Chapelle Sainte-Barbe

At the end of the 15th century, the youngest of the lords of Locmalo, Jean de Toulbodou left his manor of Guidfoss en Plouray to go hunting. While on the lands of Jean de Boutteville, lord of Faouët, he was surprised by a storm of rare violence. The gigantic rocks that surround it are struck by lightning. Quarters of rock stand out from the vertical wall. Won by extreme fright, Jean de Toulbodou sees his end approaching and then prays to Saint Barbara, usually invoked to protect himself from fire and lightning. He promises her, if she saves him, to erect a chapel for her in this place. The storm suddenly ends, Jean de Toulbodou is answered. True to his promise, he undertook the construction of this chapel on July 6, 1489 in this very cramped place. It will end in 1512. Arriving on the site of the chapel, we discover the campanile housing a bell whose virtue is to ward off lightning. The steps of a monumental staircase lead to the Saint-Michel oratory and then to the chapel. Inside, we notice, as in the Notre-Dame church in Kernascléden, a stone vault on ribbed vaults, an exception for the time when almost all the vaults were made of wood. The arms of the Boutteville and Toulbodou, founding lords, are present on many shields of the vault, as well as on certain stained glass windows. A path leads to the fountain of devotion. This one, dating from 1708, is housed in a square enclosure with an interior bench. A niche houses a statue of Saint Barbara. According to legend, young unmarried girls would throw a round-headed pin into it while trying to reach the orifice pierced in the basin of the fountain to find out if they would marry within the year. Continuing on the path, you reach the banks of the Ellé. In July and August, flash visits to the Ste-Barbe chapel! INFO on 02 97 23 23 23. Meet in front of the tavern on the Sainte-Barbe plateau. Free visit.

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