Until the great campaign to build lighthouses in the second half of the 19th century, the lighting of France’s coasts was very inadequate.

In 1853, in response to repeated requests from captains and shipowners, the lighthouse commission installed the first shale oil lantern at the end of the Portrieux jetty. It was hoisted to the top of a wooden pole every evening and maintained by a keeper living “in town”. Prior to this date, a simple lantern was lit on the small cliff overlooking the port.

In 1867, the Lighthouse Service decided to replace the lantern, whose range was insufficient, with a sheet metal turret imagined and designed by Léonce Reynaud (1803-1880 – director of the Lighthouses and Beacons Service from 1846 to 1878) and presented at the Universal Exhibition held that same year in Paris. This is the one you can still see today at the end of the pier.

This 8-sided turret is made of bolted sheet metal panels. Lightweight and quickly assembled, it can even be moved if circumstances require, which was the case at Portrieux.

At the close of the World’s Fair, the various parts of the construction were dismantled and packed up for transport to Portrieux. The “lighthouse” installed at the end of the first section of the pier was lit on 10 June 1868. In 1879, once the quay had been extended, it again had to be dismantled and reassembled to be installed in its current position.

Until it was electrified in 1948, the lantern ran on shale oil (petroleum) and remained under the supervision of a keeper living in the town.

At present, due to the presence of the deep-water port, the harbour light at the beaching port is no more than a basin entrance light, with green flashes and a range of 1.6 nautical miles (2.9 km). It is powered by photovoltaic generators and maintained by the Lighthouses and Beacons station in Lézardrieux.

This original, mass-produced harbour light turret was sold by catalogue in large numbers. Few remain today, but the one at Portrieux is unique in the Côtes d’Armor. An application is currently being made to have it listed as a Historic Monument.