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Origin and history

The chores are stone road markers, often of granite, limestone or sandstone, implanted under the Old Regime to delimit the sections of roads that were maintained by the local parishes. These monoliths, cylindrical or conical on a square basis, recall the royal chore: a tax in kind introduced in the 1730s by Philibert Orry, the chief financial officer of Louis XV. The peasants had to spend one to two weeks a year in spring and autumn to build or repair the royal roads. The pillars, spaced by a thousand toises, materialized these parish obligations.

The border of the rue de Tréguier in Lannion, classified as a Historical Monument in 1936, dates from the 18th century and bears the inscription "Task of Servel; 1097 toises". It illustrates the system of road organization of the Duke of Aiguillon, where each side indicated the part of maintenance attributable to a city. These works, typical of the pre-revolutionary era, symbolize both the central authority and the collective burden placed on rural communities. Their preservation offers a concrete testimony of infrastructures and social practices under the monarchy.

In Brittany, several terminals remain, such as those of the Faubourg de Buzulzo (1785) or Rue Saint-Nicolas (1760) in Lannion. Their rectangular bevelled-angled shape and inscriptions make them unique remnants of the royal road network. Today owned by the municipality, these monuments recall the history of transport and forced labour, while stressing the role of parishes in the planning of the territory before the Revolution.

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