Normandy ~

Phare de Gatteville, Barfleur, Normandy

In September we had the pleasant experience of driving along the Channel coast in Normandy and Brittany ~ enjoying the good weather, the little seaside villages and looking for lighthouses.  During those four or five days, we came upon some interesting lighthouses in our quest to find as many as possible.

We spent a week on the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy, and the first lighthouse to capture our attention was the Phare de Gatteville in Barfleur, which is also known as the Pointe de Barfleur Light.  It is northeast of the town center reached by a long spit of land, and surrounded by what are frequently rough seas.  At 75 meters in height, it is the third tallest 'traditional' lighthouse in the world.  It isn't, however, the original light at that location.

The first lighthouse on the point was known as Phare de Barfleur which opened in 1774 and was lit the following year with a coal fire located on top.  Sixteen oil lamps replaced the coal fire in 1780 and reflectors were installed.  It wasn't until an upgrade of the lens was planned in 1825 that it was realized the structure wasn't wide enough.  The newer, taller, lighthouse was built about 60 meters away from the first (which remains on the site), and in 1881 it was renamed Phare de Gatteville.  In 1883 the light itself was replaced with an electric lantern.

Phare de Gatteville was open to the public until 1996 when it was closed for renovation.  The following year it reopened as a museum.  In the photo above of Barfleur and its harbor, the lighthouse can be barely seen on the right of the photo on the land reaching into the sea.

While Barfleur is at the northeastern tip of the Cotentin, Goury and the larger town of Auderville, are near the northwestern tip.  There, too, is a lighthouse, the photo of which appears on the first page of this newsletter.  The location is known as Cap de la Hague, and the lighthouse is Phare de Goury or Phare de la Hague, depending on what one wants to call it.  The 157-foot tall granite lighthouse was built between 1834 and 1837 and was fully automated in 1989.  There is no keeper and no visitors are allowed.

It is here that you will find one of the strongest tidal currents in the world ~ the Race of Alderney ~ caused by an uneven seabed and the narrow channel between Cap de la Hague and the Channel Islands. 

Brittany ~ 

We drove from Normandy into Brittany, taking some friends to Dinan along the way, and then we continued along the D786 (not as close to the shore as we would have liked, but the best route to our destination) and then the D34 through Sables-d'Or les-Pins to the town of Plévenon and the Cap Fréhel.  It was here that we began to realize how popular lighthouses are with travelers.  The parking lots were filling up as we arrived, and people were milling around the cliffs and looking at both lighthouses with great interest.

This map at the site shows Brittany's Côtes d'Armor département ~ Cap Fréhel is at the top of the map just below the numbers 5 and 6. 

As with several other lighthouse locations, Cap Fréhel has two standing lighthouses not very far apart from one another.  But the one in service now is actually number three.  It was in 1694 that Vauban (Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, later Marquis de Vauban and Marshal Vauban, famed military engineer of France) surveyed the northern coast of Brittany and suggested the construction of a tower to warn of attacks by the English fleet.  By that time, several lighthouses (Le Stiff in Ouessant, one on the Île de Ré and the Chassiron lighthouse on Île d'Oléron) had been built. The first lighthouse at Cap Fréhel was thus constructed in 1702, but it was only lit in winter months.  The French Navy requested that it be lit year 'round, and that was begun in 1717.  In 1774 a lantern with 60 spherical reflectors was installed, and it began revolving in 1821 with light that could be seen from 15 to 20 miles.  This first lighthouse was 15 meters high.

A second lighthouse was planned in 1840 by Léonce Reynaud which included a new 22 meter high octagonal tower that could  hold Fresnel optic lenses.  The light would be seen for 25 miles.  It was constructed between 1845 and 1847 and was 79 meters above sea level.   But, politics entered the matter, and electrification was abandoned by a ministerial decision made in 1886.   In World War II the German army used it as an observation post, but dynamited the building on the 11th of August 1944.  Only the old Vauban tower remained standing and was kept lit until 1950.

The third and current lighthouse at Cap Fréhel (shown in the photo below) was built between 1946 and 1950.  It was first lit on July 1, 1950, and stands 32.85 meters high and 67.7 meters above sea level.  It has its tower set on a stone masonry building, and the public can buy tickets to climb the circular metal stairs to the observation deck at the top.  There is also an elevator, but when we were there it was out of service. 
 

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