Chapelle de Perros-Hamon

Ploubazlanec

Built in the 18th century on the headland of Perros-Hamon, the chapel has a nave, a transept and a flat east end beneath a panelled roof frame shaped like a vault. Its west front, crowned by a small bell-turret, is adorned with three niches housing statues, while the south porch displays a carved finial. Registered as a monument historique (historic monument), it overlooks the bay of Paimpol, land of the legendary Icelandic "Grande Pêche" fishing campaigns recounted by Pierre Loti. It was here that the memory of those "lost at sea" was once honoured: the chapel still preserves poignant ex-votos — memorial plaques and a stained-glass window depicting the wreck of the liner Ville du Havre — placed by the families of sailors from Paimpol and Ploubazlanec who disappeared during the great fishing campaigns off Iceland and Newfoundland. This commemorative role, sustained by the popular piety of sailors' wives watching for the boats' return, gradually shifted in the 20th century to the "wall of the lost" in the cemetery of Ploubazlanec, better known to visitors today. Perros-Hamon thus keeps the memory of a maritime devotion typical of the Trégor-Goëlo, where prayer and mourning mingled in the face of the sea's uncertainty. The chapel may be visited freely, in a remarkable coastal setting.

Getting there : free access, coastal site between Paimpol and L'Arcouest

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound