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The Saint Gildas Point (, ) is a rocky point located on the
Côte de Jade The Jade Coast ( ) constitutes the coastal fringe of the Pays de Retz in Loire-Atlantique, extending from the Loire estuary in the north to the Marais breton in the south, thus bordering the Bay of Bourgneuf on its southern part. Its jagged coa ...
, in the far west of the
Pays de Retz The Pays de Retz (; ; ) is a historical subregion of France that currently forms part of the Loire-Atlantique department, but once formed part of the Duchy of Brittany. The area lies between the southern shore of the Loire estuary and the '' Mara ...
, in the municipality of
Préfailles Préfailles (; ) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. Population See also *Communes of the Loire-Atlantique department The following is a list of the 207 communes of the Loire-Atlantique department of Fran ...
(
Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Louére-Atantique''; ; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', ) is a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. ...
), France. The point lies at the south of the
Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...
and the port of
Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...
lies on the opposite, north, bank. The
Baie de Bourgneuf The Bay of Bourgneuf (, ) is a bay situated on the French Atlantic coast, at the border of the Loire-Atlantique and Vendée departments. In the Middle Ages the bay was known as the ''baie de Bretagne'' or ''baye de Bretagne'' (Bay of Brittany or ...
and island of
Noirmoutier Noirmoutier (also French: Île de Noirmoutier, ; , ) is a tidal island off the Atlantic coast of France in the Vendée department (85). History Noirmoutier was the location of an early Viking raid in 799, when raiders attacked the monaster ...
lie to the south.


Toponymy

It owes its present name to
Saint Gildas Gildas (English pronunciation: , Breton: ''Gweltaz''; ) — also known as Gildas Badonicus, Gildas fab Caw (in Middle Welsh texts and antiquarian works) and ''Gildas Sapiens'' (Gildas the Wise) — was a 6th-century British monk best known fo ...
who landed in the sixth century. It was formerly known as "Terra de Chevesché", "Pointe de Chevesché" or "Pointe de Chevêché" until 1750. The term '' is a deformation of , which formerly designated in ecclesiastical terminology the one who supervised the '
chevet In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. In Byzan ...
' (
apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...
or
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
) of a church and who, by extension, had custody of the treasury. This religious dignitary who received the income from an abbey (in this case that of
Pornic Pornic (; ''Pornizh'' in Breton, ''Port-Nitz'' in Gallo language, Gallo) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France. In 1973 the commune of Pornic absorbed the neighbouring munici ...
), lived in a ''.


Activities

A summer tourist destination (300,000 visitors per year), the point hosts some facilities for holiday-makers. Features include:: * a port housing fishing and pleasure boats (250 moorings including 3 for fishing boats), managed by the municipality; * a municipal sailing school; * a nautical jet-ski base ; * a museum space housed in the old semaphore transformed lighthouse in the middle of twentieth century (now automated); hotels, campsites, and restaurants.


World War II

During the
Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...
, many allied troops were evacuating via the port of Saint-Nazaire. The Pointe Saint-Gildas overlooks the sea where, on 17 June 1940, the
RMS Lancastria RMS ''Lancastria'' was a British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government, Government of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Aerial. Having received an emergency order to evacua ...
was sunk with huge loss of lives. A monument and information panel near the main car park commemorates this tragic event. Soon after, the Germans set up a major submarine base in
Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...
at the same time as the defences intended to ensure its protection. This defence was assigned to the MAA 280 (), responsible for prohibiting entry the port of Saint-Nazaire and the mouth of the
Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...
. The MAA 280 had 5 batteries, one of which, the fifth, was located on Pointe Saint-Gildas. This battery had two establishments, one on the Saint-Gildas point armed with four 75mm guns and a heavy battery armed with two 240mm guns located above the Raize beach. These two guns were old pieces of railed artillery used in the First World War. The installation was made at a fixed position with a cannon at the top of the and another halfway down to the sea. The entrance to the known shelters was located at the level of second cannon. Referred to as the “underground hospital”, these shelters were in fact a network of underground bunkers, comprising an infirmary, a radio control post, and a logistics command centre. Most of the above-ground features are still very visible and some are open for public access. The subterranean shelters, located under what is now the Eléovic campsite mobile home area, are not publicly accessible. The rest of the barracks, as well as the commander's accommodation, were on the site of the campsite. Following the
Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
and
Operation Cobra Operation Cobra was an offensive launched by the First United States Army under Lieutenant General Omar Bradley seven weeks after the D-Day landings, during the Normandy campaign of World War II. The intention was to take advantage of the dis ...
, the area remained under German occupation within the
Saint-Nazaire pocket The Saint-Nazaire Pocket (, ) was an Atlantic pockets, Atlantic pocket that existed from August 1944 until 11 May 1945 and was formed by the withdrawal of German troops from Loire-Inférieure (now Loire-Atlantique) during the liberation of th ...
and was not liberated until its surrender on 11 May 1945.


Environment

Much of the coastal area of Pointe Saint-Gildas was declared a Regional Nature Reserve in 2014. The reserve has been the subject of a major rehabilitation program, in order to reduce the gradual destruction of the
biotope A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of flora (plants), plants and fauna (animals), animals. ''Biotope'' is almost synonymous with the term habitat (ecology), "habitat", which ...
by tourist activity. Numerous marked paths have been defined and the moor has been reseeded and stabilized.


References

{{reflist Headlands of France Nature reserves in France Geography of Loire-Atlantique