Chapelle de Prat-Paol

Plouguerneau

Prat-Paol, the 'meadow of Paul', is a small rectangular chapel of the 16th century, restored in the 20th, whose gable is pierced only by a long, narrow window. Inside, beneath a blue ceiling scattered with stars, a polychrome wooden altar bears the Agnus Dei, and Saint Pol Aurélien appears as a bishop. What makes the place is the water: the neighbouring square fountain has its spring beneath the high altar, and two further springs rise nearby, one in front of the chapel, the other in the meadow beside the path. InfoBretagne reports, drawing on the Life of Saint Paul written by the monk Wrmonoc, that the saint, coming from Plourin, stopped here and caused these three fountains to spring forth; local tradition says that he struck the ground three times with his staff, or that the head of a beheaded dragon bounced three times. The chapel is said to have been dedicated to him in memory of his passage between Tréglonou and the île de Batz. The site also preserves Gaulish standing stones from the Iron Age: in front of the chapel, a granite block some forty centimetres high ending in three cup marks, a second stone having been stolen. Such stones often marked burials; the Abers heritage sites and the association Art dans les chapelles du Léon have seen in this the transition from an ancient cult of waters and stones to the Christian cult, a reading which they themselves present as a hypothesis, with no archaeological proof of a cult at this spot.

Patrimoine des Abers — Chapelle de Prad-Paol ↗

Getting there : The place called Prad Paol, around four kilometres south of the village of Plouguerneau (to be checked). The chapel is regularly open according to the association Art dans les chapelles du Léon (hours to be checked). The fordable bridge of Pont-Krac'h, known as the pont du Diable, is some 300 metres away (to be checked).

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

Ambient sound