Tourelle de la Plate
Plogoff, France
Open to visitors
The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.
Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.
Find out more
Standing in the treacherous Raz de Sein strait off Brittany's northwest coast, the Tourelle de la Plate—also called Petite Vieille, "Little Old Woman"—is a lighthouse built to guide vessels through one of France's most dangerous waters. Commissioned in 1886 but plagued by construction delays, the tower was finally completed in 1896 as a reinforced-concrete structure combining an octagonal turret mounted on a cylindrical base, rising about 9.5 meters above the highest seas. After a violent December storm destroyed the original tower, reconstruction took until 1909, with permanent operations commencing on August 31, 1911, when a green fixed oil light was installed. Today the beacon emits a white flashing light at 1.2-second intervals, warning ships to keep westward of its position. Its companion lighthouse, La Vieille, stands 260 meters to the northeast. The tower is listed in France's general inventory of cultural heritage.
- Built
- Type
- lighthouse, cardinal mark
- Materials
- concrete
- Heritage
- listed in the general inventory of cultural heritage
- Place
- Plogoff, France
This building on
Architecturally similar
Phare du PortzicBrest, France
Île Vierge lighthousePlouguerneau, France
Tevennec lighthouseÎle-de-Sein, France
Vieille LightPlogoff, France
Phare du FourPorspoder, France
Roches-Douvres LightÎle-de-Bréhat, France
Phare de l'île de BatzÎle-de-Batz, France
Location