Part 6

CONCARNEAU (F.) chl. arr. Quimper. A fishing port, where sardines are tinned. It is also a resort of artists. Concarneau is picturesquely situated on a bay, and is divided into the New and the Old Town, the former very modern and uninteresting. The Ville Clos occupies an islet and is enclosed by walls flanked by towers. Entrance is obtained by three gates: the principal is to the west and is defended by two great towers, and has a drawbridge. Some parts of the fortifications date from the 14th century. One large bastion is attributed to the Duchess Anne. There is an aquarium in the place, and the studios of the Breton artists should be visited. The Chapel of N. Dame de Bon Secours is of the 15th cent. Two kilometres distant to the N.E. is the Château de Kerjolet, rebuilt and given to the Department in 1890 by the Countess Chaveau-Narishkine. It contains a museum in which are preserved specimens of all the coiffes and costumes of Lower Brittany, as well as antiquities prehistoric and mediæval. The factories for tinning sardines may be inspected. The costume about Concarneau is pretty, and the place is noted for the good looks of the women.

_Lanriec._ Here is an allée couverte, here is also a cromlech, or circle of standing stones. P. 2nd Sunday in September.

_Trégunc._ Numerous prehistoric monuments. A fine menhir at Ker ar Gallon, another 30 ft. high. A stone circle 248 ft. in diameter. A dolmen on the Lande de Kerlan 24 ft. long. P. de S. Marc, the S. after 25th April. P. de N.D. de Bon Secours, 3rd S. in September. P. of S. Philibert, last S. in August, and that of S. Elizabeth the ensuing Sunday.

CORLAY (C.N.) chl. arr. Loudéac. Church of S. Elouan of 1576. Old Holy Well. The Chapel of S. Anne was built in 1198, destroyed in the war of the two Jeannes, and rebuilt in 1485, and dismantled in 1599. On the Lande de la Justice foundations remain of the old gallows; allée couverte, called Le Tombeau de Gargantua, near the hamlet of Faouët, on the road to Uzel.

_Haut Corlay._ Near the village is the Men Bixiquet, a menhir 9 feet high. North of the Tertre aux Colombs, a rectangular fortification enclosing tumuli, a vast number of others are outside.

_Plussulien_ (S. Sulien). The church is of the 16th cent. The Holy Well of S. Sulien is of the 16th cent. as well. The Chapel of the N.D. de Saleon of the 15th cent.

CROISIC, LE (L.I.), chl. arr. S. Nazaire. A little port and bathing place. It is here that Cæsar stood to watch the naval fight between Brutus and the Venetian fleet, which resulted in the complete destruction of the latter. The Venetii had large vessels with leather sails, whereas the Romans had galleys. The success of the latter was wholly due to the failure of wind to fill the Venetian sails and enable the great ships to move. By this means the Roman galleys were enabled to attack each huge hulk separately, and the Venetian fleet was thus destroyed piece-meal. After this Cæsar in cold blood slaughtered all the nobles, and sold all the population he could lay his hands on into slavery. Le Croisic lies on a slight elevation that runs as a ridge banking out the Loire from the low tract of salt marsh on the other or inland side. N.D. de la Pitié (1494-1507) has a N. porch of 1528, and a tower of the 17th cent. The Chapel of S. Goustan is partly Romanesque, and has a miraculous Holy Well near it. A marine hospital for scrofulous children is at Le Croisic.

_Batz_, on the same ridge as Le Croisic, is also a sea-bathing place and in much resort. The church (S. Winwaloe) is of the 15th and 16th cents., with a stately tower rebuilt in 1677. The pillars of the earlier 13th cent. church remain. The church was restored in 1866. In Batz is a little museum in which are preserved the old costumes of the district.

_Pouliquen_ (The White Pool), also a sea-bathing place. On the rock of Penchâteau is a chapel containing a 15th cent. alabaster bas-relief.

CROZON (F.) chl. arr. Châteaulin. The bleak promontory of Crozon spreads out to the west and forms the headland of Camaret, then intervenes the bay de la Chèvre, and to the north the headland of Crozon. The church (1602-15) contains a retable representing the martyrdom of the Theban Legion. The spire is modern. There is a stone circle at Tyahurey in the midst of a vast lande, a dolmen at Rostudet, and stone rows at Kercolleoch and Landaoudec. The coast to Morgat is fine, much gnawed into by the Atlantic, and full of caverns. There are, however, good stretches of sand. Dinant takes its name from the rocks that shoot up like walls and towers of a fortress. The bay of Dinant is beautiful, and here also are many caves, notably that of the Korrigans or water-sprites. P. Sunday after 29th June.

_Camaret_ is a little port given over to the sardine fishing and to the tinning. The Chapel of Rozmadou dates from 1560. At Toulinquel is a set of stone rows. At Kerloch a little lake. The Benediction of the Sea takes place on the 3rd Sunday in June.

_Lanveoc_ (S. Fiacc, B. of Sletty). Here are prehistoric remains. P. Sunday nearest to 26th July.

DAOULAS (F.) chl. arr. Brest. An Augustinian abbey was founded here 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.

_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.

_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.

_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.

_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.