Brittany

by S. Baring-Gould

Locmelar is reached by ascending a pretty valley that contains an affluent of the Elorn. The church is late flamboyant, with apse and gables. The porch is of the common type of the period and contains statues of the apostles. There is a Calvary. The tower dates from 1656. Over a side altar is a painting representing in a series of groups the legend of S. Hervé, a blind bard saint who contributed greatly to the downfall of Conmore, acting in conjunction with Gildas and S. Samson.

Bodilis. The tower of this church was erected when Gothic architecture was in its decline. It is surmounted by a spire with spirelets at the angles rising from a gallery. The porch is of 1570, and is of unusual beauty. Within are the apostles; below the niches runs a band of marvellous richness of sculpture and great variety. The font is surmounted by a baldachin in Kersanton stone of 1680. P. on Ascension Day.

S. Servais. This church has an early renaissance tower with double galleries and two bell cages, the whole surmounted by a spire and pinnacles. The body of the church is of the latter half of the 17th cent. The graveyard cross has sculptured scenes on it, and there is an ossuary like that at Landivisiau.

Guimiliau. Annually numerous tourists visit this village to see its very remarkable ecclesiastical monuments, its church, porch, sacristy, calvary, and the little Chapel of Ste. Anne. The porch rivals that of Bodilis and Landerneau. The doorway into the porch has a series of biblical scenes in sculpture in the mouldings. The date is 1617. The voluted keystone alone proclaims the abandonment of Gothic for Italian architecture. To the west side of the porch is attached an ossuary, the roof supported by columns. The sacristy was erected in 1683. The Calvary consists of a mass of masonry, pierced by arches in the angle buttresses, the whole sustaining a frieze covered with sculptured figures, and the platform above crowded with statues. The whole surmounted by the cross with SS. Mary and John at the sides. The groups are very curious and represent soldiers and peasants of the close of the 16th cent. The Calvary was erected in 1581. Near the Calvary is the mortuary chapel of Ste. Anne, 1648. The interior of the church contains a magnificent baldachino over the font in carved oak; it was constructed in 1675. The organ case is of much the same date, the pulpit of 1677. The church possesses two embroidered banners of 1678. Guimiliau (Vicus Miliai) has as patron Miliau, King of Cornouaille, who was basely assassinated by his brother Rivold in 537, who also mutilated his nephew Melor, by amputating a hand and a foot, and finally by having him murdered by his foster-father, whom he had bribed to do the deed.

There is a Holy Well of S. Miliau outside the village.

Lampaul-Guimiliau. The great tower of this church (S. Paul of Léon) was founded in 1573, and is very lofty and surmounted by a spire which has remained incomplete. The porch is fifty years older. Within are the apostles in very quaint niches. The sculpture of the Holy Water Stoup and of the inner doorway is remarkably rich. The font is of 1651, and is surrounded and surmounted by a baldachino of 1650. The pulpit, that is late, is a fine piece of wood carving. The east end of the choir terminates in an apse with gables. The Calvary, triumphal arch, and ossuary belong to 1668. P. 1st S. in May. At the Chapel of S. Anne, S. after 15th August.

See also [Lambader] and [Plouneour-Menez].

* LANMEUR (F.) chl. arr. Morlaix. The church surmounts a crypt that is very curious and rude, and is attributed to the 10th cent. In this crypt was once the tomb of S. Melor (see under [Guimiliau]), whose body was transferred in the 9th cent. by refugee Bretons to Amesbury. There is a fountain in the crypt. Of the upper church only four piers and a small door belong to the original building. Near the church is the Romanesque Chapel of Kernitron (12th cent.). It is a cross church with a bold central tower. Some of the windows are late. The P. of Kernitron is on the 15th August.

S. Jean du Doigt is a complete and interesting collection of structures such as were wont to be grouped about a parish church. There is first the monumental church itself, in the midst of a graveyard entered by a triumphal arch, a Holy Well, a Calvary, an ossuary, and an open oratory, where mass is celebrated before an enormous crowd on the occasion of the Pardon, and, finally, the church possesses a rare collection of precious ornaments, such as belong to no other parish in the diocese. The triumphal arch is of the 15th cent. The Holy Well is in the churchyard, and is a noble renaissance structure composed of a large basin, with two superposed vessels, from which heads of angels spout water. The whole is surmounted by a group representing the Baptism of Christ. Almost in face of this is a pretty oratory of 1574, very elaborately and quaintly sculptured. The tower is surmounted by spire and spirelets covered with lead. The east end of the church has in it a noble rose window. At the foot of the tower is an ossuary, and a second of 1618 is on the S.W. The S. porch has a parvise chamber above the doorway. The interior is rich, and the inner doorway is surmounted by a statue of the Baptist in a Gothic niche with wings. The church was commenced in 1440, and was completed in 1513, so that it belongs to an excellent period of flamboyant, of which unfortunately examples are few. Internally the exaggerated height of the pillars as compared with the arches deserves notice. The treasury is extraordinarily rich in chalices, reliquaries, and a processional cross of the 16th cent. A reliquary of the finger of S. John is of 1429. The P. is on the 24th June, and draws vast crowds of pilgrims. The object of the cult is a finger of the Baptist, which is supposed to have its nail pared annually. It was stolen from some chapel in Normandy by a native of Plougasnou, who successfully conveyed it to his native village. There is, of course, not a particle of evidence worth a rush that substantiates the relic as genuine.

Plougasnou has an interesting church on a storm-beaten coast. The interior is Romanesque, but the exterior dates from 1574. It has a tower of 1582. A curious Chapel of N.D. de Lorette with caryatides is shaped like an old Lycian tomb.