With coasts on the English Channel (La Manche in French) on the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and the Mediterranean Sea on the south, France has scores of historic lighthouses and a distinguished lighthouse history. It was in France in 1820-23 that the physicist and optical engineer Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788-1827) invented the powerful lighthouse lenses that have always carried his name. France's Département du Finistère (Department of the End of the World) occupies the rugged western end of the peninsula of Bretagne (Brittany), one of the 12 administrative regions (régions) of Mainland France. Its dangerous coastline is crowded with lighthouses, more than in any other region of France. So many, in fact, that the Directory needs two pages to cover them all. This page includes lighthouses in the southern half of the département, including the port of Brest. Most of this coast faces south on the Bay of Biscay (known in France as the Golfe de Gascogne), but also included are the famous lighthouses of the Raz, the westernmost tip of France. The French word for a lighthouse, phare, is often reserved for the larger coastal lighthouses; a smaller light or harbor light is called a feu (literally "fire," but here meaning "light") or a balise (beacon). The front light of a range (alignement) is the feu antérieur and the rear light is the feu postérieur. In French île is an island, cap is a cape, pointe is a promontory or point of land, roche is a rock, récife is a reef, baie is a bay, estuaire is an estuary or inlet, détroit is a strait, rivière is a river, and havre is a harbor. The Breton word for a lighthouse is tour-tan; enez is an island, and men is a rock or reef. Aids to navigation in France are maintained by the Bureau des Phares et Balises, an agency of the Direction des Affaires Maritimes (Directorate of Maritime Affairs). The Directorate has four regional offices (called Directions Interrégionale de la Mer, or DIRM) at Le Havre, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Marseille. Lights in Brittany are managed by the DIRM Nord-Atlantique - Manche Ouest at Nantes. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. FR numbers are the French light list numbers, where known. Admiralty numbers are from volume D of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113. |
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Bay of Biscay (Golfe de Gascogne) Lighthouses
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![]() Île-aux-Moutons Light, Archipel des Glénan, July 2005 Flickr Creative Commons photo by Claude Carnot |
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![]() Pointe de Combrit Light, Archipel des Glénan, June 2003 Wikimedia Creative Commons photo by Stéphane Déniel |
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Baie d'Audierne Lighthouses
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![]() 1835 Penmarc'h Light, La Veille Tour and Signal Station, Penmarc'h photo copyright Malte Werning; used by permission |
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Mer d'Iroise Lighthouses
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![]() La Plate and La Vieille Lights, Pointe du Raz, July 2005 Wikimedia Creative Commons photo by Julien Carnot, |
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![]() Grand Phare de l'Île de Sein, Pointe du Raz, September 2007 Flickr Creative Commons photo by bididule |
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Northern Finistère | South: Morbihan
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted August 29, 2005. Checked and revised July 6, 2021. Lighthouses: 54, lightships: 1. Site copyright 2021 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.