Morlaix and Barnenez

A village occupied the site of Morlaix since the 10th c. at the foot of a feudal chateau surrounded by ramparts; but as they grew, people began to build along the surrounding hills; now steep steps lead to the narrow streets. Morlaix became a trading center that supported the surrounding farms. The Hundred Years War interrupted commerce, but when it was over, trade with the English resumed. The town’s economic prosperity was largely due to the manufacture and trade of linen canvas.
In the 19th c., increasing industrialization forced the town to build a viaduct to cross the valley so that Morlaix could keep expanding with increased industrialization.The viaduct is made of the local pink granite; the long, arched span dominates the town.


The town’s architectural heritage is mostly due to less noble pursuits of the merchants and ship-owners who recruited pirates (“corsairs”) to plunder enemy boats and then sold the cargoes on the quays. The houses they built line the streets in the center of the town. About 150 half-timbered houses remain and a few have the characteristic multi-story inner staircase unique to Morlaix. Later, stone buildings and houses with wrought iron balconies were added.


Morlaix was larger than I thought and I felt as though I did not have enough time to visit as I would have liked. Still, I did discover two of the most unusual sites in Morlaix: the church of Saint Melaine and the Renaissance home of a merchant or merchant ship-owner known for its interior staircase. As in other Breton towns I visited, there is a waterfront in the center, bordered by quays suitable for walking. Boats large and small are moored in the harbor, a short distance from the bay that is named for the town.



Eglise St Melaine

The first place that caught my attention as we entered the town was the church of Saint Melaine. At one time this was a priory of the abbey at Rennes, founded by its bishop, Saint-Melaine, elected in 491. The church was quite unusual; it is considered to be in flamboyant gothic style, but this is not as obvious as I have seen elsewhere. It is constructed on a hill dominating the river and its main entrance leads down it. The church was begun in 1489, the date shown over the main entrance; it was completed in 1516, replacing a much smaller church on the site. The square tower was built in 1574, and the spire dominating it was posed in the 19th c.


Inside, the decoration is beautiful and lavish.The wooden vault has alternating gold flowers and ermine tails on a royal blue background; decorative painted bands divide these fields into sections. Spaced along the base of the vault are five sets of dragon heads, each set holding the ends of a decorated wood beam that spans the nave along its length. Statues large and small occupy chapels, walls, and pillars; and wooden angels suspended from the vault seem to fly overhead. There are large paintings in the chapels and smaller ones marking the way of the cross.


Peasant and comic faces stare back at viewers from every possible angle along the bands across the base of the vault and at corners. More patrician faces, actually mini-portraits, are painted in the bands on the ceiling over the west entrance and under the organ loft; records of payment to the artist are still in the town archives. There are detailed photographs at http://www.infobretagne.com/morlaix-eglise-melaine.htm

The church suffered damage to the north façade when a bomb fell in the adjacent garden on January 29, 1943; but, fortunately, the façade was able to be repaired.


Morlaix is known for its “Maisons à Pondalez,” rare half-timbered houses whose upper stories project over the street, and which have an unusual staircase. Entering these dwellings, the visitor is in one large room whose ceiling is actually the roof three stories above the ground floor. A characteristic feature of these houses is a spiral staircase rising in their midst. The two parts of the buildings, one on the street side and the other on the garden side are joined by galleries called “pondalez”, and lit by lantern windows. The staircase is opposite a huge chimney that also extends to the roof of the house. These architectural features are the only ones of their kind.


Like the houses, the word “pondalez” is unique to Morlaix and comes from two French words that describe the long landings between the front and back rooms: “ponts d'aller” whose literal meaning is “bridges for going”). About ten of these houses survive from the early 16th c. One is the house called the Maison de la Reine Anne (Queen Anne House). Another house serves as a museum with a very pleasant and informative guide. The central post of the staircase was richly carved. The rooms on each floor were simple but very pretty; each had a latrine which, as I later learned, emptied into an enclosed structure in the courtyard; it was not clear whether there was a pit dug for this purpose.

The house where the Duchess of Brittany, Anne, had stayed in 1508 was closed, but the guide at the Maison à Pondalez told us that this house was similar. There was not time to see the small museum which occupies the house where Mary Queen of Scots passed the night in 1548 on her way from Roscoff to Paris. There are many other old houses in town, but none quite as famous as these.

Morlaix is in a narrow valley so expansion made it necessary to build on its small, hilly streets known as “venelles.” These make for a pleasant walk. One path leads to the remains of the ramparts and a hill overlooking the town. The large square at the center of the old town, the Place Salvador Allende, is the site of an outdoor market every Saturday morning; but my visit was on Monday, so there were only cars.

It was late when we left to go to the Cairn de Barnenez.
When we arrived it was too late and the visitor center was closed, so I was very disappointed. I thought that I should have gone alone so that I could have left earlier in the morning. I would have paid to park closer to the center of town, rather than in the free parking lot farther away. I had to walk slowly because of my legs, so it seemed a long way to get to the center. I knew that Barnenez is a very important prehistoric monument, and at 6500 years old is said to be one of the very first 'buildings' in Europe to use durable construction techniques and materials. I read that it was an extensive structure with 11 dolmens and 230 feet long.

After taking a few photographs of the few houses near the site, we drove back to Kernevez. But our day was not quite ended. We took a different route home and passed a church with a very unusual tower. I learned that it was the parish church of Saint-Étienne de Plouezoc'h (not sure how to pronounce that in Breton), almost entirely restored in the 17th c. using materials from the 15th c. The bell tower is said to be in “Beaumanoir style,” with two levels of bells anchored by a polygonal spire and reached by a stair tower with a dome and statue of Mary on it. The Beaumanoir were a family of builders; one, Philippe, was the master builder who designed a large number of churches and buildings in the region of Finistere. His style is unmistakable.