Locronan, l'église Saint-Ronan et la Troménie

Locronan

Locronan is a granite town that owes its standing, its wealth and its name to three things: a saint, a cloth and a procession. The cloth first: from the 14th century, the local hemp supplied the "olonnes", sailcloth sold to the king's navy and to the Compagnie des Indes; in 1751 there were still four hundred and six looms in the region, a hundred and fifty-one in the town itself, and it is that money which paid for the houses with their dormers. The saint next: Ronan, a hermit who came from Ireland according to tradition, whose church is mentioned from 1031, when the count of Cornouaille Alain Canhiart gave it to the abbey of Sainte-Croix de Quimperlé. The present building, put up between 1430 and 1480 by the lords of Nevet with the gifts of the dukes of Brittany, is flanked to the south by the chapel of the Pénity, raised in 1530 on the spot that legend gives for the hermitage: in it can be seen the recumbent effigy of the saint, a kersanton slab borne by six angels, where Ronan drives his crozier into the jaws of a monster. The procession last: it is from here that the Troménie sets out, the lesser one every year on the second Sunday of July, the great one every six years, and which goes round the old minihi rather than leading anywhere.

Wikipédia — Église Saint-Ronan de Locronan ↗

Getting there : 17 km from Quimper by the D 63, 10 km from Douarnenez. The town is closed to cars in season: paying car parks at the entrance, five minutes on foot. The church and the Pénity are open every day, freely accessible. The waymarked path of the lesser Troménie starts from the square and climbs to the mountain (289 m, orientation table): two hours there and back, walking shoes advised in wet weather.

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

Ambient sound