Groix - Boucle 4 Trou de l'Enfer/Kerlard

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.

At the initiative of its rector, the presbytery of Groix, built in 1725, is being restored. It will soon be home to families groisillonnes and vacationers.

Creation of the college in 1973.

In the 12th century, only the eastern part of the island was inhabited (Locmaria, Lomener, Loctudy) what is called "Primiture". Little by little, families are sent to cultivate the rest of the island, in the west "Piwisy". A document from 1388 details the new farms that will become villages: Kerlard, Kervedan, Kerampoulo It is said that in Piwisi they spoke 'gravelec', more rustic. In Primiture, long under ecclesiastical tutelage, they spoke more finely, more elegantly. The old boys tell "I knew some boys from the other side only gossiping about a French person polluted with Breton words. They passed, in the eyes of the children of the Bourg for arrears. Life is easier also on the eastern side which is full of ports and coves, and develops with the fisheries of Locmaria in the 13th century, then with the sardine press of Port-Tudy, in 1670. The west will be equipped later with paved roads and electricity. Then the idea of two societies is rooted: one more peasant and more rustic in Piwisi, the other more maritime and richer in Primiture. Now, men were sailors both in Primiture and in Piwisi. And everywhere, women worked the land. Source: History of the island of Groix by P.Leplat and Enguerrand.

Steep cliffs and deep cave with sound during storms; according to legend, housed a sea monster with the head of a man who organized bacchanalia there.

If most men were once sailors, women were farmers. After the consolidation of 1950, the island changed its landscape but it still retains, here and there, the vestiges of its astonishing parcelling. Indeed, the operating unit was then the "furrow", constituting a strip of land 3 to 4 meters wide, all in length and representing a hundred m2.  The furrows were grouped by crop type, mainly wheat, barley, oats, and potatoes.

Situated near the coast, the Fontenar washhouse was built towards the end of the 19th century. This source of fresh water was once precious to its inhabitants. Fitted out with a fountain and rectangular stone washhouse, it is now surrounded by vegetation. It is also home to the southern damselfly, a protected dragonfly of community interest in this Natura 2000 site.

Natural port in the talweg surrounded by cliffs.

One of the island's many springs that provided water for the villagers

Authentic village. Discover the Maison Kerlard, a typical 19th-century fisherman's house. Tours organised by the Musée de l'Île de Groix.

Washhouse used by the villagers of Kerlo.

Beautiful fountain-washhouse previously used by the inhabitants of the village of Kerlivio

Water reserve supplying the island with water since 1967.

In recent years, mussel farming has developed on this site, producing Groix mussels.

Port Lay was built in the 19th century, with the first jetty in 1832. A cannery operated here between 1864 and 1952. The site was also home to France's first fishing school between 1895 and 1951. The port is still active, and the site hosts the annual Groix International Festival of Island Film (FIFIG) at the end of August.

There are several local producers in Groix. The Gripp area is home to the Groix Nature canning factory and the “La Bière de Groix” brewery.

With an “Italianate” facade, this cinema was built in the 1930s. Before its construction, films were shown in cafés, and then in a hangar in Port Tudy.