Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/372

GAULISH FORTRESSES ON THE COAST OF BRITTANY. (ar ciiastel coz, the old castle, fixistere.) By U. F. LE ME, i.f Quiinper. About half ^YaJ between Douanicnez aiul the Pointc du liaz, and following the Roman road, ^Yhich runs parallel to the coast-line, the traveller reaches the boiirg (or M'hat in England would be called a village) of Beuzec-cap-Sizun. Thisbourg, situated on the summit of an almost uncultivated plateau, from which the sea is visible, was formerly the chief place of a deanery and ten-itory known in the middle ages as Pagus-cap-Sizun. It embraced within its limits eleven parishes, and must formerly have been a place of consider- able importance, if one may judge from the number of Konian and Celtic; monuments still remaining. It is bounded on the north an<l west by the sea, on the south by the Bay of Audiernc and the rivei- of l*(»nt Croix, and on the east by the small streamlet called liiz, which runs into the Bay of Douarnenez. The ancient parish of Beuzec, so called from St. Budoc, a Ijreton saint of the sixth century, has become so much re- duced since its transformation into a commune, at the end of the last century, that the traveller can find no accom- modation of any kind. The church, with the exception of tlio tower (a copy of the remarkable one at Pont Croix), is devoid of all details of interest. TJje Ixnii'g is little more than a niilr iicni llir sea. which is reached l)y a narrow j)ath aci'oss a wild Ik alh, lapidly descending as it appi-oachcs the shore. At this point an immense rock, with almost perjiendiculai- sides, and rising the height of about l.OO ft. above iIm- hvel of the shore, foruLS a small jieninsnla c<»nnected with the mainland by a narrow tongue, which is not always safe to cidss with a strong west or north-west wind. This woik is calif. 1 by tlio natives Ar ChasU.'l Coz, or old castle ; and its claiui to be called a castle is fully borne out by tin- strong defences constructed by men at a period when such a work, in con-