Roscoff ( , ; ) is a commune in the

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.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. Roscoff is renowned for its picturesque architecture, labelled (small town of character) since 2009. Roscoff is also a traditional departure point for

Onion Johnnies Onion Johnnies ( or ) were Breton farmers and agricultural labourers who travelled, originally on foot and later on bicycles, selling distinctive pink onions door to door in Great Britain. They were especially active in Wales, where they share ...

. After lobbying by local economic leaders headed by Alexis Gourvennec, the French government agreed in 1968 to provide a deep-water port at Roscoff. Existing ferry operators were reluctant to take on the relatively long Plymouth–Roscoff crossing so Gourvennec and colleagues founded

Brittany Ferries Brittany Ferries is the trading name of the French shipping company, BAI Bretagne Angleterre Irlande S.A. founded in 1973 by Alexis Gourvennec, that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between France, England, Ireland, Spain and the ...

. Since the early 1970s Roscoff has been developed as a ferry port for the transport of Breton agricultural produce and for motor tourism.

link Roscoff with both Ireland and the United Kingdom. Owing to the richness of

iodine Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

in the surrounding waters and the mild climate maintained by a sea current that varies only between , Roscoff is also a centre of post-cure, which gave rise to the concept of

thalassotherapy Thalassotherapy (from the Greek word ''thalassa'', meaning "sea") is the use of seawater as a form of therapy. Note: Thalasso therapy is a sub-definition under the listing for Thalasso. It also includes the systematic use of sea products and shor ...

in the latter half of the 19th century. A French doctor, Louis-Eugène Bagot, opened the Institut Marin in Roscoff in 1899, the first centre for thalassotherapy in Europe. Since then many important centres of thalassotherapy such as the Institut de Rockroum (originally Institut marin), the clinic Kerléna and a heliomarin hospital founded in 1900, the Perharidy Centre, can be found by the sea at Roscoff. The nearby

Île de Batz The Île de Batz (; ) is an island off Roscoff in Brittany, France. Administratively, it is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Climate Île de Batz has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classificatio ...

, called 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 ...

, is a small island that can be reached by

launch Launch or launched may refer to: Involving vehicles * Launch (boat), one of several different sorts of boat ** Motor launch (naval), a small military vessel used by the Royal Navy * Air launch, the practice of dropping an aircraft, rocket, or ...

from the

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

Sights

* Roscoff parish church Our Lady of ''Croaz Batz'' (''Notre Dame de Croaz Batz''): Renaissance and Gothic church from the 16th century * The house known as "that of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

" * The

Station Biologique de Roscoff The Station biologique de Roscoff (SBR) is a French marine biology and oceanography research and teaching center. Founded by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers (1821–1901) in 1872, it is at the present time affiliated to the Sorbonne Faculty of Scienc ...

, a research laboratory in oceanography and marine biology * The

Jardin Exotique de Roscoff The Jardin Exotique de Roscoff () (1.6 hectares) is a botanical garden located in Roscoff, Finistère, in the region of Brittany, France. It is open daily; an admission fee is charged. History The garden was begun in 1986 when the département o ...

Image:France Bretagne 29 Roscoff 02.jpg Image:France Bretagne 29 Roscoff 03.jpg Image:France Bretagne 29 Roscoff 04.jpg Image:France Bretagne 29 Roscoff 05.jpg Image:France Bretagne 29 Roscoff 06.jpg Image:France Bretagne 29 Roscoff 07.jpg Image:France Bretagne 29 Roscoff 08.jpg Image:France Bretagne 29 Roscoff 09.jpg Image:France Bretagne 29 Roscoff 10.jpg * The

Onion Johnny Onion Johnnies ( or ) were Breton farmers and agricultural labourers who travelled, originally on foot and later on bicycles, selling distinctive pink onions door to door in Great Britain. They were especially active in Wales, where they share ...

museum

Population

Inhabitants of Roscoff are called in French ''Roscovites''.

