Groix - Boucle 1 Port Mélite

Located since 1984  in the first tuna cannery, the Groix Ecomuseum presents a panorama of the island’s history, mainly through donations from the islanders. Mineralogy, archaeology, fishing, but also culture, family and social life, washhouses, bistros, etc. all testimony to what makes this island so unique. The ecomuseum is a must to understand the special nature of island life over the centuries. Heading up towards the town, you can admire the tall houses which were the pride of the boatowners and fishing bosses. Pass in front of “Ty Beudeff” and take a look: this bistro is a symbolic place on the island where sailors got together to tell their sea stories and sing sea shanties.

Built between 1861 and 1874 at the site of an old 18th century pier, this refuge port became a place of reference for tuna fishing on the Atlantic coast. The inhabitants of the island of Groix were mainly seafarers and fished for tuna from Portugal to Ireland, with some 300 boats, the famous Dundee tunnyboat. The Second World War brought this prosperous period to an end. Today, Port Tudy is one of the most visited marinas in South Brittany. Near the docks, the lifeboat shelter is a reminder of the glorious history of the Groix lifeboat crews.

The islands did not escape the establishment of customs posts on the coast. In Groix a permanence was provided by a customs officer once a month. On 4 December 1825, a crew accompanied on the barge of the customs a doctor from Port Louis who came to treat the sick affected by the typhus epidemic that was raging on the island. They run aground on the peninsula of Gâvres during their crossing. This miraculous shipwreck was depicted on an ex voto which can be found in the chapel of Locmaria.At the departure of the customs administration, the building housed the traditional costumes of the Celtic circle Blei mor.

In the 12th century, only the eastern part of the island was inhabited (Locmaria, Lomener, Loctudy), known as the “Primiture”. Little by little, families were sent to cultivate the rest of the island, to the west or “Piwisy”. A document from 1388 details the new farms that eventually became villages: Kerlard, Kervedan, KerampouloIt is said that people in Piwisi spoke “gravelec”, a more rustic language. In Primiture, for a long time under ecclesiastical tutelage, people spoke in a more sophisticated way. Elder Groix inhabitants say, “I've known a few boys from the other side who only spoke French, polluted with Breton words. In the eyes of the village children, they were considered backward.”Life is also easier on the east side of the island, with its plentiful ports and coves, and it grew with the Locmaria fisheries in the 13th century, followed by the Port-Tudy sardine press in 1670. The west was only developed later with tarmac roads and electricity.So, the idea of two societies took root: one more peasant and rural in Piwisi, the other more maritime and wealthier in Primiture. But men were sailors in both Primiture and Piwisi. And women worked the land wherever they were.

Fishermen once used to tie up on this beach to land their sardines. From 1864 to 1890, there were two sardine presses and a factory here. On the island of Groix, any creek where boats could land was used as a port, as there were no port infrastructures.

The water mark is the accumulation by the sea of natural debris (shells, seaweed, cuttlefish bones, driftwood, etc.). This natural band marks the high-tide and plays an essential role in coastal ecosystems. The collection of natural debris is converted into organic matter and mineral salts by bacteria, sand fleas and insects. It serves as a food store for seabirds, nutrients for the plants and phytoplankton that feed mussels which, in turn feed the fish and the birds. The foreshore therefore plays an essential ecosystem role that must be preserved.

While most men were sailors in those days, women cultivated the land. Following the 1950 land reforms, the island changed landscape but here and there, some remains of its surprising land allocation can still be seen. At the time, the unit of land was the “furlong” (sillon in French), comprised of a long strip of curved land, 3 to 4 metres wide, and measuring around one hundred square metres.  The furlongs were grouped by crop, mainly wheat, barley, oats and potatoes.

With its covered market and shops, the town merits a wander through its coloured streets.  The parish church, devoted to the Breton saint Tudy, dates from the 17th century and was considerably renovated in around 1850. The top of the bell tower sports a tuna-shaped wind vane, marking the influence of tuna fishing on the island. Numerous ex-votos, in the form of suspended model tunnyboats, are also exhibited. The war memorial with its navy fusilier and 174 names engraved on it is a reminder of the heavy price paid by the islanders in the Great War.