in 1170. To this period belong the body of the church and portions of
the choir. A porch was added in renaissance times. Glass of the Breton
school of the 16th cent. remains in the church windows. The cloister
is Romanesque, and of the same date as the foundation of the abbey.
Semi-circular arches rest on columns alternately single and coupled,
and with early foliage in the capitals, and with ornamented bases. In
the midst of the cloister is a basin also of the 12th cent. Chapel
of B.V.M. 1550, and Chapel of S. Anne 1667. Daoulas is at the head
of a long tidal creek, between hills, in a pretty situation. The
Kersanton stone, so largely used for sculpture in the churches of Lower
Brittany in the 16th and 17th cents., is quarried not far from here.
[Illustration: N.D. DE LA FONTAINE, DAOULAS]
_L'Hôpital Comfront._ A commandery of the Knights of S. John was here.
The church is in the common transition style between flamboyant and a
renaissance, with an open bell tower for two bells and a side turret,
disengaged with cupola, containing the stair. The west front has a
doorway much like that at Rumengol. In the church is a statue of S.
Barbe of 1511. P. Easter Monday.
_Irvillac._ Church with a renaissance tower and spire. P. des Reliques
3rd Sunday in July. P. des Marches, with wrestling, 3rd Sunday in
October.
* DINAN (C.N.) chl. d'arrond. In a picturesque situation, 225 feet
above the Rance which flows through a gorge to the sea, between granite
cliffs broken by bays down which flows abundant foliage. The town is
walled round on all sides save that on which is the railway station.
Three gates remain, and a postern of the castle. The original castle
stood in a different position, and was called the Château de Gan. It
has disappeared, and a vulgar and pretentious modern house occupies
its site. The present castle was erected in 1458 and 1480. Of the
twenty-four towers which originally surrounded the town fifteen remain
in a more or less ruinous condition. Portions of the wall date from
the 13th cent. The most picturesque portion of the town is the Rue
de Jerzual leading to the old port on the Rance, in which are many
ancient houses. In some parts are houses with arcades. The Tour de
l'Horloge, singularly picturesque, is of the 15th cent. The Church of
S. Sauveur is in part Romanesque, the lower portion of the west front
to the bottom of the window, and the S. side of the nave. But the N.
aisle, transepts and choir are flamboyant inclining to renaissance. The
central slated crown to the tower is singularly beautiful in outline
and proportion. There is one window in the N. aisle which contains
old glass. A chapel contains the heart of Du Guesclin. The Church of
S. Malo is late flamboyant of the 16th cent. throughout, except the
S. transept front, which is renaissance. The W. window is modern, and
remarkably bad in design. The church contained good old glass of the
period, which the curé sold, and has supplied its place with utter
rubbish. The Chapel of S. Joachim outside the Porte S. Malo is mainly
Romanesque of the 11th cent. It was chapel to a priory. At Ste. Esprit
is a granite cross sculptured with figures on the site occupied by the
Earl of Lancaster when investing Dinan. Near this is a large lunatic
asylum, with beautiful grounds, to which admission is accorded. The
chapel built by the lunatics, if architecturally bad, is effective
after its fashion, and well intended. From the Porte S. Malo a pretty
walk, planted with limes, leads to La Fontaine, a chalybeate spring in
a deep valley. A noble viaduct connects Dinan with Lanvallay. In
summer an expedition may be made by boat or steamer to the Chapel of
S. Hubert, an expedition well repaying the trouble. The Château de la
Garraye is of the 16th cent., prettily situated, falling annually into
more complete ruin. That of La Conninais, however, is kept up. A tower
and the chapel are late flamboyant, but the main building is a century
later.
[Illustration: S. SAUVEUR, DINAN]
_Léhon_ has a ruined castle on the height, and by the river the remains
of a priory. The church, of the 13th cent., has been restored; the
ugly east window is modern, and the stained glass is all bad. In the
churchyard is the Romanesque doorway of the parish church, which was
pulled down when the priory church was put in order.
_Corseul._ The ancient capital of the Curiosoliti, with Roman remains,
notably a temple of Mars, of very peculiar construction, an apsidal
chapel with a huge extended peristyle before it, like a cloister. The
parish church, a wretched modern structure, contains a Roman cippus.
In a picturesque situation is the Château de Montfilant, of the 12th
cent., with to the N. traces of a prehistoric camp. In the farmhouse
on the site of the castle are some statues, one of 16th cent., of S.
Agatha carrying her amputated feet, and another of S. Anne of the 17th
cent.
