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Park in the free car park at Place de la Tourbie, the former fairground, opposite the Collège la Tour d’Auvergne.
Access by bus: Tourbie stop, lines 05, 08, 09, 22.
The sections in italics indicate the buildings or monuments mentioned.
(S/E) With your back to the car park, head towards a roundabout and turn right down Rue Élie Fréron, which runs alongside the Collège de la Tour d’Auvergne and then past the rear of the former Jesuit chapel, now an auditorium. Turn left into the Jardin de la Retraite and walk through it to reach the Tour Névet, on the corner of the ramparts. On the right is the building, now a care home, which once served as an annex hospital run by the Red Cross.
Descend the ramparts via a flight of steps to reach a footpath laid out in the former moat bordering the ramparts. Opposite, the former École Sainte-Anne – now the Conservatoire de musique – was also used as a supplementary hospital until 1919. The nearby Collège Saint-Yves was the main centre for surgery.
Head down towards Place Jean Massé , where, just before you reach it, there is a memorial stone in honour of Jean Le Roy, a poet from Quimper who was killed in the Belgian Ardennes.
Turn right into Rue Toul ar-Laer and take the second street on the right, Rue de la Mairie, to emerge at Place Saint-Corentin near the town hall. You must go inside to see six paintings depicting the different stages of the war, which adorn the walls of the town hall’s grand staircase, and sandstone plaques bearing the names of the 566 soldiers from Quimper who fell at the front ( access only during the town hall’s opening hours).
Cross the square to enter Saint-Corentin Cathedral through the large west portal and head to the south transept to see a monument paying tribute to members of the clergy who died in combat (marble plaques framing a mosaic, the work of the painter Maurice Denis).
Exit through the north door and turn right into Rue du Frout, where the Notre-Dame de l’Espérance School, run by the Sisters of the Retreat, was once located . These premises were used to house nurses from the87th and151st Infantry Regiments, whose barracks towns had been occupied. You will come out onto Rue de Juniville. Its name commemorates Quimper’s sponsorship of the reconstruction of this commune in the Ardennes, which was completely destroyed in October 1918.
(1) Cross the Odet via the bridge near the main post office and turn right to walk along the quay towards the prefecture, an imposing building resembling a Renaissance castle. This building was constructed on the initiative of Prefect Heni Collognon, who, having enlisted as a volunteer in 1914, was killed in 1915 near Verdun. You will arrive at the car park on Place de la Résistance, which used to be called Place du Champ de Bataille. This is where those liable for conscription would gather before heading back to the station. Cross the Odet again and continue along Rue Amiral Ronarc’h, named after the admiral who commanded a brigade of marine fusiliers during the ‘race to the sea’ from October 1914 onwards. Continue towards Saint-Mathieu Church where, on the north side, a wooden altarpiece – the work of Quimper-based sculptor Arthur Aoutrou – depicts a dying soldier being comforted by the Virgin Mary holding the Baby Jesus.
(2) Retrace your steps, cross at the traffic lights and walk round the media library to reach the Esplanade François Mitterrand near the Théâtre de Cornouailles. On the right are the former buildings of the118th Infantry Regiment, which was mainly made up of men from southern Finistère. This regiment took part, notably, in the battles of the Somme, Verdun and the Chemin-des-Dames. On the left-hand side, in the Jardin des Ursulines, stands a statue of a marine fusilier dating from before 1914, which previously adorned a war memorial at Saint-Marc Cemetery.
Turn right into Rue du Cosquéric, where, at number 14, are the offices of the National Office for Veterans and War Victims, an organisation established in 1916. Turn left into Rue de Salonique, then right into Rue de l’Argonne and left into Rue des Dardanelles. At the end, turn right to continue along Rue de l’Yser (all these streets are named after battles of the Great War). Head towards the entrance to Saint-Marc Cemetery, where a military plot contains 119 graves, just past the former railway line that cuts the cemetery in two.
(3) Retrace your steps and walk back down alongside the cemetery wall. Enter through the gate leading to the Protestant section (the gate is closed on Sundays and public holidays. If this is the case, continue walking alongside the cemetery wall until you reach Rue Saint-Marc).
Leave the cemetery near the small chapel, walk down Rue Saint-Marc, pass the Centre Évangélique and then, at the traffic lights, cross Rue de Douarnenez to continue opposite along Rue du Chapeau Rouge. Cross the bridge over the Stéïr and pass, on your left, the small Place Médard with its modern, purely decorative fountain.
(4) Head up to the right along Rue des Gentilshommes, a beautiful cobbled street, and at the end, first turn right then left to enter Rue du Sallé and Place au Beurre. Follow this square as you climb steeply to the left up Rue du Lycée. At the top, on the left, stood the Municipal Boys’ School, which served as barracks forthe 318th Infantry Regiment, as well as the Lycée de la Tour d’Auvergne opposite, in addition to its role as a hospital.
Turn left, head downhill along Rue de Kergariou on the left, and turn right into Rue François Valentin. At the dead-end section of this street, the Patronage de la Sainte Famille (Mesgloaguen Youth Club) took in 31 Belgian refugees who had been evacuated from the hospital in Ypres following the German bombardment.
Continue uphill along this street, pass a small square on your right and continue along the footpath running alongside the walls of the former Mesgloaguen prison. Turn right to return to the car park (S/E).
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