Tour des Anglais (anciennement tour de Penerf)
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Tour des Anglais (anciennement tour de Penerf), located in Damgan (Département 56), is a Renaissance château built in the 16th century. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Fort
- Period
- Renaissance (16th century)
- Location
- Damgan, Département 56, Bretagne
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 47.5034, -2.6324
- Mérimée Reference
- PA56000012
A 15-metre cylindrical sentinel facing the Atlantic, the Tour des Anglais has stood guard over the Damgan peninsula since the 16th century. Its console-shaped machicolations and large-scale base bear witness to an art of coastal defence that is extremely rare in Brittany.
History
At the end of the Penerf peninsula, where the waters of the eponymous river melt into the waves of the Bay of Biscay, a stone silhouette stands out against the Breton sky: the Tour des Anglais. A discreet monument with a singular presence, this cylindrical tower alone embodies several centuries of maritime vigilance on a coastline that storms and foreign ambitions have never spared. What makes this building truly unique is its status as a survivor. Where so many other coastal defences have been razed to the ground, converted or simply forgotten under the onslaught of waves and time, the Tour des Anglais has remained standing, fifteen metres high and with its characteristic truncated-cone silhouette. It is one of the very few remains of the military system that once protected this stretch of Morbihan coastline, including batteries, redoubts and lookout posts that have now disappeared. Visiting the site is like coming face to face with Brittany's maritime history. You first walk along the herbus and golden shores of Penerf before the tower comes into view, massive and simple, built of rendered rubble slightly browned by the sea spray. The large counter-wall around its base reveals to the attentive visitor the traces of well-thought-out military engineering, designed to withstand both human and sea assaults. The natural environment amplifies the dramatic character of the site. The Damgan peninsula, bristling with reed beds and maritime pines, offers a wild setting where the tower seems to have grown organically, like a mineral outgrowth of the coast itself. Photographers will particularly appreciate the light at the end of the day, when the rendered stone is tinged with gold and the crenellated parapet stands out against the changing Atlantic sky.
Architecture
The Tour des Anglais has a cylindrical profile typical of coastal watchtowers from the late medieval and Renaissance periods. Fifteen metres high, it is divided into several zones that are clearly visible from the outside: a base protected by a counter-wall of large-scale stonework - i.e. carefully assembled ashlar - which gives it greater solidity in the face of potential assaults, a truncated cone-shaped base that flares out slightly towards the bottom to better resist projectiles and waves, and an upper section divided into three levels for living or service purposes. The most remarkable architectural feature of the tower is undoubtedly the parapet that crowns the upper section, resting on a series of machicolation brackets. These stone corbels, which enabled defenders to hurl projectiles or burning materials at potential attackers at the foot of the tower, bear witness to a military design inherited from medieval architecture but fully integrated into 16th-century coastal defence practices. The walls are built of rubble - roughly squared stones - covered with a protective plaster, a common technique in Breton military construction of the period. The overall silhouette, sober and functional, perfectly illustrates the pragmatism of French coastal military architecture: no superfluous ornamentation, but real attention paid to technical and defensive constraints. The tower is part of a long tradition of similar buildings along the coasts of Brittany and Normandy, of which it is now one of the best-preserved examples.
Related Figures
Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban — commissaire général des fortifications de Louis XIV, sous l'autorité duquel la tour fut inventoriée et intégrée au dispositif défensif côtier en 1692Amiraux bretons du XVIe siècle — officiers chargés de la défense des côtes du duché puis de la province de Bretagne, commanditaires présumés de la constructionGuetteurs et soldats de la Marine royale — garnison permanente assurant la surveillance du littoral de Penerf sous l'Ancien RégimeIngénieurs du roi (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècle) — techniciens militaires ayant relevé et entretenu l'ouvrage lors des grandes campagnes d'inspection des côtes françaises
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Tour des Anglais (anciennement tour de Penerf) located?
Tour des Anglais (anciennement tour de Penerf) is located in Damgan, Département 56 department, Bretagne region, France.
When was Tour des Anglais (anciennement tour de Penerf) built?
Tour des Anglais (anciennement tour de Penerf) dates back to a period built during the Renaissance (16th century).
Is Tour des Anglais (anciennement tour de Penerf) open to visitors?
Tour des Anglais (anciennement tour de Penerf) is currently closed to visitors.