Erquy (; ; Gallo: ''Erqi'') is a commune in the

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 northwestern

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 ...

. Erquy is located in a cove of the Penthièvre coast bordered by cape Erquy on one side and a volcanic rock formation called ''pointe de la Heussaye'' on the other. Erquy harbour shelters a flotilla of about 80 trawlers and the town is known as the

scallop Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve molluscs in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related famili ...

"capital". The shellfish are collected in the Saint-Brieuc bay. With its ten fine sand beaches and lovely pink

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

houses, Erquy is a popular summer tourist destination. Erquy claims to be the inspiration behind the village of the

Asterix ''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, French comic album book series, series about a Gaulish village which, thanks ...

comics, which is situated in roughly the same place in ancient

Armorica In ancient times, Armorica or Aremorica (Gaulish: ; ; ) was a region of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that includes the Brittany Peninsula, and much of historical Normandy. Name The name ''Armorica'' is a Latinized form of the Gauli ...

(now Brittany); this would make the villagers likely Coriosolites, a tribe who lived in that area.

Population

Inhabitants of Erquy are called ''Réginéens'' or ''Erquiais'' in French.

Geography

Erquy offers a variety of natural landscapes: pink

cliffs and rocks, wild

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

land, pinewoods, beaches, dunes and a transparent emerald sea. Some coastal paths run along the spectacular pink

cliffs of Cape Erquy and Cape Fréhel, close by. The

land of Cape Erquy is listed as one of the most remarkable natural environments of the

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...

creating a colourful landscape changing with the seasons. Erquy's ten beaches come in all shapes and sizes: from the small coves bordered by

land north of the cape to the large expanses of Caroual and Saint-Pabu. During the summer season, the population is multiplied by seven and can go as high as 30 000 inhabitants. In just a few years, Erquy has become the most active town of the Penthièvre coast economically, commercially, culturally as well as in sports.

History

Erquy and its neighbouring hamlets are rich in heritage with chapels, mansions, lighthouses, a

dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...

and a castle. Besides being a harbour, Erquy used to shelter an active pink

quarry and the small pink Tu-Es-Roc village is a testimony of that activity. Nowadays, a trail with interpretative panels allows visitors to explore the former quarry whose pits have become ponds: ''Les Lacs Bleus''. The jewel of its rich past is the ''Château de Bienassis'', a pink

castle. Other interesting pieces of heritage in Erquy include:
- The guardhouse at Trois Pierres which was built in 1744 as part of a vast defensive system instigated by

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

who formed coast guard companies and stationed batteries and guardhouses along the whole Breton coast.
- A cannonball oven which was completed in 1794. The cannonballs were heated until they were red-hot so they could set enemy ships on fire.
- The Saint-Michel Chapel: this picturesque chapel is located on a tiny island, Îlot Saint-Michel, linked to the coast by a natural pebble causeway covered by the sea at high tide.
- The Caroual viaduct: built by Harel de la Noë, it enabled the first trains to run from the towns of

Côtes-d'Armor The Côtes-d'Armor ( , ; ; , ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord until 1990 (, ), is a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582.clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve mollusc. The word is often applied only to those that are deemed edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the sea floor or riverbeds. Clams h ...

banks in the early 1950s and of

banks in 1962. Since then, it has been rated one of the important

ports in Europe.

Cultural significance

Erquy and two other harbours, Saint-Quay-Portrieux and Loguivy-de-la-Mer/ Paimpol, organise every year and in turn a

festival : ''La Fête de la Coquille Saint-Jacques''.

References

External links