Paimpont

Paimpont is a common French, located in the department of Ille-et-Vilaine and the area Brittany.

The commune of Paimpont is mainly covered by the Forêt of the same name, its inhabitants being distributed still today between some vast and ancient clearings with agricultural vocation and the borough located in its center but which experienced only one late development and always limited.

Geography

Located all at the west of the department, it is contiguous on half of its periphery with the departments of the Coast-with Armor and the Morbihan. In this one, the commune of Guer is especially covered by the moors which prolong in the south the leafy trees of the forest of Paimpont itself; the Aff is the small river which is used as limit and which avoids venturing inadvertently on the Camp of Coëtquidan, training ground reserved to the soldiers and to pupils of the three military academies which were established in Guer at the end of the war of 1939-1945.

With more than eleven thousand hectares, it is the largest commune of the department. Reaching 17 km, its west-east axis is larger than the North-South axis. Towards the borough, several secondary roads, the principal access to this commune converge being located at south-east by the exit of the four-ways NR 24 at the Plélan-the-Large level of . The number of inhabitants was overall constant or in light increase since the XVIIe century until 1850, approximately 3.500 people. On this date, if the borough gained some inhabitants regularly, the villages were depopulated slowly but constantly. End of the XXe century, the inhabitants are hardly more than fifteen hundreds including three hundreds for the borough.

Economy

The iron ore and the energy resources consisted the forest and its Hydrographie directed the evolution of the territory towards the metallurgical activity. Very old, the production of iron and derived starting from this ore is finally extinct towards the end of the XIXe century.

In 2002, was established a factory of congestion of the water of the basement of Paimpont. Employing only a quizaine people, in 2005 the Société of spring waters of Paimpont (Group of the Musketeers) produced more than 45 million bottles (2 L). Starting from 2006, this water is marketed under name Brocéliande .

Administration

Demography

History

The monastery founded in VIIe century by Judicaël became abbey in XIIIe, Abbaye Notre-Dame de Paimpont. A long time the borough, or what is called usually thus, was made up only of the abbey with its buildings associated such as hotel trade for the reception with the pilgrims, the cemetery and some habitations.

It is only during the XIXe century, well after the sale of the abbey like national goods in 1790, that the borough started to take the aspect that one knows to him today.

Paimpont under the old mode

Paimpont was one of the parishes of the évêché of Saint-Malo. Besides the bishop had at his disposal a residence of summer in the parish of Saint-Malo-with-Beignon located at the south. The parish had like branch the small parish of Saint-Péran in the North-East, a parish subordinated thus being called trève . One finds for example certain registers of the birth certificates, marriage or deaths of Saint-Péran incorporated in those of Paimpont.

The principal villages had their vault and same some their school at the XIXe century, thus avoiding long displacements towards a Abbatiale which could perhaps not all have accommodated them. In Beauvais, the Saint-Mathurin vault is always drawn up in semi-slope, with the crossroads of the way in direction of the Château of Trécesson and that going towards the Valley-without-Return, close to a fountain-laundrette which leaves its water approvisonner Aff incipient not far from there. At the village of Coganne, the vault Saint-Jacques-the-Minor was preserved and belongs now to the public domain. Telhouët also had a vault as well as the Forging mills, this one being dedicated to saint-Éloi the owner of the blacksmiths.

The parish of Paimpont also concerned the Archidiaconé de Porhoët and the Doyenné of Beignon.

Several jurisdictions seigneuriales shared in theory the essence of the territory of the parish of Paimpont. But it is known that these jurisdictions known as lower - especially smallest - had everywhere a very variable activity in time and of the one with the other according to the character or interest of their owners and the zeal of the seneshals, tax prosecutors and other officers of jurisdiction. Unfortunately, potentially rich person of multiple information, few files reached us. The royal Juridiction immediately above was the Sénéchaussée of Ploërmel, it is it which ensured the minimal respect of the right in the event of failure of the jurisdictions or by its own competence.

For what related to the administration of the Intendance of Brittany at the XVIIIe century, Paimpont belonged to the Subdélégation of Plélan. Certainly concerned in the name of the king of the prosperity of the sector, the intendant was not unaware of the importance of the forging mills and not less that of the considerable activity carried on in the village of Caned between the aforementioned forging mills and the borough: the bleaching of wire and fabrics. In meadows or pieces of small size surrounded by hedges, called parks , was exposed to the light and the sun of large bolts of canvas. This activity is extinct at the XIXe century with the competition of the chemical processes. Extract of the files: “ the village of Caned is so populeux that it would be difficult to make a similar flight in full day without being seen. ” Deposition Gentleman, 1837, magistrates' court of Montfort.

XXe century

As in much of places, only possible barrel an extremely summary inventory of the goods of the church because of the strong hostility of the inhabitants.

Following the rout of 1940, the mother of the general de Gaulle took refuge in Paimpont. Carrying out a necessarily discrete existence, it is however a considerable crowd which following her death in 1943 appeared of one does not know too much where and witnessed her funeral. One must in front of this enthusiasm suppose that his/her son was already carrying a great hope of release.

Between 1946 and 1956, the last coalmen - the three Guégan brothers - ceased successively their activity. However it was a time when approximately forty coalmen made live their family in the forest. In 1978, the Guégan brothers do one fouée of demonstration (five wood cords against 20 to 25 usually) to make known this technique with the public. In July 1979, it is with the Forging mills that a reconstitution by the former employees of the Edet company took place which had ceased its activity in 1954.

In July 1967, takes place the inauguration of the biological Station of Paimpont . The vast cages are ready to receive monkeys of Gabon and to make progress the Primatologie. Students coming from very far are also awaited: Swiss, Germany, North Africa…

The Trade union of National Forestry Commission of Paimpont ensures the distribution in thirteen communes of the limpid water of the Bleu pond.

The principal restoration of abbey relating in particular to the nave finish in 1970. But in September 1974, of the murals are discovered under the woodworks in the course of restoration. Dating from XIVe-XVe-XVIe centuries, they are - in spite of their state - exceptional on the level of the Brittany.

The project of regional center of initiation to the ecology which was to be carried out with the renovated mill of Châtenay remains without continuation.

Event symbolic system the August 23rd 1976 under the majestic oaks of the edge of the pond and in the presence of the public, the philosophical Confraternité of the Druids establishes six Druide S including two women. One presses oneself then to carry a little GUI, whereas the fire which still prevails with far dissuaded to light ritual fire.

In the years 1977 -80, the Six Hours of Veil of Paimpont being held on the pond is the local sports event. Creation of the municipal camp-site.

In 1978, opens the Résidence of Brocéliande , hearth for elderly, with approximately forty studios. The borough continues its moderate urbanization.

Famous characters

Tourist monuments and places

the the most important monument of the commune is its forest: to see the article detailed Forest of Paimpont

Ponds and hydrography

The borough of Paimpont marries the Eastern contour of a vast pond (50 ha) on the bank of which and the abbey of Paimpont developed settled. The fishing and of the nautical activities is practiced there very peacefully.

Contrary to what is repeated, the principal brook - Aff - does not take its source in the pond of Paimpont whose water does nothing but join that several upstream almost fed brooks all the year by the rains brought by the winds of south-west and the west, the vegetation gradually releasing the excess of moisture of the days of strong precipitations.

Aff skirted in its multiple meanders by a path of great excursion thus grows bigger very gradually since an origin dubious but located at the approaches of the commune of Campénéac in the south-west of the forest. After having forwarded by the village of the Forging mills where it provided its energy a long time, energy which reconstituted ensured then the operation of a great number of mills throughout its course before joining the Oust a few kilometers before joining the Vilaine to Redon.

Also in central position and of comparable size, the other large pond is that of Not-of-Houx. Its configuration and the presence of private residences (castles of Brocéliande and of Not-of-Houx, XIXe) prevents to appreciate it from another point of view that of the road which briefly skirts it to the south. Its low depth united with the climatic variations gives him a rather variable surface.

Water of these ponds joins those of smaller ponds; units they actuated the machines of the forging mills formerly, apart from the hot season:

pond of Chatenay, located at the village of Beauvais in the west. Of approximately four hectares and fed itself by the pond of Beauvais or pond of In-high, they are the first ponds to then feed Aff still with some encamblures of its source. Close to the dam and mill which it actuated, draws up on concrete pillars the panoramic restaurant, advanced biological Station. The mill given up since good ten years was restored in 1973 in the intention to install an ecological center of initiation there.
pond of the Splitting mill, in the middle of the forest, fed itself by the pond of In-high even more wild. A sawmill existed a long time in buildings leant with the dam of the pond to close definitively about 1995. It had taken the continuation of the workshop of splitting mill, additional of the forging mills located a little more at the south. The site is now reconverted in rural Gîte.
pond of the Forging mills, at the village of the same name in the south, supplied with the pond of Perray, contiguous but located into Plélan-the-Large;
Blue pond, in the north of the borough where its water joined that of the pond. Contrary to the pond of Not-of-Houx which is in the same sector, it is very deep (15 m) since it results from the abandonment with the water of the principal mine of the forest at the beginning of the XXe century. A pumping station was built to exploit this water reserve of excellent quality (rich in iron however) and about constant.

The forest probably comprises other ponds, smaller still or located in the common neighbors, vastest and most beautiful being that located at the back of the Château of Comper in Concoret (entered reserved and paying). Some took part in their measurement with the food of the pond of the Forging mills, last holds before the factory.

Preserved as much as possible of the pollution of agricultural or urban origin, the water of the solid mass is coveted. Since 1963, a pumping station is built with the Bleu pond to feed thirteen communes. A factory of congestion was established near the borough about 2002. Little time before, a project of stopping of Aff almost in the middle of the solid mass raised the indignation of the inhabitants and innumerable the in love of this country. The needs not réfrénés for Rennes and its area make fear that is not enough any more the stopping of Chèze built in the Seventies beyond Plélan and thus the renewal to such projects known as of public interest.

Megaliths and other sites

Hotié of Viviane or Tomb of the Druids or House of Viviane, large funerary trunk (Neolithic), with the Valley without Return;
Tomb of the Giants, with the Valley without Return;
Tomb of Merlin (Neolithic);
Fountain of Youth;
Fountain of Barenton, lost in the Folle Thought forest;
the Valley without Return;

Metallurgical past

The archaeological prospection revealed a very great number of sites or sites of the forest and its periphery having known an activity concerning the exploitation of the iron ore: points of extraction of the ore, low hearth X such as those discovered about 1980 on bank of the pond of Perray, Ferrier S, i.e. accumulation of slags and other ferrous waste, without speaking about the more recent sites of fouées of the coalmen in the forest nor of the houses of the so many nailsmiths at the XIXe century.

It is not always easy to go back oldest to these sites, surely of the first centuries of the Christian era.

The rare ones and short mentions in the files furtively ensure the relai with the history of the forging mills created the XVIIe century. They not propose the famous forging mills under the Ancien Mode, but the activity of the village of the Ford located at a few hundred meters on the territory of Plélan and heart of this commune until the middle of the XIXe century.

Forging mills of Paimpont

Following the example lightness of the Paimpolaise of Theodore Botrel contrasting with the roughness of a trade that some qualified convict , fishing with cod, the song “ the girls of the Forging mills ” seems somewhat strange with regard to a site which without lacking charm entirely was worked and marked by industry. Installed in against-low dam of the pond, itself encircled by the forest, the village - but is this word really appropriate? - never seems to have had of another prospect but the production. The industrial buildings located at the east and partly on the commune of Plélan are accompanied only by rare residences, those of the Master of the forging mills and the semi-skilled workers very few. All the other workmen and workers of various specialities (minors and other manouvriers, loggers, carters, coalmen, etc) withdrew themselves in their villages according to a daily rate/rhythm and according to the variable activity of the blast furnaces. One can even appreciate this site of the dam, while avoiding penetrating on the private grounds, the two vaults, the kennels of the dogs of pack and other preserved buildings form a harmonious unit. Lastly, on the roadside, the old canteen of the workmen became an appreciated restaurant.

Since the purchase of the forest for the creation of forging mills in 1653 by the families of Farcy and Andigné until the end of the XIXe century (1884), this site absorbed the essence of human energy and natural commune of Paimpont and partially of Plélan in exchange of a relatively intense production. After water, variable on which it was difficult to act, it is on the wood resource that the pressure was strongest, the requirements out of charcoal being considerable. Thus all the history of the development of the forging mills proceeds in parallel of a conflict never completely regulated between the owners of the forest and the forging mills and the inhabitants of Paimpont, accepting badly that the access to the forest and the ancestral practices are prohibited to them for requirements of growth of the forest as obscure as it.

A document of the magistrates' court of Montfort informs us about the price of iron: “The sior Marchand Ploërmel says to me that one sold this iron to him twenty five centimes the kilogram and that we sell it about the double taken with the forging mills. ” (Deposition of the director of the Forging mills, Sieur Nicole, 1838). Another a detail gives us on the evolution of the factory: “ Sieur Herpe as observed us as last year, one demolished with the forging mills of Paimpont a mill with flour to replace it by a hammer with the use of the forging mills. ” (Statement Cockerel, 1838).

At the edge of the road going of the Forging mills to the Bridge of the Secrecy, the principal building of the forging mills of in-low is which were fed out of water by a small channel.

Even if for some the forging mill was with more than two hours of walk, each one had among its close relations at least a person whose principal income was related more or less directly to the production of iron, income in addition less subjected to the risks of the economic situation and the climate. This simple report was not to be to be enough to make forget with the hard multitude considering the mediocrity of the ungrateful grounds, the interest and even the need for drawing from the so close and so familiar forest all that it was possible, with the contempt of all the defenses sententiously made even in front of the Parlement of Brittany. Thus, until in the years 1950, the farmers certainly rare had maintained the possibility of making feed some heads of cattle in periphery of the forest.

“ As for the alleged flights of wood cords in the forest, one made the evil larger than it was and any door to believe only the little which was withdrawn it was only by the factory workers to which it is faggots for heating which would have taken care to mingle with it each one some parts of large wood. The thing would be difficult differently, the forest being supervised by at least twenty guard-sergeants and sergeants which hardly sleep. ” Letter of the Justice of the Peace Joubaire on February 8th, 1835 (even source).

In 2004, the forging mills were classified historic building and the restoration of the building of the Laminoir was started.

See too

Common of Ille-et-Vilaine

Files

Of April 18th 1760 - " Arrest of the Council of State of the roy which condemns named the Gauthier, prosecutor tax of the jurisdiction of Paimpont, in 300 pounds of fine to have refused to deliver with subdelegated of Mr. intendant of Brittany, a state of the crimes worthy of dead or afflictive sorrows, made in the aforementioned jurisdiction, or a certificate négatif." This printed paper form of large size was addressed to all the subdelegated of the province. Source: C 137.

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