Distance: 3.9 km
Average duration) : min
Level: Easy-to-use
Guerche-de-Bretagne
Discovery trail
The circuit is partly passable for people with reduced mobility.

Walking

Discovering heritage – La Guerche-de-Bretagne

The city of La Guerche-de-Bretagne is located on the borders of two regions; Brittany and Pays-de-la-Loire and four departments; Ille-et-Vilaine, Mayenne, Maine-et-Loire and Loire-Atlantique. This strategic location, on the Marches of Brittany, has allowed it to assert itself over the centuries and to be at the heart of trade.
La Guerche was founded in the Middle Ages in the parish of Rannée, to the south of the city, by Sylvestre, from a family of bishops. The simple dungeon, probably in wood, built on a motte, is succeeded by a stone castle, attested in the XNUMXth century, which overlooked the pond of Matz, which has now dried up.
From the XNUMXth century, the city became a real small town, with many half-timbered houses grouped around its castle, and the seat of an important lordship. Thirty-seven lords succeeded one another there, among which, Bertrand du Guesclin who fought against the English during the war of Succession of Brittany.
Due to its strategic location, the city is developing, but it is also very coveted and is the subject of countless occupations, devastations and abuses.
In 1173, the castle and the town were burned down by the troops of Henry II, King of England. In the following century, in order to better protect itself, the city acquired ramparts and the first two gates. This did not prevent the English from forcing the ramparts in 1443 and taking possession of the city. In the XNUMXth century, La Guerche, a Catholic stronghold, was shaken one last time by the Wars of Religion.
In the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, the city continued to open up and the population showed great activity. Agriculture, trade, the tanning of skins, the manufacture of sheets and the canvas industry ensure, in the Guernsey country, prosperity and a certain ease attested by the construction of churches and mansions.
In the 1880th century, the city developed through its suburbs. An effective policy of opening up promotes exchanges, in particular thanks to the creation of a rail network in 1881 and XNUMX.
Today, the city shines on its territory. It has the particularity of having preserved a dense and concentrated urbanization as well as a rare example of half-timbered architecture. Its unmissable market has attracted a large population every Tuesday morning since 1121.

The Small Towns of Character®: Responding to the precise and demanding commitments of a national quality charter, the Small Towns of Character® implement innovative forms of heritage enhancement, public reception and local entertainment. It is throughout the year that they welcome you and invite you to their rich events and other varied appointments. You are invited.
Take the time to visit them, push the doors open to you and appreciate a certain art of living there. Discover them on the Petites Cités de Caractère® website.

Your itinerary

Guerche-de-Bretagne

The city of La Guerche-de-Bretagne is located on the borders of two regions; Brittany and Pays-de-la-Loire and four departments; Ille-et-Vilaine, Mayenne, Maine-et-Loire and Loire-Atlantique. This strategic location, on the Marches of Brittany, has allowed it to assert itself over the centuries and to be at the heart of trade.
La Guerche was founded in the Middle Ages in the parish of Rannée, to the south of the city, by Sylvestre, from a family of bishops. The simple dungeon, probably in wood, built on a motte, is succeeded by a stone castle, attested in the XNUMXth century, which overlooked the pond of Matz, which has now dried up.
From the XNUMXth century, the city became a real small town, with many half-timbered houses grouped around its castle, and the seat of an important lordship. Thirty-seven lords succeeded one another there, among which, Bertrand du Guesclin who fought against the English during the war of Succession of Brittany.
Due to its strategic location, the city is developing, but it is also very coveted and is the subject of countless occupations, devastations and abuses.
In 1173, the castle and the town were burned down by the troops of Henry II, King of England. In the following century, in order to better protect itself, the city acquired ramparts and the first two gates. This did not prevent the English from forcing the ramparts in 1443 and taking possession of the city. In the XNUMXth century, La Guerche, a Catholic stronghold, was shaken one last time by the Wars of Religion.
In the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, the city continued to open up and the population showed great activity. Agriculture, trade, the tanning of skins, the manufacture of sheets and the canvas industry ensure, in the Guernsey country, prosperity and a certain ease attested by the construction of churches and mansions.
In the 1880th century, the city developed through its suburbs. An effective policy of opening up promotes exchanges, in particular thanks to the creation of a rail network in 1881 and XNUMX.
Today, the city shines on its territory. It has the particularity of having preserved a dense and concentrated urbanization as well as a rare example of half-timbered architecture. Its unmissable market has attracted a large population every Tuesday morning since 1121.

The Small Towns of Character®: Responding to the precise and demanding commitments of a national quality charter, the Small Towns of Character® implement innovative forms of heritage enhancement, public reception and local entertainment. It is throughout the year that they welcome you and invite you to their rich events and other varied appointments. You are invited.
Take the time to visit them, push the doors open to you and appreciate a certain art of living there. Discover them on the Petites Cités de Caractère® website.
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Step 1

Installed on an artificial motte in the north-eastern part of the city, the castle was bordered by the old Matz pond to the north, which is now a landscaped garden. Moats surrounding the first castral town, then doubled by a masonry enclosure, have now determined the large squares that surround the town and separate the historic center from the suburbs. From the end of the Middle Ages, the castle was in ruins; it was not destroyed until 1740. Its stones were used to build the audience of justice. Today, only the remains of the motte remain on which a dungeon stood in the XNUMXth century.
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Step 2

The construction of the church was spread over several centuries. It probably replaces the old chapel of the castle, attested in 1185. The bases of the powerful bell tower, on the southern flank near the apse, date back to the 1206th century, when Guillaume II, lord of La Guerche, seneschal of the order of the temple, founded a Templar commandery north of the city. In 1505, William III erected the chapel as a collegiate church and entrusted it to canons. An arcaded vault shelters his recumbent figure in the north wall of the choir, behind the altar. The current church, of vast proportions, was rebuilt at the beginning of the 1522th century on the model with a row of gables. In the eastern part of the choir, the stalls of the canons, sculpted between 1869 and 1913 by two craftsmen, combine a fine decoration of arabesques and grotesques from the first Renaissance and profane scenes from the medieval repertoire. After the Revolution, the collegiate became a parish church. In 1951, the architect from Rennes, Arthur Regnault, erected a monumental Gothic porch tower to the west of more than sixty-five meters - inspired by the cathedral of Quimper, flanked by four pinnacles. The church, classified as a historic monument in XNUMX, was elevated to the rank of basilica in XNUMX.
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Step 3

The chapels, erected in the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries in the southern aisle of the basilica, gave the name to the street which runs along the building. In late Gothic fashion, their gables are adorned with fanciful carvings of human heads, monsters, or animals. One of the houses in the street is adorned with a sculpted head.
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Step 4

The Saint-Nicolas priory, located in the suburb of Rennes, to the west of La Guerche goes back to the origins of the city. In order to increase the attractiveness of his castle, Guillaume I, third lord of the city, obtained from the abbot of Saint-Melaine de Rennes, the relics of the saint. Under his protection, the monks built, in the middle of a field, this chapel around which the first town developed. By placing a chapel, a suburb and a town gate under the protection of Saint Nicolas, patron saint of travelers and merchants, the people of Guerch show off the activity of their town: trade.
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Step 5

After 1223, the city acquired its first ramparts. They are first pierced by two gates: the main entrance to the city from Rennes with the Porte Saint-Nicolas, linked to the priory, and the Porte de Rannée, the parish on which the town depended until the Revolution. In 1653, a third gate was pierced to the north to access the developing suburb of Bouridal. A last gate was created in 1740, leading to Anjou, promoting numerous exchanges with this province.
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Step 6

From the 1839th century, La Guerche had a place in which trade and power were controlled by the lords who derived income from it. Attached to La Salorge, the auditorium was the place where the opening of the markets was proclaimed and justice was rendered there. This building was surmounted by a pinnacle which announced the decisions. It was destroyed in XNUMX and replaced by the current building called La Salorge.
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Step 7

