Brittany 27

Brittany 27

At _Ploufragan_ is an allée couverte, buried in brambles. The church is

modern with a spindly tower and spire.

 

At _La Méaugon_ is a fine railway viaduct in two stages. The church has

in one window a small but admirably drawn representation of the patron

saint S. Meugaint, and a carved granite Calvary in the churchyard. Some

remains of the screen removed to the west end.

 

_Pledran._ A vitrified fort. The vitrification was done by fires

lighted in the depth of the wall. As the result was not satisfactory,

the face outwards was subsequently banked up.

 

SAINT JEAN BRÉVELAY (M.) chl. d'arr Ploermel. On the side of the road

to Vannes, near Kerdramel, are two menhirs. A kilometre west of le

Moustoir, on the Lande de Coh-Coet, a large dolmen formed of three

blocks only; the coverer is 18 feet long. It has the ruins of an allée

couverte leading to it. A kilometre south of it is a menhir 18 feet

high. The natives of this district fled to England from the Northmen in

the 9th cent., and brought back with them, when returning some relics

of S. John of Beverley, Archbishop of York, who died in 721.

 

_Plumelec._ Between Trégoët and Kersimon is an allée couverte. In the

coppice of Château Béauce a large dolmen called Migourdy, which on

being explored yielded fragments of a figure of Venus Anadyomene,

and a coin of Diocletian, showing that it had been utilised for some

unknown purpose in historic times. It is supposed that the place owes

its name to S. Meletius, B. of London, who died in 624, and that the

refugees to England brought back his relics. But this is not probable;

it must have been called plou after a founder of the clan, and the

title of plou would hardly have attached to relics. The church is

modern; the Chapel of S. Aubin is of 1513, and has some curious carving

on the capitals, a fox preaching to geese, etc. Above the N. transept

rises a slated spire.

 

_Guéhenno._ A modern church, but the porch of 1547 has been preserved.

In the graveyard is a fine Calvary of the 16th cent., the finest in

Morbihan. On it are numerous single figures as well as groups. It was

taken down and buried at the time of the Revolution, so as to preserve

it, and was restored in 1855. The Republican ruffians burnt the church.

P. on 1st Sunday in September.

 

SAINT MALO (I.V.) chl. d'arr. Occupies the old island of S. Aaron. It

is now united to Rocabey by an embankment, the Sillon, along which

runs a tramline. The town is walled in and a pleasant walk is on them;

the circuit of the walls may thus be made. The castle is of the 15th

cent.; it is square with flanking towers. Six gates give admission to

the town, in which the streets are very narrow and odorous, and the

houses lofty. At the highest point of the island, but smothered among

houses, is the Chapel of S. Aaron (Aelhaiarn). This Welsh hermit

occupied the island when S. Malo arrived. The cathedral is of the

14th cent. The choir is very English in character, with a square east

end. The nave is of the 12th cent. but W. front and sides have been

entirely Italianised. The fine central spire was added in 1859, and

was the gift to the town of Napoleon III. The tide at S. Malo rises to

an extraordinary height. At ebb by a causeway the islets of le Grand

and le Petit Bey can be reached. On the nearest are ruins of a castle,

and the tomb of Châteaubriant. On the further is a fort that is not

occupied. In the offing is the island of Cézambre. Here S. Brendan,

when obliged to quit Ireland, founded a monastery, in or about 524;

and when S. Malo arrived about a quarter of a century later, he was

well received by the abbot and monks on it. There are a cave and a

chapel of S. Brendan on the island. But the Government has extended the

fortifications on Cézambre and no one without a special authorisation

is now allowed to set foot on the island. In S. Malo there are a little

museum and a passable library in the Hôtel de Ville. The Breton museum

in the Cassino should be visited. It contains good specimens of local

carved oak, and chambers fitted with lit-clos, and figures in costume.

A flying bridge invented by a native, who invested all his capital in

it, connects S. Malo with S. Servan. S. Servan, Dinard, Paramé, are

watering places.

 

_S. Servan._ The cité marks the site of the ancient city of Aleth and

the substructions of the early cathedral have been discovered there.

The seat of the bishopric was removed from Aleth to S. Malo by S. John

of the Grate, the Bishop in 1142. The reason for the change was the

insecurity of Aleth, whereas it was possible to thoroughly fortify the

island of Aaron.

 

_Paramé_ is a watering place, with a low shelving shore, facing north

and miserably cold in winter, dusty in summer, and detestable at all

times, except to such as frequent the gaming tables.

 

SAINT MÉEN (I.V.) chl. arr. Montfort. A dull town in uninteresting

country. It was the seat of an abbot, head of an important abbey in the

Middle Ages. In 1554, S. Samson of Dol, who was engaged in working up

a revolt against Conmore the Regent of Domnonia, sent his nephew Mevan

across the great central forest to Vannes, probably to consult with

Gildas, and to ascertain whether any assistance could be obtained from

Count Weroch. On his way, Mevan lighted on a clearing in the forest,

where now stands the little town bearing his name. In this clearing

lived a British colonist, named Cadvan, who welcomed him and invited

him to establish a lann hard by and take over the religious charge of

his colony. Mevan agreed, and when Cadvan died, as he had no children,

he bequeathed the whole of his plou to Mevan as well as the lann

already granted. This was the origin of the abbey, and around the abbey

grew the town. The abbey is now turned into a petit séminaire. The

nave of the church was pulled down in 1771. The tower belongs to the

end of the 12th cent. The transept is of the 13th cent. The choir is of

the 14th cent. In the church is the tomb of S. Méen or Mevan, a granite

sarcophagus. A pretty chapel of the 12th cent. turned into a sacristy.

