Vieille Light

Plogoff, France

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

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La Vieille, a granite lighthouse completed in 1882 and first illuminated in 1887, stands on the remote rock of Gorlebella off Plogoff in Finistère, on France's northwest coast. Rising 26.9 metres, it guides mariners through the treacherous Raz de Sein strait with an occulting beam visible for 18 nautical miles; a foghorn was added in the early twentieth century. The lighthouse is among a small class of French coastal lights nicknamed "hell" for their isolated positions amid rough seas. Its construction took five years despite initial planning beginning in 1861, as fierce tides restricted work to less than half of each year. The station gained historical notoriety in the 1920s when two disabled war veterans employed as keepers became stranded for weeks by storms, an incident that prompted the repeal of a law reserving lighthouse keeper positions for war veterans. In 1995, La Vieille became the penultimate French lighthouse to be automated, though the process was delayed when on-site keepers staged a protest. It is now inscribed as a monument historique.

Built: 1882
Type: lighthouse
Materials: granite
Heritage: monument historique inscrit
Height: 26.9 m
Place: Plogoff, France