Bannec or Banneck, ''Banneg'' in

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

(from the Breton ''bann,'' "horn", a term often used for sharp

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

s) is an uninhabited French island in the

Iroise Sea Iroise () or the Iroise Sea ( ; ) is the part of the Atlantic Ocean which stretches from the Ile de Sein to Ushant off the coast of Brittany in north-western France. It is contained within the Celtic Sea, bordering the remainder of the Celtic Sea ...

close to the city of Brest in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. It is situated at the northwestern end of the Molène archipelago, 4 km (2.5 miles) from the island of

Ushant Ushant (; , ; , ) is a French island at the southwestern end of the English Channel which marks the westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and in medieval times, Léon. In lower tiers of government, it is a commune in t ...

. This island is part of the

Parc naturel régional d'Armorique The Parc naturel régional d'Armorique (; ), or Armorica Regional Natural Park, is a rural protected area located in Brittany. The park land reaches from the Atlantic Ocean to hilly inland countryside. There are sandy beaches, swamps, rock format ...

and Parc naturel marin d'Iroise.

Description

Located two kilometers northwest of the island of Balanec and four kilometers (2.5 miles) northwest of the island of

Molène Molène or Molene (; , "Bald Island") is an islands of France, island in the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic off the west coast of Brittany in northwestern France. It is the largest of Molène or Molene Archipelago (), a group of about 20 islands in the ...

. Bannec has an area of eleven acres and is 800m long by 200m wide (2600 by 650 feet). The island is extended by ''Ledenez Banneg'', an island connected to the main island of Bannec at low tide, but is separated from it at high tide. To the south, the island of Bannec is extended by two islands: ''Enez-Kreiz'' and ''Roc'h-Hir''. The lighthouse Kéréon is on a nearby island called ''Men Tensel'' ("snarling stone"), in the Fromveur Passage between Bannec and Ushant. Rocky shores predominate, but the south-east coast is a low coast consists of sand and pebbles. Populated by a large number of birds, Bannec is prohibited to all visitors, except to authorized personnel on scientific missions.

History

20th Century

In 1918, the islands Bannec and Balanec were well described by a traveler as follows:

Description of Bannec in 1930

Pierre Bouis, who visited the islands in the archipelago of Mullein in August 1930, described Bannec in the journal ''Ouest-Éclair''

Description of Bannec in 1938

André Salmon André Salmon (4 October 1881, Paris – 12 March 1969, Sanary-sur-Mer) was a French poet, art critic and writer. He was one of the early defenders of Cubism, with Guillaume Apollinaire and Maurice Raynal. Biography André Salmon was born i ...

, in the journal

Le Petit Parisien ''Le Petit Parisien'' () was a prominent France, French newspaper during the Third French Republic, Third Republic. It was published between 1876 and 1944, and its circulation was over two million after the First World War. Publishing Despite its ...

, describes Bannec in 1938:

After World War II

Until the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, like its neighbors, Bannec was inhabited by seaweed harvesters. One building remains, which was in ruins after the war, but was restored in 1979 as part of an observatory of the famous "blocs cyclopéens de Bannec" (Cyclops Rocks of Bannec). Bannec was owned by the family of Huon Penanster before it was sold to the company NOEL, which was dissolved on 10 April 1964. Following a declaration of public utility, the island was purchased by the Department of

in 1971. Bannec was incorporated into the

on 30 September 1969 and the Finistere department entrusts management to the SEPNB, now known as Bretagne vivante (Brittany Alive) in October 1976.Département du Finistère
http://www.molene.fr/Bannec.htm
, accessed 21 October 2014

Media and the arts

Bannec was featured in some of the scenes of the 1929 film ''

Finis Terræ ''Finis Terræ'' is a 1929 French silent drama film written and directed by Jean Epstein. The story centres on a small group of men harvesting seaweed off the coast of Brittany, and the problems which arise when one of them gets an infected thumb ...

''.

References

{{authority control Regional natural parks of France Islands of Brittany Landforms of Finistère Uninhabited islands of France