AURAY  , 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 . (18(36) 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 1'795 . 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 .