The Tourelle de la Plate, also known as Petite Vieille (Little Old Woman) is a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

in the dangerous strait ''

Raz de Sein The Raz de Sein is a stretch of water located between the Isle of Sein and the Pointe du Raz in Finistère located in the Brittany region of France. This tidal water is an essential passage for vessels wishing to pass between the Atlantic and t ...

'', off the northwest coast of France, belonging to the departement of

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.region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

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 ...

. Its companion light,

La Vieille La Vieille ("The Old Lady" or "The Wrass") is a lighthouse in the ''département'' of Finistère at the ''commune'' of Plogoff, on the northwest coast of France. It lies on the rock known as ''Gorlebella'' ( Breton for "farthest rock"), guiding ma ...

, is 260 metres to the north-east. At a meeting on 5 June 1886, the lighthouse commission decided to construct a new tower near the La Vieille lighthouse, which was itself then in progress. Construction began in 1887, but had to be halted quickly because the ship necessary for its construction, "La Confiance", was in use elsewhere. The works, always in summer, were resumed in 1893 and completed in 1896. The octagonal turret is supported on a cylindrical base, these two parts being mounted on

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

. The whole rises to about 9.50 meters above the highest seas. On December 4, 1896, a violent storm broke over the tower which was "beheaded". Reconstruction work was completed in 1909 due to many difficulties. The first tests took place in 1910. On August 31, 1911, a permanent green fixed light, burning oil, was installed. At night, it has a 1.2-second interval white flashing light. Currently, the tower has the role of warning ships to keep to the west of the light.

Sources

Site
d'un passionné des phares français. (French) * Site d'u

de la Bretagne. (French) {{Coord, 48, 02, 21, N, 4, 45, 35, W, type:landmark_region:FR, display=title Lighthouses in Brittany Buildings and structures in Finistère Lighthouses completed in 1896