There was one more church to visit – Notre Dame at St Thégonnec. Maybe I was just tired – my first day out after nearly three days in bed – but somehow this church did not catch my imagination. It was very grand – almost like a cathedral – perhaps I had been spoiled by the intimacy of Lampaul-Guimiliau and Guimiliau.
The Ossuary was very impressive – the wealth created by the linen trade must have been huge, and of course the demand was huge – sails and ropes, as well as clothing. In the 1500s-1800s linen growing and production was a major industry in Brittany which traded with Britain, Belgium, Holland, and the Americas. Civic pride seemed to manifest itself in churches, much as the wool trade did in East Anglia. Louis XIV effectively destroyed the trade with the evocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685.
Inside the church there is much golden Baroque splendour.
There were quieter corners.
You may be interested in
Churches and their history
The linen trade in Brittany
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