Bubry - The Grand Bubry Circuit through the Bretinio mill

After passing near the village and Brétinio mill, be sure to look to your left, parallel to the path, for the diversion channel that once fed the mill. 500 meters long, it diverted water from the Brûlé stream, better known as the Brandifrout, to turn the mill wheel.  You'll cross this little river several times during your walk. Rising north of Bubry before flowing into the Blavet at the village of Brandifrout, its main tributaries are the Fontaine Saint-Hervé, Locqueltas and Coëtano streams. Although modest in size, at various times the Brandifrout has supplied water to no fewer than eight mills over its 14 km length: the Rousse mill, the Perros mill, the Brétinio mill, the Coëdiquel mill, the Duc mill, the two Brûlé mills in Bubry, and the Villeneuve Jacquelot mill in Quistinic.  The Brûlé mills are among some of the few flour mills still in operation.

The place called Moulin de Perros owes its name to its mill which was formerly located to the right of the current dwellings below along the Brûlé or Brandifrout stream. The second mill on this stream, the Perosse grain mill, was part of the estate of the same name, 800 metres to the northwest. Built in the 17th century by the de Penros family, who took part in the Men-at-Arms show in Vannes in 1464, the manor house and its outbuildings were once owned by Marshal Franchet d'Espérey. On leaving the Moulin de Perros, you will see a roadside cross dating from 1807. Unadorned in Latinate form, it sits on a square base accessible by steps.

Despite many transformations and new buildings, Lanquenec still retains its old-fashioned farmhouses grouped around courtyards in the heart of the village. They are a sign of the quality of Bubry's rural architectural heritage, including houses, stables, barns and wells. These homes have been remodelled yet retain their harmony. The oldest date from the 16th and 17th centuries, such as this house with its segmental arch door and mullioned window, or this other one with segmental arch ogee door and its upstairs living area accessible by a staircase set against the façade. 18th and 19th century houses, with ordered rectangular bays, are the most numerous, sometimes bearing dates: 1813, 1849. They include carved stone salvaged from older houses, small windows with accolade lintels or wall-mounted interior sinks reinstalled on the façade.

From the end of the Middle Ages, villages started to emerge with the gradual setting up of traffic routes. These routes linked the villages to the fountains, fields, manor, town, and created links between villages.  The pathways were created by peasants who dug a trench and used the soil and stones to build the embankments, comprised of dry stones. Planted with trees, they took on their name of sunken paths, as they were eroded over time and dug out by the rains.This one was specially designed to facilitate the crossing of two carts by creating parking spaces by widening the path. On the right, halfway along, you can even spot a small, secondary semi-circular bypass lane that allowed one of the two vehicles to avoid the other without having to manoeuvre.

Passing through the village of Guerjean, it's easy to spot the old farmhouses and their courtyards. Buildings from the second half of the 19th century and 20th century are predominant, with well aligned rectangular windows to let in light. Some have older bay windows, with segmental arch doors dating from the 16th century, or bays with a single vertical post. A longère from the second half of the 18th century, with segmental-arched windows, forms a harmonious ensemble with a two-bay dwelling from the early 20th century. On leaving the hamlet, don't miss the Croix de Guerjean on the right at the crossroads, which gave its name to the area that was built here in the 1970s. Probably dating from the second half of the 19th century, it features a typical square cross with even sides and straight edges, resting on a square base. Later moved here, it was once located on the Tal Resto side and is said to have been erected in memory of an unknown man who was robbed and killed by thieves on his way back from the Guémené-sur-Scorff market.

