From Lorient to Locmiquélic- The estuaries

This zone housed the warehouses of the French East India Company, used to store goods brought back from India until they were sold. Built in the 18th century and designed by Jacques V Gabriel, in the 19th century they became a barracks and training facility before being bombarded in 1943. The colonnades or “péristyle” that opened the building onto the river Scorff gave its name to the quays and the promenade along the port. Today the Lorient Agglomeration offices, designed by the architect Jean de Giacinto can be found here.

In the 18th century, this house contained the French East India Company’s printing press which published the sales catalogues and sales information documents. This is the only remains of the “Peristyle”, a vast architectural ensemble used to store goods.

A watchtower rebuilt in 1786 after suffering several lightning strikes, this tower is one of the rare buildings of the French East India Company to have survived the bombardments of the Second World War. Thirty-eight metres high, it was used to watch for the return of ships to port and monitor for smuggling activity along the coast of the island of Groix.

A low wall punctuated by windows and a planted embankment are all that is left of a huge water reservoir built by the French Navy in 1875. It contained more than 3,000 cubic metres of drinking water to supply the armoury’s barracks. The vaults of the reservoir are supported on 16 high pillars and show an early use of concrete. Sloping down towards the river Scorff, the lime kiln ramp owes its name to the lime kilns built below the reservoir in the 18th century. It still has the old paving stones and supporting walls.

The mills set up by the French East India Company on Le Faouëdic hill in the 17th and 18th centuries were used to mill flour for the port bakery that made “marine bread” or “sea biscuits” for consumption on board the ships. In the 19th century, one of them was converted into a marine observatory. It is pierced by a tall, high window to enable watchers to scan the night sky and adjust the precision mechanics of the navigation instruments.

At the entrance to the port, the French East India Company auction room sold the precious cargoes brought back from India and Asia. Both wings were to have surrounded a huge central building that was never in fact built. Constructed in 1740, this majestic stone and slate building was part of the restauration of the port designed by the architect Jacques V Gabriel whose name it now bears.  The quadrangle to the north and the French gardens to the south frame the building which shows off the power and wealth of the French East India Company in the 18th century. Hotel Gabriel houses the municipal archives and the Lorient architecture and heritage department.

The modern part of the hospital was designed by architects Valode and Pistre (inaugurated in 2013). The restructured part was part of the former Army Hospital which became in 1983 the Albert-Calmette Hospital, named after the Navy doctor co-inventor of tuberculosis vaccination.

With the arrival of the railway in Lorient in 1862, the crossing of the Scorff requires the construction of an important work of art, a real technical challenge. Ten arches in granite masonry and three metal bays connect the two banks. At the Nepveu company that carries out the work, the project manager is none other than Gustave Eiffel. .. In 1910, a footbridge attached to the metal structure, allows pedestrians to cross the Scorff for a penny of toll.

The Pont des Indes was commissioned in 2007. The sidewalks and sheltered lookouts allow you to discover the Scorff.

These ramparts, pierced with gun ports, are the remains of the Kerhono coast guard battery, known as the “Green Battery” in the 18th century. It was built in 1746 to help defend the town of Lorient from the English.

At the Arsenal, now Naval Group, the construction of ships was traditionally done on holds then under sheds. Thus, in 1900, there were 11 holds on the left bank. It was decided in 1911 to build a covered form of construction on the site of the "Fosse aux mâts" of Kerhono. It will be 245m long, 51 m wide and will be closed on the Scorff side by a lock. The construction work will last nearly 10 years (1913-1919), notably due to the first world war.The first ship to leave was the cruiser "La Motte-Piquet", launched in 1924.  Nearly 120 ships have been launched today: submarines, destroyers, cruisers, frigates, minelayers and many others.Although the methods of ship construction have since evolved greatly, the form of construction is still used and remains a leading working tool for Naval Group.

A 15-hectare, green space in the heart of Lanester, the Parc du Plessis is perfect for a wander along its shady paths and pond. This is in fact the gardens of the ancient seigneury of Plessis, which in the 15th century had a fortified manor surrounded by a high wall and moat. Owned from the 17th century by the De Mauduit du Plessis family, it was replaced in 1663 by a vast recreational château, which was bombed in 1943 and demolished in 1945. The circular dovecote is the last remnant of the lord's privilege to raise pigeons here under the Ancien Régime: you can still see the holes where the birds roosted. Some of the chateau’s stones were used to build the surrounding wall.

Lanester, who calls himself Lannarstêr in Breton, was born in 1909, from a detachment of the commune of Caudan. The workers coming from the rural world and working at the shipyards gradually settled there with their families and made the neighborhoods that today make up the city grow. Its name comes from the appellation "lann-er-ster", which translates as "the moorland of the river".

Located in the peri-urban area, the Goden marsh is a 22-hectare site, comprising salty and brackish wetlands located on the edge of the Blavet estuary. Initially intended for industrialization purposes, it has become a sensitive natural area, developed and protected to maintain and reinforce its biological richness. At the rhythm of the tides, the level and composition of water change, freshwater and seawater mix. The Goden marsh is also a paradise for birds.

Made up of a mosaic of environments, the Goden marsh is a refuge for many species of birds. Water birds find a place to rest and feed there, while various species of passerines choose to nest in the reed bed. You can easily observe the Garzette egret searching the mud, or the kingfisher in search of a fish. The landscaped path and the observatory will allow you to make beautiful observations.

