Cap Fréhel lighthouse, Coastal lighthouse in Plévenon, France
The Cap Fréhel lighthouse is a square tower of rough grey and tan stone blocks, 32.85 metres high, rising from a U-shaped building on the headland. A projecting gallery on stone corbels and a crenellated parapet with squared merlons top the shaft, which has a vertical recess and a column of narrow windows. Above the stonework sits a green metal lantern room with a domed glass lantern and antennas.
Vauban proposed a warning tower on Cap Fréhel in May 1694, and engineer Siméon Garangeau built the first lighthouse, lit in November 1702, a 15-metre cylindrical stone tower. It was replaced in 1845–1847 by Léonce Reynaud's 22-metre octagonal tower. German troops dynamited that tower on 11 August 1944; the present lighthouse, designed by Yves Hémar, was built from 1946 and lit on 1 July 1950.
The lighthouse is the last manned light in France: keeper Henri Richard, on site since 1993, retired on 1 September 2019, and the tower has been uninhabited since. Its granite came from Eugène Cocheril's quarry at Mégrit, and the architect was Yves Hémar of Saint-Malo, for whom this was the final major project.
The tower stands on the tip of Cap Fréhel, about 70 m above the water, and is open to the public in the summer half of the year. Reaching the gallery takes 145 steps. The headland is exposed to wind, so bring sturdy shoes and weatherproof clothing; a small fog-signal building stands at the very end of the cape.
The light's theoretical range is 29 nautical miles, about 55 kilometres, not the 110 often quoted. The tower was the last manned lighthouse in France: keeper Henri Richard, on site since 1993, retired on 1 September 2019, and the building has been uninhabited since.
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