Page 145 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Brittany

NOR THERN FINISTÈRE  143

millers and cloth merchants lanterns. Inside, the wooden livestock and horses. As it
were built on piles or, like the ceiling features angels on a blue levied taxes on every trans­
superb house of the magistrate background, while the rood action that took place, the
Gillart (1639), built directly on screen is striking for its skilled parish grew rich and could
the riverbed. craftsmanship and decoration thus afford to commission the
Although the Elorn, which of fauns and gorgons, apostles best workshops to decorate
flows through the town, now and saints. Other notable the close and the church.
carries hardly any river features are the Everything about the church,
traffic, Landerneau was stained­glass window dedicated to St Salomon, is,
for centuries a of the Passion of Christ indeed, remarkable: from the
busy port. All kinds (1539) by Laurent 16th­century door and rampart
of goods bound for Sodec, of Quimper, walk, to the tympanum over
the naval dockyard and, above the stoup the south porch, the beams
in Brest, as well as at the ossuary (1639), over the north aisle and the
linen cloth, passed an Ankou (skeletal stained­glass window of the
through Landerneau. figure) with his spear Crucifixion. Over the ossuary,
Most of the old Rood screen figure, and his motto “Je vous two angels hold banners that
houses beside the river La Roche-Maurice tue tous” (“I kill you all”). are inscribed in Breton with
date from this age of The castle above words that, loosely translated,
prosperity (1660–1720). Built in the town was one of the main read: “Death, judgment, freez ing
yellow stone from Logonna, residences of the viscounts of hell. Think on that and fear it.
they have dormer windows, Léon. It passed into the owner­ Foolish is he who does not
pepperpot roofs and ornate ship of the dukes of Rohan, know that he must die.”
cornices. Throughout the who bequeathed it to the
summer, the tourist office here parish in 1985. After years of
organizes an architectural walk archaeological excavation the
through the town. site is open daily to the public. s Bodilis
Of particular interest on Road map B2. 21 km (13 miles)
the south bank are the old northeast of Landerneau via the D770,
Auberge de Notre­Dame­de­ a La Martyre the N12 and the D30. * 1,400.
Rumengol, at No. 5 Rue Road map B2. 7 km (4 miles) east of n Town Hall; (02) 98 68 07 01.
St­Thomas, and the houses at Landerneau via the D35. * 610.
Nos. 11, 13 and 15 Rue Rolland. n Town Hall; (02) 98 25 13 19. The 16th­century church in
On the north bank is the £ Landerneau. Bodilis is another jewel of
Maison de la Sénéchaussée religious architecture in
at No. 9 Place du Général­de­ This fortified close was begun in Haut­Léon. It has a superb
Gaulle, with one façade of the 9th century. The house on Renaissance porch (1585–1601),
dressed stone and another the left of the entrance was which the stoneworkers of
clad in slates; the residence once the look­out post from Kerjean decorated with statues
of the ship owner Mazurié de which the borders of the of the 12 apostles. The interior
Keroualin at No. 26 Quai de medieval kingdom, then duchy, has a painted wooden ceiling,
Léon; the Ostaleri an Dihuner of Cornouaille were watched. a Baroque high altar and
(Inn of the Alarm Clock) at No. The annual fair that was held beams richly decorated with
18 Rue du Chanoine­Kerbrat; here would draw crowds of scenes of labour and, somewhat
and the house of the merchant merchants from England, unexpectedly, of drunken ness:
Arnaud Duthoya, at Nos. 3–5 Holland and Touraine, who a man is shown drinking from a
Rue du Commerce. came to deal in linen cloth, barrel while worms infest a skull.
p La Roche-
Maurice
Road map B2. 4 km (3 miles)
northeast of Landerneau via the D712.
* 1,740. £ Landerneau. n Mairie;
(02) 98 20 43 57. _ Pardon de Pont­
Christ (15 Aug).
As in many other small towns
and villages in the Léon, the
church here is an architectural
gem. The belfry, which has two
superimposed bell chambers, is
decorated with Gothic spires,
gargoyles and Renaissance The fortified close of La Martyre, built by Hervé VII of Léon

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