The Church Saint Tugdual of Grand Champ, part II !!

Posted in Bretagne, France

I used to passed by here every day going to work and it was a delight ; now much less in retirement, I stopped in Grand Champ in my beautiful Morbihan dept 56 of my lovely Bretagne. Again, found me older pictures that should be in my blog, me think. Let me tell you more of the Church Saint Tugdual of Grand Champ, part II !!  Do see my other post on it. Hope you enjoy the post as I.

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The nice monument here is the Church Saint-Tugdual , 15-16C, rebuilt in 1865. The first stone was laid  in 1865 and the church was inaugurated  in 1867. The bell tower dates from 1867. The former church of the 15C, which had been roof covered in 1428 and adorned by a beautiful tower with stone spire begun in 1669, was demolished towards 1865 to make way for an ordinary Gothic-style church. The main work was completed in 1870. The stained glass gallery  houses two carved wooden panels from the Chapel of Notre-Dame du Burgo. It preserves a chalice in gilded silver from the middle of the 18C from the Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Moustoir, a beautiful processional cross in silver, of 1763, and a silver censer of the second half of the 18C.

Saint-Tugdual came from Wales to evangelize Armorica. First bishop of Tréguier in Trégor, he visited Pope Vigilius in 555 on the day of his death in Tréguier . A dove then landed on him, designating him as successor. Too modest, he preferred to return to Brittany where the inhabitants called him Pabu (pope in Breton) and made him one of the seven founding saints of Brittany. Grand-Champ is one of the oldest parishes in the diocese of Vannes, so it is hardly surprising that its church is dedicated to this saint who was very fashionable in Brittany in the Middle Ages. His Saint day is November 30.

A first church was already dedicated to him in the 14C, on the same location. We do not know precisely the date of its construction, but two dates appear: 1428 and 1621. The French revolution and the chouannerie led to looting and damage and only degraded walls remained. In 1816 lightning struck the bell tower which collapsed on the roof. All this combined meant that a large-scale restoration took place in 1817. The destruction of the old church began the following year and the new Saint Tugdal Church was completed on November 24, 1867. The same year work began on the bell tower which was completed in 1870 ,The whole, with the stained glass windows, the decorations and the installation of the furniture were completed in 1885.

As soon as you enter the door, you can admire behind two windows some treasures, embroidered liturgical vestments as well as two 17C chalices and various fine quality religious objects. Numerous statues decorate the interior. Curiously, Saint Tugdual is only present in the central stained glass window, the others represent peasant and artisanal scenes.

grand champ ch Saint Tugdual side sep13

The town of Grand Champ is located about ;15 km from the city of Vannes, capital of the Morbihan, and about same from my house, The town is a dismemberment of the former primitive parish of Plumergat. The existence of a place-known as “Grandi-Campo ” (big field) was mentioned in the 10C. Originally, Grandi-Campo is a great Roman camp. Around 1342, Jean de Montfort stayed at Grand-Champ to prepare for the attack on Vannes during the War of Succession of Brittany. The battle of Grand-Champ in 1795, during the repression of the chouannerie (local rebels against the French revolution) was held just outside. On December 1, 1870 the balloon dirigible Bataille de Paris, flies from the Gare du Nord in Paris then beset by the Prussians and finishes its course at Grand-Champ, after having travelled 460 km.

The town of Grand Champ on its heritage: https://www.grandchamp.fr/monuments

The local Gulf of Morbihan tourist board on Grand Champ heritage and church : https://www.golfedumorbihan.bzh/explorer-vannes/decouvrir-vannes/golfe-morbihan/landes-de-lanvaux/grand-champ/

There you go folks, another wonderful , nice unique and local town to indulge yourselves into the real French life. Again, hope you enjoy the Church Saint Tugdual of Grand Champ, part II !! as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!

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Published by pedmar10

I am a lover of travels to Europe , Americas , Africa and Asia as well ,who like to share my experiences of the last 53 years with the world, visiting so far 81 countries; living in 6, working in 5, and Citizen of 4, speaking fluently 4 languages. I can deal with sports especially football/soccer and love music, arts, wine collector/drinker, and go out to restaurants, and just visit the world. My background comes all the way from Candelaria and Pajara in Tenerife, Spain where my grandparents came from ;not knowing each other then, to Punta Brava, west of Havana, Cuba. There , my parents born in Cuba met and later on I was born there too. 100% guanche (annexed Tenerife to Spain on April 10 ,1496). I left Cuba as many have to Madrid, Spain where I lived for 4 years. Then, move to Perth Amboy ,New Jersey USA (living there 13 yrs) ; where I completed high school, became a US Citizen, learned to drive a car, and learned English. Afterward, went to the university in Florida, ERAU, and upon graduation decided to moved there to Ormond by the Sea, near Daytona Beach, finally moving North Miami, then Hialeah, then another moved to Silver Lakes division in Miramar, Broward county, Florida; in Florida I lived a total of 18 years. Finally , moved to France in 2003 ,Versailles call me for its royalty, and working in Paris was great. It was time to seek frontiers again and moved to Brech near Auray, Morbihan in Brittany , and later move to not too far Pluvigner. Total so far in France has been 20 years, and counting. Moving average a home every 5.5 years hopefully this will be my last. Cheers All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the written permission of the copyright holder, me. No part of this work may be modified, without the written permission of the holder, me.No part of this work may be exposed to public view in any form or by any means, without identifying the holder as the author, and with the before mentioned permission.

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