, riding on a stag, and S. Theilo, Bishop of

Llandaff, also mounted on a stag. There is a pretty flamboyant Chapel

of S. Theilo in the parish, and this last window was removed from it.

P. at S. Thegonnec's Chapel, Ascension Day; at that of Loretto, 2nd

Sunday in August; at that of S. Albin on the last Sunday in September;

the P. at the parish church on the last Sunday in July.

 

[Illustration: LOCRONAN]

 

_Locronan._ Once a thriving little town living on its looms, but

since weaving has been done by steam, its prosperity has gone, and

many houses are in ruins. Those that remain occupied are all of

granite, and some, if not all, old. The church has the Chapel of S.

Ronan on its south side opening out of it by a couple of arches. All

is flamboyant. The church had a spire that was struck by lightning

in 1806 and fell, carrying away pinnacles and the lace-like parapet

on the N. side. On this N. side is a little chapel with a graceful

flamboyant window in the gable, and saints in niches at the sides. The

E. window of the chancel is full of old glass in confusion, but is

about to be restored. On the pulpit is the legend of S. Ronan in ten

compartments. The mouldings of the arcades and of the great belfry

windows are poor. The P. is on Trinity Sunday, but every sixth year is

the Grand Tromenie, which is observed with great concourse of people

from all parts. A procession leaves the church at 2.30 P.M. and winds

with banners and hymn-singing round the mountain on the slope of which

Locronan is built. Descending a narrow street leads to the renaissance

Chapel of S. Eloi and a Holy Well of the same date. The tomb of S.

Ronan is in the chapel beside the parish church.

 

_Plonevez-Porzay_ has a very villainous modern church that has replaced

one that was old and full of interest. The porch has however been

preserved. P. 2nd Sunday in August. _Ste. Anne-de-la-Palue_ in this

parish is a great resort of pilgrims, and the Pardon there is largely

attended. It is on the last Sunday in August. The P. of N.D. de la

Clarté is on the 2nd Sunday in September.

 

_Quéménéven._ The Chapel of Kergoat is an object of pilgrimage, and the

Pardon there is very greatly thronged, and interesting costumes may be

seen there. The P. is on the Sunday after August 15.

 

_S. Venec_, a chapel half-way between Quimper and Châteaulin, is

interesting. It contains a statue of the Threebreasted Gwen, and of her

sons, Gwethenoc, represented as a Knight, and Winwaloe. There are also

here a good Calvary and a pretty Holy Well.

 

_Ergué Gaberic._ A fine menhir. A chapel of the Templars. The P. at

Kerdevot is greatly frequented. It is on the 2nd Sunday in September.

 

_Pluguffan._ Only deserving of a visit on the occasion of its Pardon,

which is on the 2nd Sunday in September, where fine costumes may be

seen.

 

* QUIMPERLÉ (F.) chl. d'arr. An interesting and picturesque town on

the Laïta formed of the junction of the Ellé and the Isole. The abbey

church of Ste. Croix and the town about it is in the basin, but the

Church of S. Michel and the upper town is on the hillside with steep

streets, some ascended by steps. The buildings of the abbey have been

converted into municipal offices and Mairie. The church is circular and

Romanesque. A tower had been constructed on the four central drums, but

they showed signs of giving way, and the tower had to be taken down

and the church rebuilt, but exactly on the ancient lines. There is a

crypt beneath the lady-chapel. The carved corbels outside the apse are

curious. A fine renaissance retable has been mutilated and plastered

against the west wall. In the crypt is the tomb of S. Gurlois. S.

Michel stands up boldly on the summit of the hill, on the right side of

the Laïta, sustained on massive substructures. The nave is 2nd pointed.

There are no aisles to the nave. The grand central tower and choir with

its aisles are flamboyant. There is an exquisite window of that style

on the N. side and a superb N. porch, but the E. window is in very bad

renaissance. The east end is supported on two huge buttresses that

are pierced with arches for the roadway. The west end of the church

is built against, with houses, and does not seem ever to have had a

western entrance.

 

Some quaint bits of street architecture may be found by penetrating

into the narrow lanes. The Church of S. Columbanus is in ruins. A

pretty walk out of the town leads to the little chapel of the Château

of Rosgrande, with apse at each end. It contains a renaissance

roodscreen, with subjects from sacred history and pagan mythology

indiscriminately carved on it. In the chapel are two 14th cent. statues

of S. Cadoc and S. Yhuel, the grandson of Gildas, afterwards Bishop

of Llandaff, who spent his youth in Brittany. Fishing and charming

walks are to be had in the valleys of the Ellé and Isolle. The visitor

will find this the best headquarters for excursions to Le Faouët, 21

kilometres, and down the river to Pouldu. Patronal Feast at Quimperlé

on the 2nd Sunday in May and on the 3rd September. P. at Lothea, Easter

Tuesday and Trinity Sunday. Pardon des Oiseaux at Toulfouen, Whitsun

Monday.