Trévingard also demonstrates the quality of Bubry's rural buildings. The village is divided into two distinct areas. You will see stone houses built between the 18th and 20th centuries, a bread oven and circular and square wells topped with pedestal lintels. One of the houses still has a projecting dome on its gable wall. Seen several times in the townland and in the neighbouring commune of Persquen, this was a private bread oven whose mouth opened into the fireplace. It was also used to keep the embers alive and to limit the risk of fire during the night. Most of them were built during the 1939-1945 war, enabling families to bake their own bread in times of food shortages. On the outskirts of the village, you can also visit the Jardin d'Iris, which boasts over 2,000 varieties from all over the world, as well as plants created on site through hybridization. This unique collection was started in 1999 and offers a multitude of colours every year in May and June. You can visit the site and buy plants in the summer.

In 2017, this path through the land called Lann Denet was the subject of a preventive archaeological dig as part of the development of the Kerlevic Artisanal Zone. The discovery of artefacts and building remains revealed very early human occupation of the site between the Late Neolithic and Bronze Ages, then between the Iron Age and the Middle Ages. Hardly surprising, given that this is the crossroads of the Gallo-Roman road from Rennes to Quimper and the ancient pre-Roman road from Locmariaquer to Carhaix.

Three hundred metres on the right is the village of Lann Justice. A curious name, that reveals how justice was dispensed under the Ancien Régime. In Bubry, the entire parish was under the rule and jurisdiction of the high justice of Pontkalleg en Berné, a demesne founded in 1281 by Duke Jean 1st of Brittany. In 1779, the Marquis de Pontkallec declared to the King “the parish of Bubry in which the said Lord and Marquis is likewise universal lord, superior and founder” with the right to establish a gallows. He also had the right to have “his coat of arms embossed in or on the windows of the parish church”, the right to customs in the said village of Bubry, and the right to tax commercial transactions. As the owner of the land on 18 tenant farms, he received annual rents in the form of money, grain, poultry and labour, as well as rents on numerous lands and properties in the town and villages. These revenues were collected by the lord of Brulay de Bubry, its provost. In 1842, the Napoleonic land registry shows a house called Ty Névé ar Justice, the new house of justice, at a place called Lann Justice. Was this where the provost carried out his duties? It's hard to say, but it is certain that the Marquis de Pontkalleg never erected a gallows in Bubry, even though he had the right to do so. As in the case of Plouay, where high justice was once exercised, in the 18th century it fell under the jurisdiction of the royal seat and seneschaussée of Hennebont. No gallows appear in this area on the late 18th century Cassini map. However, it might have existed in the Middle Ages, when Bubry depended on the Duke of Brittany, as attested by the presence of the Duke's Mill.Elsewhere in Brittany, where these “Lann Justice” were associated with gallows, they were always located near major traffic arteries to set an example, as is the case here.

The pretty Saint-Trémeur chapel, with its typical rectangular floor plan and bell tower accessible via an external staircase, probably dates from the 17th century or the 18th century. It is associated with a fountain that you can see below and a cross probably dating from the second half of the 19th century. Bevelled and set in a boulder, it stands at the crossroads of two roads, on an altar-type base that is quite common in the Morbihan. Probably built by a lord, whose unidentified coat of arms appears on the segmental arch door of the north door, the chapel is lit only by a small segmental-arched window to the south and the main window to the east. The stained-glass windows were restored in 2025 with the help of the Saint-Trémeur village association. Inside, the building still has its flagstone floor and old granite altar, hidden by a late 18th century altarpiece. Most of the statues disappeared following a theft in 1968: one of Saint Trémeur and a Virgin and Child from the 16th century, a Saint Avertin and a sculpted group of Saint Trémeur and Saint Tréphine, his mother, from the 17th century. They demonstrate how old religious observance is on this site, as do the fragments of a 15th century bishop that escaped the theft. Today, a 17th century Saint Trémeur and a late 18th century Saint Isidore sit either side of the altar.  

