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Auray

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a town of France near the mouth of the Auray river, in the department of Morbihan, 12 m. W. of Vannes on the railway between that town and Lorient. Pop. (1906) 5241. Its port, which is formed by the channel of the river and divides the town into two parts, is frequented by coasting and fishing vessels. The principal buildings are the church of St Esprit (13th century) now secularized; the Renaissance church of St Gildas; the town-hall (18th century); and, at a short distance from the town, the Carthusian monastery, now a deaf and dumb institute, on the site of the battle of 1364, at which Charles of Blois was defeated by John of Montfort (see Brittany: History). Adjoining the Chartreuse is a small chapel in which are preserved the bones of the Royalists captured by the Republicans in a battle fought near the spot in 1795. In the neighbourhood is the church of Sainte Anne d'Auray, one of the principal places of pilgrimage in Brittany. Auray is one of the chief centres in France for oyster-breeding, and carries on boat-building and sardine-fishing.