Breton language

The municipality launched a language plan through

Ya d'ar brezhoneg (, ) is a campaign started in the 21st century by the () to promote and stimulate the use of the Breton language in daily life in Brittany, northwestern France. Breton is a Brythonic Celtic language which has fallen out of general use since the ...

on 14 November 2008. In 2008 18.44% of primary-school children attended bilingual schools. ''Ofis ar Brezhoneg''
''Enseignement bilingue''
/ref>

Ferries

Port of Roscoff - departure on the car ferry to Plymouth

operate ferry services from Roscoff to

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

daily from February to November with occasional Christmas sailings, to

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

twice a week (Friday and Tuesday service).

Irish Ferries Irish Ferries is an Irish ferry and transport company that operates passenger and freight services on routes between Ireland, Britain and Continental Europe, including Dublin Port–Holyhead; Rosslare Europort to Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, Pembr ...

used to operate a ferry service from Roscoff to Rosslare from May to September but now sail to Cherbourg instead.

Historic events

* In 1375 the harbour was destroyed by English forces under the

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and it is used (along with the earldom of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title ...

. It would later be rebuilt at its current location, Kroas Batz. * From 1522 to 1545–1550 the construction the Church of Our Lady of Kroas Batz (see ''Monuments'' above). * In 1548 the six-year-old

, having been betrothed to the Dauphin

François François () is a French language, French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis (given name), Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * Voltaire, Fran ...

, disembarked at Roscoff en route from Scotland. * In 1790 Roscoff was raised to independent commune. Until then the town had effectively depended on

Saint-Pol-de-Léon Saint-Pol-de-Léon (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department in Brittany in north-western France, located on the coast. It is noted for its 13th-century cathedral on the site of the original founded by Saint Paul Aurelian in the 6th cen ...

. * The illustrator

Henry Gerbault Henri Gerbault, Henry Gerbault, or Jean Louis Armand Henri Gerbault (24 June 1863 – 19 October 1930) was a French illustrator, water color painter, and poster artist. He was born in Châtenay, Paris, France and was the nephew of the poet ...

and his wife moved to Roscoff in 1919 and lived there for the rest of their lives.

International relations

Roscoff is twinned with: *

Great Torrington Great Torrington (often abbreviated to Torrington, though the villages of Little Torrington and Black Torrington are situated in the same region) is a market town in Devon, England. Parts of it are sited on high ground with steep drops down to ...

, United Kingdom *

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

, France

Image gallery

File:Roscoff during high tide.jpg, Roscoff from the pie

File:Iledebatzblicknachroscoff.jpg, View of Roscoff from ''Île-de-Batz'' File:Low tide in Brittany.jpg, Boats at low tide in Roscoff File:Roscoff Harbour.JPG, Roscoff Harbour at low tide File:Roscoff from Bridge.JPG, Roscoff from Bridge to the ferry to ''Île-de-Batz'' at low tide File:Notre-Dame de Croaz Batz - 201.jpg, The Renaissance

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

(1576) of Roscoff parish church Our Lady of ''Croaz Batz'' File:PSroscoff-4157 tonemapped.jpg, The lighthouse File:PSroscoff-4201tonemapped.jpg, Sainte Barbe chapel File:PSroscoff-4215tonemapped.jpg File:Roscoff 2008 PD 74.JPG, ''Ar Vil'' from the sea File:Promenade dans Roscoff-001.JPG File:France Bretagne 29 Roscoff 01.jpg File:Promenade dans Roscoff-005.JPG File:Maison Dumas à Roscoff.JPG,

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

's house during the summer 1869. File:Plage du Pouldu.jpg

References

External links

The commune's websiteTourism office Cultural Heritage

Station Biologique de Roscoff

Port of Roscoff

Brittany Ferries Roscoff to Plymouth
{{Authority control Communes of Finistère Port cities and towns on the French Atlantic coast Ports and harbours of the English Channel