Associated with Saint-Trémeur chapel built on the hill in the 17th century, this triangular fountain houses a statue of Saint Trémeur, identifiable by his headless body holding his head under his arm. This saint met a terrible end. Son of King Conomor who reigned over Cornouaille and Poher in the 11th century, he was decapitated by his father who has received a prediction that he would die at the hand of his son. Above the niche decorated with three human masks, is an engraved stone indicating that the fountain was built in 1719 by a TREASURER whose name is illegible. This was the treasurer of the factory council, comprised of priests and laymen who administered the chapel’s finances. They were assisted by a local lord whose arms are depicted on the pediment. These basins were very common and often circular and were it was said, used to rinse the bottom of the bucket so as not to soil the spring. Perhaps people also came to drink the water of saint Trémeur to heal headaches! He was prayed to for this, probably due to his decapitation. Saint Avertin, also present in the chapel in the past, was also prayed to for these same ailments.

This bread oven which did not figure on the 1842 Napoleonic land registry, belonged to the Métairie de Brûlé. The inhabitants of this farm which once belonged to the lords of the nearby Château de Brulé, used it to cook their bread, the basis of their diet. It is characteristic of the ovens built by countryfolk in the 17th and 19th century. From the bottom to the top can be found on its carefully carved facade, the ash pit, the work surface, the semi-circular arched mouth, the two corbels and the vent, a small opening used to evacuate the excess steam. Inside the oven, the plant coverage protects a dome-shaped vault.

On your right, you can take a detour by passing through the conservatory orchard. In 2022, the members of Poar ar'Leur suggested that residents create a citizen's orchard, in collaboration with the parish of Bubry. Work was carried out to identify local species and led to the creation of the orchard.  In 2025, the association was awarded a grant by Bubry's to put up bilingual French-Breton signs and a map, mentioning the apple varieties and the place where the graft was collected. You can also see a permanent exhibition of twelve panels on local birds, nesting boxes to encourage the sparrows that control harmful caterpillars, and a beehive installed to encourage the pollination of apple trees.

Almost 14 km long, the river Brandifrout is a tributary of the Blavet. Lined with sand eroded from the granite bedrock by the water, this well oxygenated river is home to salmon and trout, but also to a very rare shellfish, the freshwater pearl mussel. Living up to one hundred years, this freshwater mussel is under threat by pollution and dams as it needs nitrate-poor waters and Salmonidae to ensure the species survives. The larvae laid by the females stick to the gills of the fish, forming a cyst from which a small mussel hatches.The Davy bridge is comprised of a central pillar and a deck made from huge blocks of granite and dates from the 17th century. It replaced a much older ford or bridge, since this is the ancient pre-Roman road that linked Carhaix to Locmariaquer. Heading up towards Botfau and Locqueltas, you'll be following this ancient route, which then descended towards the sea, passing through the market town of Quistinic, east of Languidic, then through the market towns of Pluvigner, Brec'h, Auray and Saint-Philibert.

The chapel of Notre-Dame de la Salette was built between 1848 and 1859 at the initiative of its rector in the site of an almost ruined chapel. Built to glorify the apparition of the Virgin Mary to two young shepherds from the village of la Salette in the Alps in 1846, it houses a statue of the Virgin Mary and children but also some 19th and 20th century furniture: statues, paintings, cross, banners, altar, tribune, etc. Two curious fountains were built at the same time. The first, rectangular, was dug inside the chapel. The second, built on a pillar surmounted by a pyramidal roof, is connected to a washhouse further down in the village.The first chapel is dedicated to Saint Gildas, who came from Scotland in the 6th century to preach the gospel, and gave his name to the village of Locqueltas which means Gildas’ place in Breton. The building houses some 17th century furniture: a font, but mainly the statues of Saint Gildas and Saint Bieuzy, from the same workshops.

The open landscape on this plateau offers a panoramic view over the countryside around Bubry. It attests to the farming and its development over the second half of the 20th century. The fields, once surrounded with wooded embankments planted with apple trees, have been merged into large parcels, and the embankments flattened to make way for large farm machinery. Here, the checkered bocage is still visible, although interrupted by a few fields. Hedges and embankments continue to disappear every year, although today farmers are encouraged to restore them as they hold many advantages. The protect the crops and livestock from the wind and sun, limit the evaporation of water and act as a barrier to runoff, pollution and soil erosion. They are also ecological corridors of biodiversity, preventing flooding and providing firewood.