 

[Illustration: QUIMPERLÉ]

 

The forest of _Clohars-Carnoet_ envelops the ruins of one of Conmore's

castles, but it was rebuilt in the 15th cent. On the right bank of the

Laïta, in a sheltered position, are the fine ruins of the Abbey of S.

Maurice, founded in 1170. The chapter house is of the 14th cent.

and 15th cent. A chapel that has been restored contains a good bronze

Christ of the 17th cent. P. Whitsun Monday. P. at Clohars on the 15th

August.

 

* QUINTIN (C.N.) chl. arr. S. Brieuc. In pretty woodland country. A

menhir called La Roche-longue in a field near the town, 21 ft. high.

The church is modern, but it retains some old glass. In the street of

N.D. is a granite house of 1611. Another old house dates from 1560.

Remains of the castle built in the 15th cent., which was replaced by

another, never completed, in the 17th cent. The modern château contains

a fine gallery of family portraits and Gobelin tapestries. In the

cemetery is an ossuary of the 17th cent.

 

REDON (I.V.) chl. d'arrond. Above the junction of the Vilaine and Oust,

at the foot of a hill, commanded by the ruined Château de Beaumont.

Redon was a great abbey founded by King Nominoe and S. Convoyon. Here

was held the council that deposed the Frank bishops of Rennes, Nantes

and Vannes. The church was ruined at the Revolution, and all that

remains of it are the W. tower and spire and the choir with a portion

only of the nave. The tower now stands isolated. The nave is of the

14th cent. It was originally Romanesque. A transept is of the 12th

cent. and there is a stunted central tower at the crossing. The choir

ends in an apse and is of the 13th cent. and is fine. The high altar

and the pulpit were given to the church by Richelieu. On the N. side

of the choir is a fortified chapel of the 15th cent. In one of the side

chapels is a tomb supposed to be that of Duke Francis I. The abbey

buildings are occupied by the Institute of S. Sauveur. The cloisters

are of the 17th cent. The canal from Nantes to Brest cuts the town in

two and is crossed by a bridge.

 

The centre of the chestnut trade, the "marron." The trees are kept

small and pruned, and are not suffered to exhaust themselves in

producing a superabundance of fruit. The marron is much larger than the

common "châtain."

 

* RENNES (I.V.). Capital of the Department, and the ancient capital

of the duchy of Brittany. It is composed of two towns separated by the

Vilaine. On the right bank is the Upper Town. Rennes was burnt down

in 1720, and was rebuilt in the ugly style of the period, and in grey

granite. The river has been embanked and carried in a straight course

through the town. There are no fine buildings on the embankments.

The most pretentious structure on the left bank, between the station

and the river, is the lycée, with a chapel in a nondescript style.

Several bridges, all mean in character, cross the river. On the right

bank are the most important buildings. The cathedral is a hideous

structure commenced in 1787 and completed in 1844. The two side doors

and the niches at the west end belong to the earlier building and

are renaissance. Within, the arch has been studiously avoided. Eight

enormous red marble pillars on each side of the nave sustain the

heavy vault and the clerestory. Their bases are but 6 feet apart. The

interior has been richly decorated with gold and colour, but nothing

can relieve the cumbrousness and gloom of the internal appearance.

 

[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, RENNES]

 

One of the old gates of the town, the Porte Mordelaix, remains, but

it is not particularly picturesque, and a few old houses escaped the

fire and have not yet been pulled down. To the east of the cathedral is

the Church of S. Sauveur, even more ugly than the former. In a small

street opening from the river opposite the Hotel Moderne is the one

architectural gem possessed by the town, the Chapel of S. Yves, now

desecrated into a store-house. It is of the end of the 15th cent., and

all the details, where not broken, are of exquisite beauty. Observe

the N. door with its niches and the W. front. The Church of S. Germain

is late and poor flamboyant, much altered in late renaissance times.

The springing of the nave vaulting remains, and has been grotesquely

finished off with scrolls. There is fine old glass, but in utter

confusion, in the E. window. The large window of the S. transept

contains fine glass representing the life of the Virgin below and

saints and legendary incidents above in a series of 24 subjects.