This stone dam on the stream of Plessis is the last vestige of a tide mill. The rising waters of the sea were held upstream, by the opening and closing of valves, which turned the two lateral wheels of the Plessis windmill, already existing before the Revolution. Between 1854 and 1867, the valves were rebuilt when the turbine systems replaced the wheels, transforming the mill into a flour mill. In the 1930s, it is equipped with an electric motor and will be damaged during the Second World War. Some 30 years later, the building will be rebuilt to create a garment factory, then again redesigned to accommodate housing in 1968.

Located in the heart of the village, the story tells that the chapel of Saint-Guénaël occupies the site of the last monastery founded by Saint-Guenaël, who ended his days there in the 6th century. Several times redesigned, the building retains openings from the 15th and 16th centuries. Housing statues and ex-voto boats, it welcomed the parishioners until the construction of the church of Saint-Joseph du Plessis in 1909. The annual pardon took place there in September, and once gathered the sailors of Groix and the roadstead, who came to be under its protection. His statue was led in procession to the fountain, only accessible at low tide. They had the reputation of curing eye diseases. Thus, until a relatively recent period, pilgrims poured the brackish water of the fountain on this stone. They placed a handkerchief in the cupules dug in this ancient millstone, intended to grind grain in the Middle Ages. Then, the faithful applied the cloth to their eyes, and the remedy seemed effective! It should be noted that salt water indeed enters the composition of eye drops.

Rivers and valleys have always been ideal for human settlements, although not always easy to cross. The Celts and the Romans created paths, where the river level was low enough to create a ford. On the Blavet, this crossing point was at Lochrist, prior to the construction of a bridge at Hennebont in the 13th century. Here in the 19th century, one hundred metres further upstream, small boats were used for the “passage du bonhomme” (man’s crossing). In 1904, a bridge was erected by Ferdinand Arnodin, suspended 50 metres above the Blavet to allow sailboats to pass. Damaged several times during the Second World War, it was renovated and used until 1974, when it replaced by a second structure. Only a couple of piles and their statues remain of the first bridge: the woman is to the west and is holding out a snuffbox to the man to the east.

Keep your eyes peeled for the Sterbouest sea mill below.In 1478, Amette De Kergroèzes asked the Duke of Brittany for permission to build a mill for her subjects in Riantec. It wasn't until 1482 that François II signed the order to build the mill. It was probably operational around 1485. Several successive millers operated the four pairs of millstones housed in the small building: two “white mills” (one for wheat, the other for rye) and two millet millstones.At the time of the French Revolution, it was assigned to Saint Nicolas hospital in Vannes. Then, in 1817, it was sold to miller and baker Jean Pierre Pesqueur. The mill continued to grind wheat and rye until 1879, when the last miller went bankrupt faced with competition from the flour mills.The owner at the time arranged the lake to create an oyster park. The project was soon abandoned, and a brickyard operated there for some fifteen years, until the very beginning of the 20th century. All that remains of this establishment are the master brickmaker's house and the stables. The kiln, the railway and its wagons, the sheds and warehouses all disappeared without a trace.The vast, reclaimed lake is overgrown with vegetation. The hiking trail winds its way around it, where you can imagine the landscape of yesteryear.

Kervern has been through some turbulent times. From the passage of the Chouans to a plane that crashed on an old farm during the Second World War, memories remain strong. The longères no longer have their thatched roofs, and only 1 of the 8 farmhouses once present in the hamlet still exist.

You find yourself on the former bank of the bay of Kervern. Before it was contained in the 1970s, the sea came up to the small dry-stone wall, to the foot of the fields and orchards. This wet woodland, with willows, carex grasses and marsh ferns, turns into a real swamp in the winter. It plays an essential role in the water cycle. Its stores rainwater and returns it during dry periods. Acting like a natural filter, the soil and plants that develop here help to improve the quality of the water.

To prevent reforestation and drying out of the marsh, the reed bed is regularly cut, and the willows pruned. This maintenance promotes plant growth and attracts birds.

A 20th century industrial project artificialized the bay of Kervern which used to be a mudflat with salt marshes and grassland. Maintained today by humans, it offers a wide diversity of environments. To preserve them, the marsh is flooded with saltwater in March and October using a system of sluices. The environment is dotted with dry fields, marsh willow woods, reed beds and mudflats colonised by samphire. Many birds migrate here whereas others, such as the spoonbill, can be seen all year round.

Approaching Lorient, the banks of the Blavet used to be dotted with villages comprised of farms. These are now built up, especially on the Lanester side where industrial and military shipbuilding concentrated. The sign tells you the history of these transformations since 1900.

Here, the river Blavet joins the Scorff and flows into the Atlantic Oceans in the bay of Lorient. This coastal river is 163 kilometres long and rises in Bourbriac in the Côtes-d’Armor department. Feeding into Guerlédan lake since the 1930s, the river was channelled in the 19th century. From Pontivy to the gates of Hennebont, bridges, ports and locks were built along it. The estuary begins at the last lock in Polvern, where the freshwater mingles with the rising seawater. Its wooded banks are interspersed with reedbeds and rushes, salt marshes and mudflats.

This fort has a chequered history! With its back to the sea but strategically straddling the bay of Lorient, Pen Mané fort was built in the 18th century by the French East India Company to protect against English attack. Work was halted in 1762 when the danger had passed. In the second half of the 19th century, the site was refurbished as a neo-classical barracks. Abandoned, it served as a quarry. In 1920, the French Navy installed a wireless telegraphy station there for long-distance communication with ships. From 1939 to 1945, the German army used it as a degaussing station for submarines. Bought by the town of Locmiquélic in 1988, it was refurbished and opened to the general public.