Chapelle Saint-Uzec

Pleumeur-Bodou

The chapelle Saint-Uzec stands on a large rock, at the crossing of old paths and on the boundary of the parishes of Pleumeur-Bodou and Trébeurden; it is said that the calvary marks the exact boundary. It is a building in the regional Gothic style, with a single hall in large granite ashlar: a west gable crowned by a three-bayed bell-gable, reached by a stair on the south slope, a pointed-arch doorway beneath an archivolt of leaf crockets topped by a finial, a flat east end pierced by a large flamboyant window, corner buttresses with pinnacles and a panelled barrel roof frame. The Inventaire dates it to the late 15th or early 16th century on the basis of the tracery of the axial window; local tradition and InfoBretagne trace it back to the 14th century, with a rebuilding in the 16th. To the south stands a granite cross on a three-stepped base. InfoBretagne records a holy-water stoup borne by three figures, a 16th-century piscina, a gallery dated 1647 and old statues of Saint Uzec, the Virgin, Saint Joseph, Saint Yves and Saint Margaret. The dedicatee is said to be Saint Judoc, or Josse, a Breton prince who renounced the throne of Domnonée. People formerly came here to ask for the health and preservation of horses; the chapel was placed in 1860 under the dedication of the Immaculate Conception. A fountain adjoins it, and on the other side of the valley stands the menhir de Saint-Uzec, Christianised in 1674 with a cross and the instruments of the Passion.

Inventaire général — Chapelle Saint-Uzec (IA22005775) ↗

Getting there : Chemin de Saint-Uzec, in the hamlet of the same name, on the boundary between Pleumeur-Bodou and Trébeurden. The chapel is open every day from June to September according to the communal tourist office (to be checked); the pardon takes place on the first Sunday of July (to be checked). The menhir can be seen on the opposite side of the valley.

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

Ambient sound