Parish close

Parish close is a translation of the French term enclos paroissial. It refers to a number of locations in Brittany, mainly though not exclusively in the historic diocese of Léon, corresponding roughly to the northern half of the département of Finistère. These feature an elaborately decorated parish church surrounded by an entirely walled churchyard, and date from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The term enclos paroissial seems self-explanatory, but can seem a false friend to the English, especially British English, reader. Cathedral closes are an important feature of urban architecture in Britain and it is easy to assume that a parish close is simply smaller but analogous. Cathedral closes include many residential and administrative buildings, as well as the church. Parish closes are entirely cultic in character. The walled churchyard surrounds only buildings and structures designed for worship – the church, the calvary, and sometimes an ossuary or charnel house.

There is a tradition of sacred enclosures with marked boundaries (fanum) in Celtic polytheism. This reflected a pre-occupation with well-defined sacred features, particularly springs and groves. After the arrival of Christianity, many older traditions and cultural traits persisted within the new religion. The place-name element lan or llan, now taken to signify a church, originally signified an enclosure. In all Brythonic Celtic areas, there was a strong association between church enclosures and specific saints, often of a very particular local character. Whatever the persistence of older themes and styles, the parish closes of Brittany took their present form in the early modern period, over a millennium after the region was thoroughly Christianized.

A major factor in permitting the elaboration of parish closes was the relative prosperity of Finistère in the 16th century. This was built on the maritime competition and constant warfare that plagued much of Western Europe in this period. A group of parishes, just inland, benefited hugely from supplying the ports with the hemp and linen needed to rig ships, as well as food, clothing, and other supplies. This allowed them to engage in friendly civic competition with each other, constructing and embellishing closes that were displayed most effectively during the periodic pardons, which attracted pilgrims from all over Brittany and beyond.

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