From 1206, the fairs are attested and are held in the heart of the city. In September, after the harvest, the Trois Angevines, inherited from the Middle Ages, are among the great fairs of the West. The famous Tuesday morning market is attested in 1121 and famous until 1840 for hemp cloth, tanned hides and salt. Today, this unmissable event, which occupied the center of the city and the large halls until the Revolution, has grown and spreads over the fairgrounds, the Grand-Mail promenade and the rue from Nantes. A saying is associated with it: “you can find everything, like at La Guerche”.
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Step 8

Around this square is a rare example of 1990th and 1766th century half-timbered houses with porches. Their continuous alignments form galleries under which merchants sold their products. Today, they bear witness to the industrial and commercial prosperity of the guerrillas from the 1767th to the XNUMXth century and the current businesses attest to the durability of this activity. In the center of the square, a fountain was built in XNUMX, in memory of the location of an old well; only source of water for the city during the great drought of XNUMX to XNUMX which lasted sixteen months.
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Step 9

The vast wooden halls of yesteryear, one of the largest in Brittany, have been replaced by a neo-classical style building, built on arcades, designed by the Rennes architect Louis Richelot and housing the town hall upstairs ( current cultural center and media library). The name, La Salorge, refers to the sale of salt that was held there, in part of the ground floor, and summarizes a large part of the commercial and industrial history of the city. But, like many Breton towns in the 1739th and XNUMXth centuries, La Guerche was also renowned for its hemp sheets and linens sold under the halls. Used for making the sails of ships, the fabrics were exported as far as Russia. However, although manufactured around, they had to receive their trademark (stamp) in Rennes. As this displacement caused expenses, the city obtained, in XNUMX, an office of the marks which functioned until the Revolution.
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Step 10

A little away from the historic center, taking rue Neuve, you will discover a small alley that leads to the Matz garden. Its name bears witness to the ancient tanning activity that was to take place there. The tanners, for hygienic reasons, were mostly located outside the city; at La Guerche, near a watercourse called the Bigosier, now channeled, which then flowed into the Matz pond.
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Step 11

At the end of the 1880th century, the department acquired a railway network; thus a railway station was built at La Guerche between 1881 and 1948. At the same time, a second station was created to accommodate the tramway. The street then hosted two hotels for travelers. The Guerchais, Léon Rousseau, chief engineer of Ponts et Chaussées in Rennes, was the main architect of the development of this mode of locomotion. However, with the development of the automobile, the tramway ceased to run in 1972 and its old station is now converted into housing. The railway station was razed in XNUMX.
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Step 12

The rue du Guesclin was pierced during the construction of the two stations to facilitate access to the city center. These development works testify to the desire to modernize and ventilate the city and to facilitate traffic
13

Step 13

On the Place du Guesclin, this residence, which looks like a small castle, stands out from the rest of the houses by its volume, its fine corner turrets, its brick structure and its limestone bay windows. It was built in the XNUMXth century by a private individual, Monsieur Pichot, and then hosted the perception.
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Step 14

Installed along the road towards Vitré, this building housed the business of Mr. Perrier and Mrs. Baron, fruit and vegetable merchants. The sign, which crowns the building with its stepped cutout and curved projection, takes up Art Deco forms. It is richly decorated with stylized fruits and foliage illustrating the function of the owners. This mosaic sign was made by the famous Italian Odorico family in the early 1930s, during the spread of the movement.
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Step 15

Wood and earth, abundant and inexpensive materials, were mainly used for the majority of urban constructions from the Middle Ages until the end of the Ancien Régime. The secondary framework of the timber frame, which fills the space between the structural posts, can take on different aspects, such as rafters or fern leaves at No. 14 rue d'Anjou or the cross of Saint André at n°12, or even a diamond trellis, as at n°10 rue d'Anjou.

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