Finistère
Finistère (, ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. Its prefecture is Quimper and its largest city is Brest, France, Brest. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.department of
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 ...
in north-western
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
Carantec is located on the coast of the
English Channel
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...
. It contains a small island within its boundaries, Île Callot, which can be reached by a causeway during most low tides (except at neap tide). Carantec is bordered by the communes of Henvic and Taulé to the south, and is near the town of
Morlaix
Morlaix (; , ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.
History
The Battle of Morlaix, part of the Hundred Years' War, was fought near the town on 30 Septembe ...
Carantec and the Bay of Morlaix have been home to oyster farming operations since 1892. Today Carantec is home to 15 oyster farms with over 700 hectares of oyster beds that produce over 6500 tonnes of oysters per year.Carantec City Hall /ref>
Population
Inhabitants of Carantec are called in French ''Carantécois''.
Sights
* The Château du Taureau (17th century) is a castle built on a reef to protect the town of Morlaix from English incursions by sea. It is located on the territory of the commune of Plouezoc'h, but is closer to Carantec, a port from which it can easily be visited.
* The Rohou Mansion was built at the end of the 19th century.
* Île Louët, an islet with a lighthouse, was built in 1857 to plans by the engineer Fenoux, and its caretaker's house is now rented as a tourist lodge.
* Callot Island is accessible by a causeway that the tide covers and uncovers.
* The Saint-Carantec church, in neo-Gothic style, dates from the 19th century and was built by the architect of the time, Mr. de Kermenguy. The apse contains a beautiful processional cross (1652) in silver and another simpler one in front of the altar.
* The Lande lighthouse
* The maritime museum of Carantec began with the exhibition of objects recovered from the wrecked boat ''L'Alcide'', a privateer from
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo language, Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany (administrative region), Brittany.
The Fortification, walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth ...
which sank in 1747 in the bay of Morlaix. The museum deals with various themes of the region: oyster farming, privateering (the Alcide corsair, a cannon of which is in the Jacobins museum in Morlaix), the flora and fauna of Morlaix, and a collection of seaweed.
* The old slate quarry of Roc'h Glas (toponym meaning "blue rock") is open on the edge of Morlaix's harbor. Slate extraction, attested from the middle of the 19th century, took place both on the foreshore and a little further back, in the coastal cliff.
See also
*
Communes of the Finistère department
The following is a list of the 277 Communes of France, communes of the Finistère Departments of France, department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following Communes of France#Intercommunality, intercommunalities (as of 2025):