Breton Folk: An artistic tour in Brittany

by Henry Blackburn

Before leaving Le Faouet, a visit should be made to the fifteenth-century church of St. Fiacre, to see the fine rood-screen elaborately carved with figures representing scenes in the life of Christ, panels of elaborate and grotesque workmanship. The work on this screen was partly executed in 1480 and in 1627, and the whole was restored, painted, and gilt in 1866. There is also some fine stained glass, dating from 1552.

To the chapel of Ste. Barbe is a shaded walk of about a mile and a half—first through narrow lanes and broad avenues, then up a steep ascent where the path is sometimes cut in steps in the rock. It brings us in half an hour to a high plateau fringed with furze and wind-blown pines. The view from the eminence is magnificent: the eye wanders eastward and southward, over a broad valley with a mountain stream, the Ellé winding first through beds of rocks, then into pastures, and disappearing in cultivated fields. As we walk to the edge of this mountain-side, where there is only a small hut visible, the panorama increases in extent over the country, and the variety of colour, from the grey of scattered boulders and blue of pines, to the deep green of the meadows and woods, forms a scene of such natural beauty that we almost forget the object of our mission.

The chapel of Ste. Barbe, approached down a flight of steps, is actually close to our feet; it is built of granite under the hillside, sheltered from the winds by enormous rocks and trees, and with a steep declivity below; a solid granite structure fitted into the hillside, so to speak, the space not permitting the nave of the chapel to be in the usual position. In the interior—which is shown by an old man in tatters who kneels at the altar whilst we walk round—is a gallery with carved panels, supported by seraphim holding shields, and grotesque animals on the mouldings; there is also some old stained glass.

There is a tradition attaching to this chapel, that a knight, hunting in the neighbourhood in the fifteenth century, was overtaken by a storm in the valley below, and, being preserved from falling rocks by the prayers of Ste. Barbe, erected this chapel to her memory. From that day there has been an annual pilgrimage to Ste. Barbe, when some of the devotees creep round the precipitous exterior walls as an act of penance. Before leaving, we pass up the rough stone steps in the sketch to even higher ground, where there is a small chapel dedicated to St. Michel. It is fortunate to have seen the view from Ste. Barbe on a clear day, for the clouds, which gather in the distance, as white as snow, through the tree tops, come up in a few hours and shroud the land.

Ten miles in a north-westerly direction, in some of the finest scenery of the Montagnes Noires, is Gourin, a small town in the centre of a district of old iron mines, stone and slate quarries. Mr. Caldecott, who visited this district in a previous year, in bad weather, speaks of the “wide, dirty, uninteresting-looking street of Gourin, at the top of which is the Hôtel du Cheval Blanc,” but he has made a sketch of the women washing at a stream just outside the town, which only wants colour to be one of the most picturesque of our series.

Excepting for fishing, shooting, or perchance to record the forms and colours of the mountains in a sketch, few visitors will find their way to Gourin, even in summer; but the following notes by the artist may be interesting to travellers:—

“The dining-room of the inn at Gourin opens on to the public Place, and is frequented by commercial travellers and two or three residents; one of the latter, being a chasseur, is followed through the glass door by a pack of hounds, the large sporting spaniels of the country, and at each guest’s elbow a dog stations himself to receive gratuities.”

“After resting for the night in a comfortable room, separate from the main premises, I hire a vehicle to take me to Le Faouet, as the morning is wet; a long-bodied cart, drawn by a white horse, with the wheels set forward and a shifting seat, on which is a large pillow. We drive through a hilly, wooded country in a high wind.”