_S. Helan._ The church has some old glass in the E. window,
representing the saint, who with six other Irish bishops visited S.
Remigius at Rheims in 509. On their way, after having landed at
the mouth of the Rance, they founded churches along their route up
the river. At La Ganterie on the road to Dol, at the 8½ kilometre
milestone, a little to the left is a ruined allée couverte, on the site
of a prehistoric workshop for tools. The site is interesting not to the
archæologist alone, but also to the mineralogist. The stones of which
the dolmen is composed are diorite, and the material of which the tools
were fashioned is the silex in the granite fused by a dyke of diorite
which has run it into flint clots. The tools here fabricated were of a
rude description.
_S. Samson._ A fine menhir at La Tremblaye, in a little wood, 30
ft. high, but inclining, as it was undermined by treasure seekers.
According to popular superstition, if re-erected, Dinan would perish
by a flood. A delightful walk may be taken from S. Samson to Dinan,
by a road that leads down to the river, and comes out by the mouth
of the glen of La Fontaine. From it the grand view of Dinan with its
spires and viaduct may be obtained. The Rance at this point formerly
swept round a rocky peninsula, but this was cut through and the course
rectified, when the river was canalised. The walk may be extended by
taking in _Taden_, where are the neglected tombs of the Count and
Countess de la Garaye. At their own desire they were buried among the
poor, to whom they had devoted their lives, in the churchyard.
[Illustration: TOWER, DINARD]
_Trigavou_, between this place and Pleslin, is a wrecked series of
alignments. Though a monument historique, the peasants have been
recently blowing up the stones with gunpowder, and the remains are in
too great disorder to be planned. In the church on a beam is a carving
that represents a hare which when pursued by hunters took refuge in the
sacred edifice.
_Le Hinglé_, a walk of a mile and a half from the station, takes to the
Château of Chalonge, with a tower and picturesque gables. It is being
well restored by the proprietor.
DINARD-SAINT ENOGAT (I.V.) chl. arr. S. Malo. Picturesquely situated
on an indented coastline opposite S. Malo, and connected by a tramline
with S. Lunaire and S. Briac. It is a favourite resort for wealthy
Americans during the summer, and has a casino, where those who like
to lose their money may do so. Bathing is best obtained at S. Lunaire
where are good sands. Scanty remains of a priory founded in 1324. The
chapel in ruins contains a colossal statue of the Virgin and child of
the 15th cent. An old house, traditionally supposed to have been once
occupied by the Black Prince, has a couple of picturesque towers with
conical roofs and gables. A house quaintly decorated with numerous
statues of saints.
_S. Lunaire_ has an excellent beach. Lodging houses are extending
rapidly along the coast from Dinard to S. Briac, and in process of
time there will be a continuous line of houses. The modern church
is portentously vulgar, but the little old church has been happily
spared. It has a low slated tower at the junction of the transepts.
Within is the tomb of the saint, who was son of Hoel and Pompeia,
and born in South Wales. His father was founder of Llanhywel in
Pembrokeshire, and his mother lies buried at Langoat near La Roche
Derrien. He was brother of S. Tugdual the founder of Tréguier, and
nephew of S. Brioc. The story goes that he left his portable altar
behind him in Wales, and that two doves crossed the sea bringing it to
him in their beaks. On his tomb a dove is represented with the slab in
its beak. The fact on which this legend is founded is probably that
his sisters, crossing later, brought to him what he had forgotten. One
sister was called Sceva, Ste. Sève as she is now called. Another story
told of him is that when he settled at this spot on the coast, with
his monks, to his dismay it was discovered that seed corn had been
forgotten. Then Leonore knelt in prayer, and presently a robin was seen
perched on a stone with an ear of wheat in its beak which it let fall
when scared. The grains were sown, and on the following year all the
produce of the little harvest, and eventually all the district round,
derived its wheat from "Robin Redbreast's Corn."
_S. Briac._ Situated above a picturesque bay partly closed by an islet.
It has a little port. The church is modern except the tower, which is
renaissance. An extensive alignment existed here, extending to the
headland above the sea, but the exigences of builders have almost if
not wholly destroyed it. The saint from whom the place takes its name
was an Irishman, a native of Ulster, who joined Tugdual and Leonore
in South Wales and followed them to Brittany. Briac was given a site
for a monastery where now stands the town of Bourgbriac, where is his
Holy Well. He soon made of it a flourishing school for missionaries,
who were sent throughout the district. After many years he went on
pilgrimage to Rome, and on his way back halted at Arles, where he
remained two years. Then he returned to Brittany, where he died at an
advanced age about 570, and was buried at Bourgbriac.
