Chapelle Saint-Eloy

Ploudaniel

In the countryside of Ploudaniel, the chapel of Saint-Eloy has for centuries been the meeting place of the horse breeders of the Léon. Saint Eligius, a goldsmith who became bishop of Noyon in the 7th century, is venerated here as the protector of horses and their masters — a popular devotion especially strong in this horse-rearing country. Every 24 June, the saint's feast day, riders traditionally led their mounts to salute his statue, going three times round the chapel before leaving offerings of hair cut from the animals' manes or tails; the sacristy, called in Breton "kambr an run", literally the chamber of horsehair, preserves the memory of this practice. The present building, constructed in granite in the 16th and 17th centuries, combines a four-bay nave, a single aisle and a flat east end, beneath a bell tower in the Léon style. Beside it stands a 16th-century calvary, 6.50 metres high, carved with a Pietà. Registered as a historic monument in 1932, the chapel continues to draw, well beyond the circle of riders alone, visitors curious about this rural tradition in which faith rubbed shoulders with the daily round of farm work and the attachment to the horse, mainstay of the Breton peasant economy.

Getting there : Free admission.

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

Ambient sound