Plouvorn. The church is modern, but the chapel of Lambader is most interesting, as containing the only 16th cent. flamboyant screen that has been spared in the department. It is singularly rich and delicate. The date is 1481. The tower and spire resemble those of Creisker, but on a smaller scale and with the same fault. The chapel has been carefully restored. P. on Whit-Monday.
S. Vougai. Church (S. Fiacc of Stetty) of the 16th cent. The château of Kerjean is a fine example of a late flamboyant and renaissance castle. After having been in ruins, it has been repurchased by a descendant of the ancient family to which it originally belonged, and is being gradually restored. One wing was destroyed by fire in the 18th cent., the rest was wrecked at the Revolution. It is called the Versailles of Finistère.
Pluvigner (M.) chl. arr. Lorient. This was the centre of a vast district comprising nine parishes, that formed the "plou" of Fingar, an Irish settler, who, after having established himself here with a number of colonists, returned to Ireland to fetch more, but was carried by contrary winds into S. Ives' Bay in Cornwall, where the native prince Tewdrig fell on him and murdered most of the party. The place where he was killed is Gwinear. The church of Pluvigner is a vast building erected in 1545. The tower and spire, however, date from 1781. Numerous lechs are in the churchyard, and one is at the door of the mairie. The Holy Well of S. Guinger (Fingar) is of the 16th cent., a little way out of the village. According to the legend Fingar was hunting when he came to the well, and looking in saw his face reflected in the water. "On my word," said he; "I'm an uncommonly handsome man, too good-looking to be anything but a saint," and this effected his conversion. He renounced the world and dedicated his beauty to religion. The chapel of S. Fiacre is of 1453, with additions of 1640. In the transept is a richly carved flamboyant altarpiece. The chapel of S. Beuzy marks the spot where that favourite disciple of Gildas, flying with a mortal wound in his head, passed the night on his way to Rhuys. The chapel is of 1593.
* PONT-AVEN (F.) chl. arr. Quimperlé. The costume of the women in this district is peculiarly charming. The broad quilled collars and the white coiffe, with a pink ribbon behind the lace, serve to show off a pretty face to advantage. Pont-aven is a favourite resort of artists, and some of their work may be seen in a much frequented hotel there. Moreover, the scenery about Pont-aven is pleasing, and it serves as a better headquarters than Concarneau, where the smell of the sardine pickling is offensive, and produces in some stomachic trouble. Pont-aven is picturesquely situated on the Aven, the same name as our Affon, Awne, and Avon, and at the foot of two hills crowned with granite rocks that have been rounded by the action of the weather, which dissolves the silicate of potass in it, when the other matters, mica, felspar, hemblend, and quartz fall away in gravel and sand. A huge rock in the river facing the quay is called la Roche Forme. Below Pont-aven the river widens into an estuary and forms a port. Near the mouth of the river is the sanatorium of Kerfarny. There are two menhirs in the commune, one 15 feet and the other 16 feet high, one at Kérangosquer, and the other on the lande de Kervéquilen. About four kilometres down the river is the château du Hénan of the 15th and 16th cents. At Riec are some dolmens.
Nizon. Here are the fine 15th cent. ruins of the castle of Rustéphan flanked by turrets. Several dolmens are scattered over the neighbourhood, and menhirs as well, of which one is 21 feet high.
Nevez. About two miles to the east of the village are the important remains of the château of Hénan, of the 15th cent., much altered in the 16th cent., with a keep some 75 feet high, machicolated. A dolmen is here whose capstone measures 45 feet in length, and 27 feet in breadth, and 6 feet thick. It has been converted into a smith's shop. At Nizon there are two Pardons, that of N.D. de Kergomet on the 1st Sunday in May; the other at N.D. de Trémalo on the 2nd Sunday in September. At Pont-aven the patronal feast is on the 3rd Sunday in September, and the P. of S. Mathurin on the 2nd Sunday in May. At Nevez the patronal feast is on the 2nd Sunday after Easter; the Pardon de S. Barbe, the 2nd Sunday in August; that of S. Nicolas the 1st Sunday of September; that of Trémorvézen the 2nd Sunday in September. The P. of S. Mathieu on the last Sunday in September: that of the Rosary Sunday in October, and there are fêtes and a fair on the Monday following. Perhaps the best is that of Bélon on the river of that name, which flows into the sea close to the mouth of the Aven. Here is a grand procession on Sept. 8th, and very picturesque costumes may be seen. Near Belen is N.D. de Lanriot, a fine chapel; and in a most lovely situation is de Moustoir. Between Pont-aven and de Trinité in a wood is a dolmen. It is actually in the parish of Moëlan or Maelon, in which the Pardon of S. Roch is held on Aug. 15, and that of S. Philibert on the second Sunday after. Excursions may be made by boat from Pont-aven to the isles of Glenan, a veritable archipelago, and to the more distant Ile de Groix. This was the island to which Gunthiern, the first settler at Quimperlé, was wont to retire, and where there is a chapel that contains a statue of him. He was a native of Southern Wales, and his name is identical with Vortigern. But who he really was is very uncertain. In summer there is communication daily by a little steamboat with Lorient. An arm of the sea called le Coureau separates the isle from the mainland. The population is composed entirely of fishermen, and it has a little harbour, the port Tudy. The island coast is honeycombed with caves; it also possesses numerous prehistoric monuments. On the N. the tumulus of Moustéro and the menhir of Quelhuit, and the dolmens more or less ruined of S. Tudy and of Porte Mélite. On the E. the menhir of the Fort de la Croix. On the S. the dolmens of Locmaria and S. Nicolas and the tumulus of Kervédan, surmounted by a menhir, and near Kervédan on the shore the remains of an enclosure called the fort des Romains. As there are hotels on the island, a day or two can be very comfortably spent there.
Le Pouldu (the Black Pool) is a bathing place, where the climate is singularly warm, and plants that flourish in the south of France here stand the winter.
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