Remungol has a Holy Well near the church, a work of the 16th cent.
Lorient, chl. d'arr. A port. The town is composed of Lorient itself, a fortified place, and the Faubourg of Kérentrech, where a suspension bridge crosses the Scorff. Lorient owes its origin to the East India Company. That company, created in 1664, was in quest of a port. The Duc de la Meilleraye offered Port Louis, and in 1666 royal authority was granted to the company to form there quays, factories and storehouses. The village founded by La Compagnie de l'Orient took thence its name. The company having got over a financial crisis in 1669 bought up land in the neighbourhood. In 1712 the settlement comprised 700 families; it was raised to be a parish in 1709. In 1717 the company began to build and lay out quays and form basins on a grand scale, and in 1739 Lorient attained the dignity of being accounted a town. In 1745, the company had reached its highest point of prosperity, and had become a veritable maritime power, with 35 frigates in the harbour. Its flag was blue charged with a fleur-de-lys or, and it had as device Florebo quocunque ferar. English jealousies were aroused, and in 1746 an English fleet anchored in the Bay of Pont-du. Seven thousand men were disembarked under General Sinclair and summoned the town to surrender. As this was refused it was besieged, but after a few days General Sinclair withdrew without having effected anything. Curiously enough, the garrison had resolved on surrender, and sent to notify their purpose to the general, but found that the English had departed. The company failed, partly through internal dissension, mainly through the loss of Bengal, which was secured by the English in 1753. From this time the fortunes of the company declined, and at last it became bankrupt in 1769. It was then that Lorient passed to the Crown. The town is supremely uninteresting, and no visitor will stay in it except under constraint.
Port Louis. The Church of N.D., 1665. The citadel of the 18th cent., at one time served as a prison to Louis Napoleon.
Ploemeur. A circle of standing stones 20 ft. in diameter surrounds a tumulus, on the top of which is a dolmen fallen, thrown down by clumsy excavators. Near Kerroch a dolmen, the table sustained by three uprights, and near it the supporter of another. On the S. some menhirs, the remains of an alignment. At Kerpape, near the powder mill, another dolmen. At the Pointe du Tallut a menhir 12 ft. high, and near it another fallen. Ploumaur, the Great Tribe, was one of the largest parishes in the diocese; it was settled by S. Ninnoc, supposed to have been a daughter of the King of Brecknock. Her double monastery for both sexes was destroyed by the Northmen, and it was not rebuilt till the 12th cent. The church contains Romanesque work, but the tower was built in 1686, and the chancel was altered and disfigured in 1783. P. 1st Sunday in May. The Chapel of N.D. de Larmor was built in 1506, the tower and spire added in 1615. It was a great place of pilgrim resort till S. Anne d'Auray drew away the seamen who were wont to resort to Larmor. The benediction of the sea takes place on the 24th June.
Plouhinec. On the N. near Kerfourches two ruined dolmens and a menhir. The W., near the mill of Keronsine, alignments running parallel with the coast. Near Kersur a small menhir and four dolmens. At the mill of Gueldro the alignments recommence in seven or eight rows, and run on to Keroué and Kervelhué. At Magouer a tumulus with a dolmen and a group of menhirs, most of them fallen, and others have been split and used for building purposes.
Kervignac. On the N. a fine dolmen near the road to Hennebont. Another to the south near Kermado.
Nostang. S. of the village near the river Etel an alignment of 19 menhirs. For Ile de Groix, see under [Pont-aven].
Louvigné du Desert (I.V.) chl. arr. Fougères. Church (S. Padarn) of the 15th cent. with a tower of 1702. A circle of upright stones. The Château of Monthorion with tombs of Raoul II. de Fougères (1194) and Françoise de Foix in the chapel.
Malestroit (M.) chl. arr. Ploermel. The castle is on an islet of the Saudraye; it was constructed in the 11th cent. No traces of it now remain, or none of any importance. The town, built under the shadow of the castle, was fortified in 1463. It was attacked with fury by the League, but always resisted the enemy, till a third siege by Mercœur in 1592, but two months later it was retaken by the Royalists. Now all the walls are gone. The place retains a number of old houses, one of these near the parish church has on it grotesque figures, as a sow spinning, a hunter playing the horn, with beside him a hare performing on the biniou; a man beating his wife, etc. The church (S. Giles) consists of two churches side by side and in different styles. One retains remains of a Romanesque original. The rest is of 1511-31, and some good glass is in the windows, representing Jesus among the Doctors, the Baptism, the Passion, etc. The Chapel of S. M. Magdalen is partly Romanesque.
Matignon (C.M.) chl. arr. Dinan. The parish church is modern but the Chapel of S. Germain is the old parish church and has a Romanesque doorway.