Brittany

by S. Baring-Gould

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.

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.