And I will be around the beautiful Morbihan dept 56 of my lovely Bretagne in my belle France …well do not know I stop the series here. I have look deep into my blog ,and found many posts needed a refresher and just went out to get new pictures! My road warrior template got me going and having a blast with the boys on each town. The Morbihan rocks!
I have , also, refresh the text done in previous posts with new information so therefore, a new post. Hope you enjoy my tour of Locoal-Mendon and the Church of Saint Pierre!
The origin of Mendon has been attested since the 10C. It is a dismemberment of the territory of Ploemel. The territory of Locoal-Mendon was looted and ravaged in 1592 by the Spaniards who occupied Port-Louis during the Wars of the League. In 1790, the territory of the right bank of Etel became a wholly-fledged town of St. Helena. Locoal was attached to Mendon in 1806 by decision of Napoleon Ire ,and the ensemble was then called Locoal-Mendon. On August 5, 1944, 10 gliders from England landed on the town. They carried 10 jeeps and 30 French paratroopers of the special air service, it was the motorized element of the 2nd parachute fighting Regiment of Commander Pierre Bourgoin. These jeeps participated in the liberation of Morbihan!
The Church of Saint-Pierre of Locoal-Mendon. Originally Notre-Dame Chapel, the building was built in the 15C. From this period are preserved the apse, the walls of the transept and the porch. During the reconstruction of the parish Church of Saint-Pierre, which began in the 18C, the chapel replaced it. But the site dragged on and was abandoned by the time of the French revolution. The unfinished building was replaced in 1822 by a nun’s house. The chapel becomes definitively a parish church. The nave and the tower were erected in 1875. In 1892, the interior of the building was resumed, removing the tie-rods and the sandpit carved with the coat of arms of the old part.
The Church of Saint Pierre has a Latin cross plan with a single aisle and a flat apse. It is covered with a false ribbed vault in plaster from the 19C. The porch is vaulted in stone on a ribbed cross. It is bordered on each side by a stone bench surmounted by six now empty niches. Two twin basket-handle doors, separated by a trumeau carrying a holy water font, give access to the church. The arms of the transept open onto the nave through broken arches, the moldings of which penetrate directly into the columns. A large Gothic tracery bay lights the choir.
It was internally renovated in 1892. The exterior decoration, flamboyant, is particularly rich. To the south is a beautiful square porch, vaulted with warheads, adorned with pinnacles pilasters, curly braces, and foliage of vine leaves, with false gable with creeping also decorated. A stone bench is carved inside and outside the porch. The cushier buttresses of pinnacles are adorned with false architecture and animal motifs. The bell tower, with a stone spire, which rises on the western gable, was completely redone in 1875; this bell tower rises in a three-story tower connected by angled buttresses of pinnacles with vegetal cross. The Choir dates from 1474. The bedside window is divided into five trilbies forms surmounted by a network of trilobite flames around a central quatrefoil from the15C, and a tower in 1893 as well as a scene of the Nativity of the Virgin, with ten characters.
The town of Locoal-Mendon on its heritage: town of Locoal-Mendon on its heritage
The tourist office of the Bay of Quiberon on Locoal-Mendon: Tourist office of the Bay of Quiberon on Locoal-Mendon
This is one of those town, you passed every day by it but hardly ever stop. Well have done that for the benefit of my blog and my readers. Locoal-Mendon is not a tourist town but a rest stop would be fine in its city center by the church. It is historical for sure locally and has nice architecture which I like. Hope it helps.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 