Enclos paroissial de Saint-Thégonnec

Saint-Thégonnec Loc-Eguiner

A parish enclosure is not a church, it is an arrangement: a wall that separates the dead from the living, a gate crossed only on great occasions, an ossuary where the bones lifted from the cemetery were stored, a calvary where the sermon takes shape, and the church in the middle. Saint-Thégonnec has them all, and in a rare state. The money came from flax and hemp: between the middle of the 16th century and the end of the 17th, the merchant-farmers of the Léon sold their cloth to England and to Holland, and rebuilt their parishes each better than the last. The triumphal gate, an arch in the Renaissance style, dates from 1587–1589; the calvary from 1610; the ossuary, the work of Jean Le Bescont, from 1676–1682; inside, the baptistery is of 1675 and the pulpit of 1677. This race in granite can be read from one town to the next: Guimiliau, a few kilometres away, answers with a calvary of 1581–1586 on which the devils carry off Catell Gollet, the servant girl who had stolen a host. These monuments were not stage sets: on the day of the pardon the procession went out through the gate, rounded the calvary and came back in, and everyone could read the scenes as they passed.

Wikipédia — Enclos paroissial de Saint-Thégonnec ↗

Getting there : Exit from the N 12 between Morlaix and Landivisiau, signposted in the village; parking on the square. The enclosure, the calvary and the gate can be visited freely all year; the church opens during the day. Guided tours are provided in July and August by the SPREV association. The pardon takes place on the second Sunday of September.

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

Ambient sound