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Origin and history

The Church of St. Peter of Irvillac, located in the diocese of Quimper and Leon, is a Catholic religious building dating mainly from the second half of the seventeenth century. Its bell tower, erected in 1656, bears an inscription attesting to its construction under the impulse of Vincent de Kerouartz, regular canon of Daoulas Abbey and rector of the place. The building features a square bedside nave, two wooden vaulted bottoms, and an entrance door decorated with doric columns. Its complete parish enclosure includes the church, a calvary, a cemetery, an ossuary dated 1692, and a wall of enclosure, reflecting the traditional organization of the Breton parishes.

The bell tower arrow, rebuilt in 1850 after being destroyed by lightning in 1777, adopts an original form of bell, following the plans of Abbé Pouliquen, vicar of the parish. Inside, the church houses ancient statues, including those of St. Yves, St.Roch and St.James, testimonies of local devotion. The building was also marked by revolutionary history: its rector from 1786 to 1791, born in Quimper, refused to take the oath of the Civil Constitution of the clergy in 1791, was imprisoned in several prisons in Finistère, and died in detention in Rochefort in 1794.

Classified as a historic monument since 1928, the Church of St Peter illustrates Breton religious architecture, mixing 17th century heritage and 19th century restorations. Its ossuary, its calvary and its wall of enclosures, still intact, make it a rare example of preserved parish enclosures. The sources, such as the architectural bulletins of Abbé Peyron and Abgrall (1914), underline its heritage importance, while bases such as Mérimée and the Observatory of Religious Heritage document its precise location and legal protections.

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