Brittany

by S. Baring-Gould

Cleden-Poher has a large church of the middle of the 16th cent., but with alterations made in 1689, at which date the sacristy was built. It has a fine west porch, and in the apse a good flamboyant window in six bays with a column up the centre against which, within, stands a statue. In a Chapel of N.D. de Cleden the vault is covered with paintings of the 18th cent. The high altar has a retable into which are let sculptured panels of the 16th cent., and others, representing the seven sacraments, are about the apse. The venerated image of N.D. dates from the 14th cent. The Calvary in the graveyard is of 1575. At the N.E. corner of the churchyard is an ossuary, transition between flamboyant and renaissance. P. 15th Aug.

Treffrin (C.N.) possesses a fine Roman camp at Kermoisan, with remains of a tower in it. The Church of N.D. is of 1580, the porch of 1582, richly decorated, and contains niches within containing statues of the twelve apostles; the corbels supporting them are all different in design.

Locarn. The church is of the 12th cent. with additions and alterations of the 16th. It contains the tomb of the patron, S. Harn, in granite, 14th cent. The east window has stained glass of 1572 representing scenes of the Passion. The pulpit is renaissance, syrens occupy the angles. There is a Holy Well with an early statue of the Saint above it. A Calvary, the base ornamented with sculptured dolphins. In the presbytère is a magnificent silver-gilt processional cross of the 16th cent. In the parish are several menhirs, at Quellence Buis, Loquevel, Grand Follezon, etc., but of no great height.

Le Moustoir (C.N.). Church of 1507, in the shape of a T. The cornice, on which rests the vault, represents grotesque figures and groups. The E. window retains its old glass, representing the Life of the Virgin. In the tracery are the four great prophets. On the N. side a fireplace for heating the water for baptism.

Maël Carhaix (C.N.). On the Place is a Roman military milestone with inscription stating that it was erected in the reign of Septimius Severus. The Church of S. Pierre (1530) has old stained glass representing the Fathers of the Church and Bishops. The glass is of the same date as the church. At Maël Carhaix is the cave whence issues the spring that supplied Vorganium with water by an aqueduct.

* CARNAC, com. of Quiberon. Noted for the vast numbers of its prehistoric monuments. It lies on the low flat shores of the Baie de Quiberon, and is a great place for the cultivation of oysters. To obtain a good general view of the place it is well to ascend first of all the Mont S. Michel, a huge cairn piled up over a natural elevation of granite. It is oblong in shape and rises to about 60 feet. On the summit is a chapel of the Archangel, with an old granite cross. The mound was dug into in 1863 when a dolmen was discovered that contained over a hundred polished stone axes, a necklace, and other objects of the early bronze age. Further excavation in 1890 has disclosed another dolmen, in which, along with some stone implements, were two bronze buttons. The cairn is built up carefully of stones laid in order over a sheet of pebbles, and above them more of the same and of seaweed had been spread, and then above this fresh stones have been piled. From the summit the alignments of Carnac can be seen on the north. To visit these latter the following course should be pursued. Take the road to Ker Malvezin, and in a few minutes, on a bit of rising ground on the left is seen a dolmen on which a cross has been erected. Very soon after the road traverses the lines of Le Menec. There are still standing eleven of these rows and they run from E.N.E. to W.S.W. The total length is 3510 feet, and there are 1169 stones in them. The tallest of them is 13 feet high, but the majority from 3 to 4 feet. It is well to turn to the left and pursue the rows to the western extremity where is a semi-circular enclosure, evidently not in its original condition, and it is doubtful whether it be not a modern erection made out of stones pilfered from the rows to form a farm enclosure attached to the farm of Le Menec.

THE LINES OF CARNAC

Having retraced our steps to the road, we cross it and follow the avenues of upright stones till we reach and cross another road, that to Ploemel. The road has broken through the lines, which continue only a few yards to the east, and then are brought to a conclusion by blocking stones, that is to say, slabs set at right angles to the lines. From this point ensues a gap for about 345 yards where is a little plantation of Austrian pines, a stone quarry, and some furzy enclosures. The lines are not, however, wholly interrupted; a few upright stones and several that are prostrate testify that there was some continuation. We follow a new road through the plantation and between walls till we come abruptly on a fresh cluster of stones, and these the largest we have yet seen. This is the commencement of the Kermario group. These started from several tumuli enclosing dolmens, but of such only one, an allée couverte pertaining to the southernmost line, remains. The lines though mutilated are instructive. They start from this allée couverte and run about 250 yards to a pair of blocking stones, planted at right angles to the rows. The Kermario alignments run N.E. up a hill crowned by a disused windmill that has been constructed out of the blocks, then they continue some way till walls and a wood interrupt their course. Ten rows remain, and the number of the standing stones is 982. The largest of the menhirs is prostrate; apparently it had been purposely thrown down to form a coverer to a Gallo-Roman grave that has been discovered beneath it. What is of special interest is the fact that a Roman camp was formed in these lines, and that those who constructed the camp made use of the stones for their wall of enclosure, breaking up some, and employing others in their original position where it served their purpose. From the easternmost end of the Kermario group occurs an interruption of about 398 yards, and then we come upon a third set of stone rows, that of Kerlescant, which stretches 885 yards, but is much mutilated about the village. Thirteen lines can be traced containing 540 stones, but there were others, some 40, that lie to the north, and are the poor remains of another series of stone rows. On the east again the alignment is supposed to describe a curve towards the north, and then recommence and run east again to the Crach estuary. Near the rows is also a ruined allée couverte. The whole extent of rows cannot be estimated as short of 4½ miles.