Locronan is a
tourist town, a time warp from the 17th and 18th
centuries, when fine buildings were erected with wealth derived from
sailmaking. Locronan sails were sold to French, Spanish and English navies,
even though the Royal Navy was often at war with France. Business is business.
Sailmaking started here
in the 15th century and grew into a rich industry several centuries
later that gave us the town we see today. This is part of the main square.
The
town has some Roman roots but it’s generally allowed that it was founded in the
7th century by Bishop Ronan from Ireland. “Loc” means “place” in the
Breton language so Locronan means “Ronan’s Place”. St. Ronan introduced
Christianity to the area that was Druidic before he arrived and his miracles
gave Locronan its first prosperity as people flocked here as to pay homage. The
miracles must still be working as they’re still flocking in.
The
solid main church is dedicated to St. Ronan and fits in nicely with the look of
the main square where it is located.
The
whole place looks similar, being of the same period and built of granite. That’s its charm and also its
drawback because the photos look similar, but we’ll run through a couple more.
First the Town Hall.
Now
the creperie where Jane and I enjoyed a crepe & coffee before we left.
And
a side-street.
There were a lot of niches in the dwellings for saints
and other religious icons. This one houses Mary and Jesus under a heart-shaped
top stone
The
atmospheric Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle chapel dates from 1439. That means
“Our Lady of Good News” chapel. The good news may be that the chapel is still
standing.
The
town has been used many times as a film location, for instance Roman Polanski’s
Tess that won various achademy awards.
Locronan is touristy, with the expected tourist shops,
but these were of good quality if somewhat expensive. It was all well run and
we certainly had a good day out.
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