A Holy Well of S. Méen.

 

* SAINT NAZAIRE (L.I.) chl. d'arr. Is the seventh most important

port in France and is situated at the extremity of a promontory of a

gneiss rock that runs along the bank of the Loire. There is nothing of

antiquity in the place, which is wholly modern and built on a stiff and

formal plan, the houses rivalling each other in ugliness. But there is

one curious object in it, an enormous dolmen in the midst of a square,

that has been spared, and has given its name to the street leading to

it. Five lighthouses guard the entrance of the Loire. From S. Nazaire

a visit may be paid to La Grande Brière, a vast turf deposit, once an

inland lake. The peculiar costume has almost disappeared, only the

women retaining their coiffe. The population of all this district is

British, and the descendants of the very earliest immigrants. The

hair is for the most part fair, the eyes grey or blue. Formerly the

Breton tongue was spoken throughout this district, but it is now spoken

by only about 400 persons in the neighbourhood of Batz by Croisic.

Curiously enough, the villagers of Batz regard themselves as of

different blood from the rest, and to be descendants of Scandinavian

pirates who were suffered to settle there. Till quite recently it was

an unheard of event for a young man of Batz to marry a girl of what he

regarded as the Breton villages. That in colour of hair and eyes there

should be no distinction does not militate against the tradition, for

the pure blooded Celt is as fair as the Scandinavian.

 

SAINT NICOLAS DU PÉLEM (C.N.) chl. arr. Guingamp. A menhir in the

forest of Kerhuel, and another near Kerhuel, 9 ft. high. In the valley

of Prat-roury another, fusiform, about 11 ft. high. The old Roman

road from Aleth to Carhaix ran through this parish, and it remains in

fairly perfect condition in several places. On a height is the camp

of Dzillon near Kerimard, circular with a tump hollowed out within,

certainly a Norseman burh. The Château de Pélem is in ruins, but two

of the towers are standing. The Church of S. Nicolas has got very fine

restored stained glass of the 14th cent., representing in twenty-four

medallions scenes from the gospel story; at the bottom of the window

the donors are represented kneeling. Another window contains fragments

of medallions representing the life of the Baptist. The roodscreen was

wantonly destroyed in 1861. The Chapel of S. Eloi has a fine flamboyant

east window with remains of stained glass in it. The Chapel of Riolon

is mainly of the 15th cent., and has an east window of the renaissance

with stained glass in it representing the Eternal Father seated in the

midst of a rose, surrounded by the evangelists, the prophets, and

angels playing instruments of music. Another window has fragments of

stained glass in it representing saints.

 

_Canihuel._ A huge menhir called Coz-resto, 23 ft. high, has been

split by lightning. It is in a line with other menhirs at Kergornec,

Saint Gilles-Pligeaux, and Crech Ogel in the old bourg of Quintin. At

Botquelen is another menhir 13 ft. high.

 

The parish church was built in 1474, burnt in 1595 and repaired in

1598; it is almost wholly of the 16th cent. with a flamboyant E. window.

 

_Kerpert._ Church of the flamboyant period; in the E. window glass of

the 16th cent. representing the life of S. Peter; ossuary.

 

_Lanrivain._ Ossuary and Calvary of 1548. On the platform are several

figures; there are three crosses, the principal one sustains a group of

eleven figures carved in one block.

 

_Peumerit-Quintin._ Near the hamlet of Pempoul a ruined allée couverte.

The Chapel of S. Jean du Loch is mainly of the 15th cent. but retains

some portions of the earlier 12th cent. building.

 

_S. Connan._. Near the Mill of Kerdic a ruined allée couverte. Dolmen

in the Parc-an-Neurn.

 

_S. Gilles Pligeaux._ Two menhirs at Kergornec, one in the

Parc-er-Pélem, is 22 ft. high and leans. The other at four hundred

paces from it, near the bottom of the valley in Parc-ar-golven, is 13

ft. high. They seem to belong to a system of which only some remain,

as Crech Ogel in Vieux Bourg, Coz-resto in Canihuel, and one in the

Lande de Bohan in S. Mayeux. Dolmen called Roc-ar-Velcien, the table

supported by three uprights. The coverer is almost circular, about

23 ft. in diameter. The church is of the 16th cent., tower and porch

of 1644. In the cemetery a chapel dedicated to S. Laurence, with an

entombment in the crypt of terracotta of the 17th cent. Date of chapel

1538.

 

[Illustration: LE KREISKER, S. POL DE LÉON]

 

* S. POL DE LÉON (F.) chl. arr. Morlaix. An ancient cathedral town,

but the diocese has been united to that of Quimper. The cathedral has

two western towers and spires and façade of 1st pointed. The nave is

entirely 2nd pointed and has a very beautiful arcade. The cleristory

is quite simple, mostly with 1st pointed windows. The side aisles have

an arcade under the windows. The transepts are double, _i.e._ with