On the further side of the river is Lancieux; the church contains a
Roman cippus but is otherwise destitute of interest and will shortly
be rebuilt. The vast bay west of Lancieux is divided in twain by the
tongue of land on which is S. Jacut. Here the tide goes out as much
as 5 kilometres. To the north of the promontory of S. Jacut are the
islands of Les Ebbiens on which is a battery.
Off Dinard is the fortified isle of _Cézambre_, but visitors are not
suffered to land there. Here was a monastery founded by S. Brendan
about 524, and when S. Malo arrived from South Wales, he was hospitably
received by Festivus, the Irish monk left there in charge. A Chapel of
S. Brendan was much resorted to by girls in want of husbands, who vowed
candles to the Irish saint if he would supply them with a suitor. But
since the military authorities have denied access to the island, the
damsels have had to aspire at home.
DOL (I.V.) chl. arr. S. Malo. A dull town, formerly a cathedral city,
and for three hundred years seat of an archbishop. The few old houses
in the town are not particularly interesting. The former cathedral, now
parish church (S. Samson), belongs for the most part to the 13th cent.
The west part is flanked by two towers of the 14th and 15th centuries.
That to the south has retained some remains of the original Romanesque
church. King John of England burnt the church. At the crossing of
the transepts a third tower of the 13th cent. was begun but never
completed. The N. side of the church formed part of the fortifications
of the town, and the wall of the chapels of the choir is surmounted by
a crenilated parapet. The choir has a square east end like an English
church, and with a magnificent 2nd pointed or geometrical E. window
full of glass of the same period, badly restored. It represents the
Last Judgment, scenes of the Passion, and the Life of S. Samson. The
pillars of the nave belong to the original Romanesque church. After
it was burnt they were retained, but disengaged columns were grouped
about them and bound to the cylinders by bands of iron. Those in the
side aisles are meaningless, supporting nothing. Behind the high altar
is the Chapel of S. Samson. In the wall at the side are openings into
a chamber into which the insane were admitted, and kept for a while
enclosed near the tomb of the Saint, in hopes of a cure. In the N.
transept is the sadly defaced tomb of Bishop Thomas James (1504) and
of his brother, a canon. It was a peculiarly rich piece of renaissance
work, by the Florentine family of Juste, two brothers of which were
brought to Dol to execute it. After its completion they settled at
Tours. It was barbarously mutilated at the Revolution. The S. transept
has a rich porch, the statuary in which has been recently restored.
About a mile and a half out of Dol on the Combourg road is the Pierre
du Champ Dolent, a menhir 27 feet high above ground and sunk nearly as
many feet beneath the surface. It is dwarfed by a huge crucifix planted
on the top. Near by is _Carfeuntin_ with a hideous modern church
replacing one of the 13th that has been wantonly destroyed. Here is the
Holy Well of S. Samson.
_Mont Dol_ is a height rising out of the great marsh of Dol, that was
overflowed by the sea in 709. This was a prehistoric site and numerous
flint weapons are there found. The church of the 11th, 12th and 15th
centuries contains curious mural paintings.
DOUARNENEZ (F.) chl. arr. Quimper. Prettily situated on a tidal creek
that has its mouth almost closed by the Isle of Tristan. The railway
station is high above the town and the ravine is crossed by a viaduct.
The town itself is given up to sardines and is pervaded by bad odours.
It has a very bad modern church. That of S. Helene is of the 17th
cent. with glass of the period. The Chapel of S. Michel is of 1664 and
has a painted ceiling. Douarnenez was the headquarters of the brigand
Fontenelle during the wars of the League. He had his castle on the
island of Tristan where he crowded his prisoners into the dungeons so
dense that they could not lie down, and kept them there till they died,
in a condition of indescribable filth. As one died, he made the rest
throw him out at the window into the sea. Some, who he thought might
ransom themselves, he placed in metal chairs over slow fires, others
he left in bitter winter weather immersed to their necks in barrels of
cold water. He carried on his barbarities, not for any cause, though
he professed himself to be a leaguer. He warred on all alike for the
sake of rapine and out of wanton love of slaughter. He was finally
broken on the wheel in 1602. Douarnenez is connected by rows of houses
with _Ploaré_, where is a fine church very late flamboyant resolving
itself into renaissance, and typical of a style very general throughout
Finistère. A singular feature is to be noted in the pinnacles about
the spire. Two of these have tall crocketed spirelets, but taste was
changing whilst the tower was approaching completion, and the two
other pinnacles are truncated Italian lanterns. The tower was begun
in 1555. The side aisles are gabled over the aisle windows, and as
usual in Breton churches there is no clerestory. The buttresses are
surmounted by pinnacles that are crowned with cupolas. The cusping has
gone from the tracery, a sure mark of decay of the style. There is a
fine porch with niches, but no statues. A fireplace and chimney for
heating the water for baptisms, shows that this usage was carried on to
the latter half of the 16th cent. As we shall see under Le Juch there
is a later example.