While respecting the peace and quiet of the owners, on your right you'll see a group of carefully designed houses, the last remaining traces of the Guérizec seigneury, with its manor house and outbuildings. Probably dating from the 16th century, as can be seen by the bays of the main house, this estate was incorporated into that of Brûlé and probably converted into a farm. Although altered, the house retains a beautiful segmental arch door and two windows with prominent sills and finely moulded lintels.  Two other houses are set perpendicularly. The left side of the first house dating from the 17th century, has also been modified. It is characteristic of a two-door stable dwelling, with a semicircular door opening onto the stable on the left, and a second semicircular door with monumental lintel on the right, combined with a window opening onto the living area. The house next door suggests upstairs living quarters and a cellar on the ground floor, identifiable by its enlarged door for the passage of barrels. Its segmental arch door and protruding, moulded 16th century window are possibly replacements. The other buildings, with their standardized bay windows, date from the late 19th century and 20th century. A well, typical of the western Morbihan region, with jambs with carved heads, and a trough complete the ensemble.

Rebuilt in 1877 on the site of an earlier building, Saint-Hervé chapel is typical of its kind, with its openwork west-facing bell tower and a roof that appears larger than the building itself. The building still has some important furnishings from the former chapel, including a Saint Hervé guided by a wolf and a Saint Catherine of Alexandria from the 16th century. Reinstalled in the altarpiece erected in 1788, they sit alongside three contemporary statues: Saint Jacques, Notre-Dame de Kergornec and Saint Hervé guided by the Child. Nearby, the triangular wall fountain, bearing the date 1877, is associated with a washhouse.

On the horizon, you can see a water tower. It wasn't until 1965-1970 that Bubry acquired its own water catchment system by exploiting the Kerpicaut groundwater table and a brand new pumping station in the 2000s. Today, drinking water is managed by Lorient Agglomeration. Bubry Drinis supplied both by Kerpicaut, protected by a protection perimeter since 1994, and Manébail en Plouay. The rest comes from the SIAPS of Hennebont-Port-Louis, Baud and Ellé.

Growing widely through Brittany along pathways and in woodlands, bracken grows in full sunlight or in semi-shade, on rocky, acid soil like here in the old moors of Kerborgne. like here in the old moors of Kerborgne.This abundant moor was once very useful in the Breton agrarian system. Its plants used to be harvested for use as bedding for cattle, and to make a natural fertiliser. The plants were piled up in farmyards and mixed with other organic waste, then trampled on by the animals, converting the matter into “framboy” used to fertilise the fields.

Once you've crossed the Brûlé stream, you'll see a group of buildings on your left, hiding the ruins and former wheel of the old Coëtiquel mill. Used for milling wheat and buckwheat, it was part of Coëtdiquel manor, attested as an estate as early as the 16th century. The dyke damming the creek created a pool of water big enough to feed the bypass channel that turned the wheel. It was also crossed by a road linking the estate to the town of Bubry.

Places of burial and remembrance, cemeteries are part of our architectural heritage. Each one has its own history, sometimes with ancient tombs, chapels or crosses. Bubry cemetery, which was moved here at the end of the 19th century, houses the calvary formerly located to the south of the church. Probably dating from the 17th century, it is distinctive with its scalloped shaft, decorated with excrescences reminiscent of the bubonic plague, but it has lost its main ornaments and the cross was broken. Once framed by a statue of the Virgin and Child and one of Saint John, it had a cross sculpted with a Christ on the Cross and a Virgin and Child. The cemetery also contains the graves of the family of Marshal Louis Franchet d'Espérey, who once owned the Perros manor house. He died in 1942 and was posthumously buried in the crypt of the Saint-Louis des Invalides church in Paris in 1947.