If de la chapelle Saint-Yves

Cruguel

At the place called Saint-Yves, in front of the front gable of a small granite chapel, a yew takes up almost the whole space: some twenty metres high, a crown eighteen metres across and a trunk 5.80 m round, according to the measurements published by the Département du Morbihan in 2015. The trunk is not of a single piece: it is made of many suckers fused into a column, whose reliefs trace on the bark, says the departmental booklet, a figure with the look of a saint. The Département gives it about five hundred years, the 2002 inventory relayed by Wikipedia more than five hundred; no scientific dating has been published. The tree has been protected since the order of 24 September 1934, which lists "the yew at the crossroads of the Josselin-Vannes road and the Cruguel-Guéhenno lane, in front of the front gable of the chapel of Saint-Yves". The chapel is dated to the second half of the 17th century by the Inventaire du patrimoine, which notes a partial rebuilding in 1852, the date carved on the building; the Département's booklet says it was built in the 15th century, and the commune takes the first chapel back to the 15th or 16th century. A devotional fountain dated 1830 goes with it. Of the yew itself no legend or custom is known: "little is known of the history of the yew of the chapel of Saint-Yves", writes the Département, and the commune regrets that so old a witness cannot tell the origin of the first chapel.

Département du Morbihan — Les arbres remarquables du Morbihan (livret Oust et Claie) ↗

Getting there : At the place called Saint-Yves, in Cruguel, beside the D 126; the Département's booklet says: from Cruguel towards the D 126, turn before the junction and then left at the chapel of Saint-Yves. The yew stands at the roadside and can be seen freely, all year round according to Morbihan Tourisme. The chapel was open for free visits during the Heritage Days of 2022, at the initiative of the commune.

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

Ambient sound