[Illustration: PLOARÉ]
_Poullan._ The church (S. Cadvan) is flamboyant verging into
renaissance. It has a thin tower with two galleries, and a pretty
porch. The side aisles are peculiarly narrow. The capitals of the
pillars are quaintly carved. The octagonal vestry is of the 17th cent.
Several dolmens. A menhir near the seamark at Kermenhir. P. 1st S. in
September.
_Le Juch._ Renaissance tower. Fireplace in the church for warming the
water for baptism, as late as 1710. The east window has in it 16th
cent. glass representing the Crucifixion.
_Guengat._ A small late flamboyant church. Ossuary adjoining the porch
1557. Owing to the fall of the tower in 1700, the church was restored
in 1706. It contains some fine glass of the 16th cent. representing the
Last Judgment and the Passion. The date is 1571. The porch flamboyant.
Curious uncouth and late tracery in two gabled windows beside the
porch. The third has flamboyant tracery. A Calvary in the churchyard
is of the 16th cent. In the presbytère are preserved a beautiful
chalice, and a processional cross of 1584. P. de S. Ivy, 2nd S. in May.
Patronal feast last S. in August.
_Kerlaz._ Church (S. Germain) picturesque and interesting. It has
a crocketed spire with subsidiary turrets and spirelets partially
detached. The church contains old glass in the east window representing
scenes of the Passion and S. John the Baptist presenting the donor and
a canon. Font of 1567, tower 1660, Calvary 1645, lychgate 1558.
ELVEN (M.) chl. arr. Vannes. The Chapel of S. Germain is of the 16th
cent. At the door is a sarcophagus supposed to be that of S. Germain.
This Germanus is probably not the Great Bishop of Auxerre, but the
nephew of S. Patrick, who was tutor of S. Brioc, and finally apostle of
the Isle of Man. Elven is a good place whence to explore the Lande de
Lanvaux. This upland ridge is strewn with prehistoric remains, dolmens
and menhirs, notably La Loge aux Loups, a dolmen; an allée couverte Le
Léty, a menhir at Carhaix, another at Villeneuve. An allée couverte
at Villepierre, two dolmens in the wood at Coetby and two menhirs
called Baboun et Baboune at the outskirts of the wood of Lanvaux. At
S. Guyomard a menhir 22 feet high. At Plaudren beside the road, La
Quenouille, about 18 feet high. Near it numerous remains of dolmens
and fallen menhirs. Another group at Plaudren, a fallen menhir, 16
feet high, and two others prostrate of less height, an allée couverte
called Mein-gouarec near a curious rock shaped like a crouching lion.
ETAPLES (C.N.) chl. arr. S. Brieuc. A watering-place in some repute
with good sands. The church is of the 15th cent., but with a tower of
1786. Etaples is in the ancient county of Goelo.
_Lantec._ The parish church (S. Oswald) is a mean modern structure.
How the great Northumbrian king should come to be here commemorated
is hard to understand. He is represented over the altar as a chubby,
smirking boy. The Chapel of N.D. de la Cour is a noble structure of
1460, of the finest and purest flamboyant, before it became degenerate
and adulterated with Italian detail. Chancel and side aisles are
vaulted. The nave has modern wood vaulting. The superb east window is
filled with the finest stained glass, silvery in tone, with the colour
set in it as jewels, after the English school, and entirely different
from the prevailing Breton character of glass which, like the French,
is overladen with colour. The modern glass in some of the windows is
bad as bad can be. The tracery of the chancel windows is admirable.
There is a second stained window, old, in the S. transept. In the
chapel is the tomb of Guillaume de Rosmadec, 1608, in kersanton stone.
P. 16th August, when pilgrim fishermen make the circuit of the chapel
barefooted and in their shirts alone.
_S. Quay_ is a watering place.
