Fontaine de Barenton

Paimpont

A few paving blocks around a hole of clear water, under the oaks and the pines, and beside it a flat slab that is called Merlin's perron: it is little enough, and it is the best-documented place in the whole forest. Wace, in the Roman de Rou, sends the huntsmen of Brecheliant there to draw the water with their horn and wet the perron so as to have rain, then admits that he went there himself and saw nothing marvellous. Chrétien de Troyes makes it the fountain of Yvain, under a pine, with its golden basin and its storm, without naming it. In 1467 the charter of the Usemens of the forest of Brécilien, drawn up at Comper for Guy XIV de Laval, sets down in black and white that "every time the lord of Montfort comes to the said fountain and with the water thereof sprinkles and wets the said perron, however hot the weather may be, rain is certain". The rite lasted: in August 1835, a year of drought, the parish of Concoret went there in procession with crosses and banners, and the foot of the cross was dipped in the water; according to Baron du Taya (1839), the rector also sprinkled the perron, which Félix Bellamy, who gathered the recollections of a woman who had taken part, considered doubtful. The water, very cold, sometimes rises in great bubbles of gas when it is disturbed: this is Chrétien's "fountain that boils". The name of the hamlet, Folle-Pensée, has fed the tradition of a water that cures madmen. Félix Bellamy, in 1896, made this fountain the key to the identification of Brécilien with Brocéliande.

Wikipédia — Fontaine de Barenton ↗

Getting there : Car park of the hamlet of Folle-Pensée (commune of Paimpont, signposted from Concoret); a 3 km loop on foot, the path climbing gently through the forest to the fountain (about 20 minutes). Free access all year, except Thursdays in the hunting season.

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

Ambient sound