Hennebont Tallhoët circuit through the woods

Passing through Broërec Gate, you enter the walled town of Hennebont built between the 13th and 15th centuries. Broërec tower was defensive, is flanked by two semi-circular towers equipped with gunports and drop boxes, and once had a portcullis and a double drawbridge. It was converted into a prison in the 17th century before becoming a Museum where you can discover the history of the town. Heading down Grande Rue, you can admire private houses from the 17th and 18th centuries. Don't miss the Seneschal's House from the 16th century, identifiable by its half-timbered structure. The name of this street, like the rue de la Paix, is the last symbol of the high justice exercised in Hennebont under the Ancien Régime. Only one of the four half-timbered houses in the walled town survived the fire of 7th August 1944.

After admiring the 17th and 18th century privates houses on the Grande Rue, don't miss the Seneschal's House from the 16th century on your right on Rue de la Paix. Formerly associated with an auditorium, seat of the Sénéhaussee of Hennebont, in which justice was administered, the original building was replaced in 1932 by an Art Deco performance hall. Today it houses a puppet theater, the “shell theater”. The Sénéchal's house is one of the four half-timbered structure in Ville-Close to have survived the bombings and fires which destroyed four-fifths of the city on August 7, 1944.

Built during the 15th century, the Carmes tower, although its upper part was amputated, is one of the five preserved towers of the walled. It owes its name to the Carmelite convent installed within its walls in 1384. After the French Revolution, the convent buildings were reinvested by the Ursulines in 1820. Today, this space is occupied by the Lycée Notre-Dame du Vœu.

The promontory offers you a view of the Blavet estuary. We are about fifteen kilometers from Lorient. The landscape reveals the alternation of tides and the meeting between fresh and salt water, revealing mudflats and seaweed at low tide. Taking its source at Bourbriac in the Côtes d'Armor, the Blavet, with 163 kilometers of watercourses, was canalized between 1806 and 1825 and constitutes the southern section of the Nantes to Brest Canal. As far as the gates of Hennebont, bridges, ports, locks and towpaths were built to facilitate the movement of goods by barges. On this hillside once stretched out the Bois du Duc, a hunting reserve. All that remains on the slope are meadows and copses, now maintained as eco-pastures, and a 20th century fountain-washhouse complex.

Opposite, on the right bank, the charming little town of Saint-Caradec grew up around a first church built in the 13th century. It then depended on the feudal motte built further downstream on the promontory, dismantled during the reign of Duke Jean I le Roux at the time of the construction of the Ville-Close on the left bank. Following a series of disorders, the nature of which escapes us, a new church was rebuilt in 1777. In the cemetery sits a remarkable yew tree, which tradition dates back to King Henry IV.

Behind these high walls lies what remains of the former Cistercian abbey of Notre-Dame-de-Joye, founded in the 13th century by Blanche of Navarre, Duchess of Brittany. The House of Confessors, dated 1669, housed the priests officiating in this female community. The National Stud was created in the upper part in 1857 to breed horses for the cavalry and farming. Today it has been converted into a horse museum with guided tours, events and equestrian shows.

On the other side of the Blavet, the Hingair departmental forest extends over 37 hectares. On the riverbank, the village of Hingair still retains traditional houses from the 17th-19th centuries, where one of the old mills belonging to the N.D.-de-Joye abbey was once located.

Part departmental, part communal and part private, the Talhouët wood stretches from the hamlet of La Bergerie to Le Talhouët. This hillside forest is home to local species such as beech and oak. It also conceals excavations and ruined buildings, the last traces of quarrying on both sides of the Blavet. Here, in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, up to 200 workers quarried high-quality blue granite to produce framing stones, paving stones, rubble and gravel. They were used to build the town of Hennebont, the canal and locks, and the railway viaduct. You can still ride along their cobblestones in a number of Breton towns and even as far away as the Champs Elysées roundabout in Paris.

The opening of quarries above the Blavet in the 19th century is certainly connected to the ability to export production via towage and river navigation. In this small area are the three Polvern locks: the last and 28th lock on the river Blavet, les Gorêts and Grand Barrage, which can be seen through the trees or heard from the sound of their waterfalls. The Forges de Kerglaw were also set up on the Lochrist side of the river in 1864, where they operated until 1966, also using river transport to export their production. In 1921, the two companies also used the little train from the ironworks, which provided a direct route to the station and to the national railway line that opened in 1860. Parallel to and above the towpath, you can still ride along its base, which has been converted into a path.

Located on two sites in St Jean Brévelay and Hennebont, the Lycée Horticole du Talhouët is a public school run by the French Ministry of Agriculture. Every year, it trains 200 students and 100 apprentices in horticulture, landscaping, floristry, services and sales. The Lycée Horticole offers various levels of diplomas from the end of secondary school to post-baccalaureate training.

The botanical gardens of Kerbihan, were bought by the town of Hennebont in 1958. There are ten hectares of lovely walks for the inhabitants of Hennebont, along its paths, stream and ponds. It boasts plant species from the five continents, high conifers, a beech forest, a bamboo grove and rhododendrons that testify to its age. It is linked to an estate whose residence now houses the town’s services. First belonging to Pierre Le Gouvello in 1673, it was bought in 1869 by Mr. Brunetière who drew up the plans for an English garden planted with redwoods, which are still there. At the end of the 19th century, the new owners, Mr. Chevassu, father and son, continued to expand the diversity of its species.

Hennebont is a historic town that bears the scars of war. On 7th August 1944, German bombs destroyed 70% of the city, including the old blocks. Passing through the streets, you will see mainly buildings from the Reconstruction, built under the leadership of Paul Lindu, an architect from Lorient. Seeking uniformity, he preferred rendered facades with large windows, skylights and slate hip roof dormer windows. He succeeded, especially in the centre around the Place Maréchal Foch, where modern buildings stand alongside the Basilica of Notre Dame de Paradis built at the beginning of the 16th century and the private houses from the 17th and 18th centuries