Quimper Vannes Archive

Quimper-Vannes Brittany Place Names Archive

This Blogger site contains early notes, short essays and curiosities from the research behind Quimper-Vannes: Exploring the Place Names of Brittany.

The new edition Quimper Vannes: A Journey Through the Place Names of Brtitany and a French translation Quimper Vannes:À la recherche des noms de lieux en Bretagne launch in June 2026.

For new articles, launch updates and sample material, visit the new Substack:

QUIMPER-VANNES: A Journey through the Place Names of Brittany https://quimpervannes.substack.com/

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The legend of Saint Gwen of Brittany and Dorset

Update: Quimper-Vannes has moved to a new site: https://quimpervannes.substack.com/ This Blogger site is now an archive. New articles, extracts and launch news for the English edition and French translation will appear on Substack. See: The legend of Saint Gwen of Brittany and Dorset Saints, Myths & Relics The church of Whitchurch-Canonicorum in Dorset is dedicated to Saint-Candida (a.k.a Saint-Wite). Below the east window there is an altar tomb with three openings which allowed devotees to reach inside the shrine in the hope of a miraculous cure for whatever ailed them. On the top of this there used to be a 14th century coffin built into a slab of local marble. When the local vicar opened it in 1848 he found a stone box. Inside the stone box he discovered a Saint's relics. When the coffin was examined again in 1899 another vicar found teeth, a lot of bones resembling those of small, forty year old woman and an inscrip...

What really links place names in Brittany, Cornwall and Wales (apart from a few hundred Celtic saints)?

Update: Quimper-Vannes has moved to a new site: https://quimpervannes.substack.com/ This Blogger site is now an archive. New articles, extracts and launch news for the English edition and French translation will appear on Substack. Place Name Elements in Breton, Welsh and Cornish (with examples and English gloss) BRETON CORNISH WELSH ENGLISH EXAMPLES C=Cornwall; W= Wales aut , alt, aod alt, als, aulz allt hill, slope, cliff Duault (22), Nansalsa (C), Allt-golau (W) ael ael ael summit, brow, ridge Hirael (35), Aelbryn (W) aval aval, avallen afal, afallen apple Availles-sur-Seiche (35), Rosevallen (C), Dolafallen (W) aon, aven auon, awan afon river Pont-Aven (29); Arrowan (C), Aberavon (W) arcae - argae dam, embankment Erquy (22), Argae Alwen (W) ard, art, arz are, ard, arth ardd ...

Why all the Ermine?

Update: Quimper-Vannes has moved to a new site: https://quimpervannes.substack.com/ This Blogger site is now an archive. New articles, extracts and launch news for the English edition and French translation will appear on Substack. The ermine ( Mustela erminea ) a.k.a. stoat or short-tailed weasel is the national emblem of Brittany. Its much sought after white winter coat was used for the cloaks, crowns and caps of the aristocracy. Ermine The eleven 'ermine spots' which form the pattern in the top left corner of the Breton flag represent the way the black-tipped tails were hung on the white fur. This heraldic ermine canton was a feature of the arms of the Dukes of Brittany. Breton flag with ermine canton The story goes that Anne de Bretagne, the last independent Breton ruler and the wife of two successive French kings, saw a group of hunters chasing after an ermine. When the ermine reached the edge of a muddy lake the er...

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