LE FAOU (F.) chl. arr. Châteaulin, at the head of a long arm of the
sea. It is reached from Henvec station. The church is of the 16th cent.
late flamboyant, with a slender unsatisfactory tower, 1626-40. The
porch is of 1593, with statues of the apostles.
_Rumengol._ The story goes that as King Grallo was riding with S.
Winwaloe from Is, which had been overwhelmed by the sea, and reached
the hill that commanded the valley, he saw a fire on the height
opposite, and found that the pagan inhabitants were holding a sacrifice
on the rou-men-goulon, the Red Stone of the Dawn. He vowed to build
there a church. This is represented in the E. window. The church is
late flamboyant with renaissance detail. The porch is of the usual type
and contains, over the door, an adoration of the Magi. A hundred paces
to the east is the Holy Well. In the little structure is a bas-relief
of the Annunciation, and statues of S. Winwaloe and S. Fiacre. One
of the most largely attended Pardons of Brittany takes place here on
Trinity Sunday, the pilgrims arrive over night and sleep in the church.
* LE FAOUËT (M.) chl. arr. Pontivy. Fine timber and slate Halles.
The church of the 16th cent. is of little interest, but the chapels of
Ste. Barbe, S. Fiacre, and S. Nicolas in Prisiac, are well deserving
of a visit and a study. Ste. Barbe is planted on a rock above a pretty
valley, and is reached by a staircase of stone. A bridge connects the
upper platform with another chapel, that of S. Michel. The wooden
belfry is on the platform above. The chapel of Ste. Barbe is of fine
flamboyant work, 1489. The structure is curious: there is no nave,
it is composed of long transepts and a small budding chancel. It was
vaulted in 1512. Some very fine old glass remains, side by side with
some very villainous modern stuff. Below, in the valley, is the well of
Ste. Barbe. The P. of Ste. Barbe is on the last Sunday in June.
[Illustration: S. FIACRE]
S. Fiacre is a superb example of the architecture of the 15th cent. The
main spire, with its flamboyant gallery, is corbelled out on the west
gable and is tied by two flying buttresses to two smaller towers with
spirelets. The S. porch is vaulted and has niches within. The chapel
contains very fine glass of 1550, but falling to pieces and fragments
detaching themselves with every storm. The subjects represented are
the Nativity, the Passion, and the legend of S. Fiacre. A roodscreen
of 1480 has been badly "restored" and painted. The condition of
the magnificent glass is disgraceful. The chapel is a "monument
historique," so that the curé can do nothing to it, and the State will
do nothing for its preservation. The foliage carving in granite is
admirable for its boldness. The Chapel of S. Nicolas in Prisiac has a
very fine roodscreen, quite perfect and untouched, covered with curious
paintings; it is, however, later than that at S. Fiacre. There is here
also some good old glass. The chapel is in a sad condition of neglect.
It possesses a broken wheel set with bells for ringing by pilgrims
to call the attention of the Saint to their prayers. Le Faouët may be
reached from either Gourin or Quimperlé. The P. at S. Fiacre is on the
4th Sunday in July. S. Caradec Trégomel, a splendid late Gothic chapel,
one of the finest monuments of 15th cent. in Brittany.
* FOUESNANT (F.) chl. arr. Quimper, with nice sands. A pleasant
holiday resort. The costumes of the women are very pretty. The church
is Romanesque, but was frightfully maltreated in the 18th cent., when
large round-headed windows were introduced. The tower was struck by
lightning and rebuilt at the same time. The piers are 11th cent. From
above them rise pilasters that sustain relieving arches under which
are the clerestory windows. The capitals have byzantine-looking work
on them. The Chapel of Ste. Anne, in the midst of trees, was built in
1685, and has a tower for two bells and spire between two detached
turrets surmounted by cupolas. This chapel is the object of visit when
the Pardon takes place on July 28. Peasants and girls in white arrive
by water in boats with their crosses and banners.
_S. Evarzec._ Here was a commandery of the Knights of Malta at Moustoir
(13th cent.). A dolmen and menhir.
_Goueznach._ A ruined allée couverte. Chapel of N.D. de Bonsecours, P.
Sept. 8. Chapel of S. Cado, P. Sept 25; that of Ste. Barbe, P. June 5.
_Benodet._ A favourite bathing resort. The church (S. Thomas à Becket)
was erected in his honour in 1241, seventy-one years after his death.
But it has undergone much alteration and enlargement. All that remains
of the original church are two bays of the apse. The foliage of the
capitals has all the freshness and charm of work of that period.