Paimpont forest, sometimes said to be the Arthurian
Brocéliande, is in the French
commune of
Paimpont, near the city of
Rennes in
Brittany. As Brocéliande it had a reputation in the
Medieval imagination as a place of magic and mystery. It is the setting of a number of adventures in
Arthurian legend, notably
Chrétien de Troyes's
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, and locals claim the tree in which the
Lady of the Lake supposedly imprisoned
Merlin can still be seen today. Other recent legendary (from the 19th century) places said to lie within the forest include the
Val sans Retour, the tomb of Merlin, the Fountain of Youth, and Hotié de Vivianne (castle of the Lady of the Lake). The medieval chronicler
Wace visited the forest of
Brocéliande (but is it really Paimpont) but left disappointed:
Description
Paimpont is a forest of broadleaf trees,
oaks and
beeches mainly, with areas of conifers either inside after clear-felling or on the periphery as transition with the moor, for example towards the west in the sector of Tréhorenteuc and the Val-sans-Retour (= Valley of no Return) which was devastated by several fires in particular in 1976, a year of great
drought. It occupies mainly the territory of the commune of Paimpont, but extends to bordering communes, mainly
Guer and
Beignon in the south,
Saint-Péran in the northeast, and
Concoret in north. The forest of Paimpont is the largest remnant of an ancient forest occupying
Argoat, the interior region of Brittany. It was more often called the forest of Brécélien, but its ancient character and other qualities underlined by many authors decided on its name of "forest of Brocéliande", tallying of the adventures of the legend of the
Round Table. This flattering designation was reinforced by the birth of the Pays de Brocéliande at the end of the 20th century, an institution intended to facilitate the development of the communes of the west of the département.