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The pointe Saint-Mathieu (Lok Mazé in Breton) is a
headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, J ...
located near
Le Conquet Le Conquet (; br, Konk-Leon) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. This is the westernmost town of mainland France. Only three insular towns—Ouessant, Île-Molène and Ile de Sein—are further west Th ...
in the territory of the commune of
Plougonvelin Plougonvelin (; br, Plougonvelen) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Geography Climate Plougonvelin has a oceanic climate ( Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in ...
in France, flanked by 20m high cliffs.


Village

At present, there are only a few houses on the point, grouped around the abbey ruins. However, in the past the settlement was not limited to the abbey and its dependents. Very soon a village was established along the coast for commercial potential and the possibilities for salvaging wrecks.


Abbey

The abbey held many privileges - right to rushes, right to furnaces, rights to a twelfth of jet, right to markets, right to fairs (
Henry IV of France Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monar ...
had instituted, in 1602, 5 annual fairs and a weekly market), right to measure wheat and wine, etc... In 1157 Hervé de Léon accorded the abbey the right of flotsam and jetsam on wrecks in all his fiefdoms; in 1390 the abbey received the right to take 10% of the hull, cargo and rigging of wrecked ships. To this right were added the right of remains, confirmed in 1602 by royal letters patent. He accorded this right to the monks for "all those who perish in the sea, and on the coasts at Saint Mathieu,
Plougonvelin Plougonvelin (; br, Plougonvelen) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Geography Climate Plougonvelin has a oceanic climate ( Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in ...
and
le Conquet Le Conquet (; br, Konk-Leon) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. This is the westernmost town of mainland France. Only three insular towns—Ouessant, Île-Molène and Ile de Sein—are further west Th ...
". Today abandoned, the
Abbaye Saint-Mathieu de Fine-Terre The Abbey of Saint-Mathieu de Fine-Terre (french: Abbaye Saint-Mathieu de Fine-Terre; br, Abati Lokmazhe Penn-ar-Bed) is a former Breton monastery, whose ruins are found in the territory of what is now the commune of Plougonvelin on Pointe Sain ...
, was said to have held the skull of the apostle
Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...
, now lost in the ocean off the point. Its ruins served as a set for the summer TV saga ''
Dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were some ...
''.


Lighthouse

The point also has a 56m high
lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses m ...
, built in 1835.


Signal station

The first signal station near the point was built in 1806, but the present one was built nearer the point in 1906, to give a view of the chenal du Four as the entrance to Brest. Progressively expanded in the 20th century, its top is now 39m above sea level, with lodging for spotters.


The cenotaph (Memorial to sailors who have died for France)

Commissioned by Émile Guépratte and
Georges Leygues Georges Leygues (; 29 October 1856 – 2 September 1933) was a French politician of the Third Republic. During his time as Minister of Marine he worked with the navy's chief of staff Henri Salaun in unsuccessful attempts to gain naval re-arm ...
after the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, it was built following the law of 26 July 1923. The stela (representing a sailor's wife) was designed by René Quillivic and inaugurated on 12 June 1927. Since 2005, it has been open to the public and accompanied by a permanent exhibition of photos of disappeared sailors.


Quotations


External links


Personal page, with pages on Saint-Mathieu

Mémorial national des Marins morts pour la France de la Pointe Saint Mathieu
Headlands of Brittany Landforms of Finistère {{Finistère-geo-stub