Vieux phare de Penmarc'h - Penmarc'h, Finistère, FRA - Coastal Lighthouses on Waymarking.com

This lighthouse is part of the general lighting program for the coasts of France, adopted by the Lighthouse Commission on September 9, 1825.

During its meeting of February 19, 1830, the commission asked the chief engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées du Finistère to draw up a project for the establishment of a "lenticular eclipse lighthouse" on the point of Penmarc'h. Its lantern must be raised 40 meters above the level of the high equinox seas.

In accordance with this request, the chief engineer Jean-Sébastien Goury carried out a project which was presented to the commission on March 4, 1831. The latter recognized the conformity of the program with regard to the prescribed height and the "general and particular provisions" but questions the chosen location. Indeed, the engineer Goury planned to install the new lighthouse on the site of the base of the tower started in year II (to the west of the tower of the Saint-Pierre chapel). This arrangement would have had the drawback of hiding the temporary lantern installed on the tower of the chapel in an “angular space of approximately 35 °”. Following this opinion of the commission, the engineer decided to place the new building to the east of the Saint-Pierre chapel. Thus the projected lighthouse will not interfere with the temporary beam, or the semaphore signals installed at the top of it. In March 1831, the cost of this site was then evaluated at 86,000 francs (without the lantern and the lenticular apparatus).

The site was awarded to the Rouvillois entrepreneur from Glomel on November 11, 1831, but seemed to be slowed down by difficulties linked to the unloading of materials and a shortage of stonemasons. In a letter of March 12, 1835, Jean-Sébastien Goury inquired about it with Martret-Préville (ordinary engineer responsible for the district of Quimper) and invited him to go there: “The report of March 9 which m t happens proves to me that work languishes, or rather it does not work at all. Since February 28, only one stone has been cut. On this footing, the year would not see the task completed. I reiterate the invitation to you to transport yourself to Penmarc'h and to take the necessary measures so that in two months this size is completed. Have stonemasons looked for and have 12 or 15 at work. Also take care that the stones are not lacking; this case is dragging on in a way that will bring us reproach and I do not find that you are treating it [...] "

This lighthouse is built in leucogranite known as Pont-l'Abbé, and in granite from Trégunc for its upper part.

The lighting of this first-order light (landing light) took place on November 20, 1835. It was fitted with an optic composed of 16 Fresnel lenses, the beam of which eclipsed every 30 seconds. It was first supplied with vegetable oil (rapeseed), then with mineral oil from 1875.

It was used until the Eckmühl lighthouse was commissioned on October 17, 1897.

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Coastal Lighthouse: Not listed Range Lights: Not listed LIGHTHOUSE CHALLENGE VISIT: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/05/2023 Blanko36 visited it