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Origin and history

The Cornouaille battery, also known as Fort de Cornouaille, is an artillery structure built from 1684 on the Crozon peninsula in Roscanvel to defend the entrance of the Brest gully. Designed under the direction of Vauban, it forms with the fort of the Mengant a cross-fire device making the marine passage highly perilous. The work, originally planned to include a high battery, was completed in 1696 after interruptions due to budgetary constraints.

The battery consists of a 250-metre elliptical platform, backed by the cliff and equipped with 36 flares for 30 guns (20 of 24 pounds and 10 of 36 pounds). Its armament and position, a few meters above the water, make it a centrepiece of the Breton coastal defence. In 1692 Jean-Pierre Traverse, supervisor of the Vauban tower of Camaret-sur-Mer, resumed the construction after a financially motivated break.

In the 19th century, the battery underwent major changes: in 1813, an 1811 model tower was added at the top of the cliff to monitor the sea and defend itself against ground assaults. Between 1840 and 1870, the flares were filled and the guns replaced by quick-fire parts. In 1888, an underground breaking battery was built, sheltering two 320 mm guns hidden in the rock to target battled ships.

During the Second World War, the Germans installed a battery of Flak (1942-1944), destroyed during the 1944 bombings. Only the historical work of Vauban remains intact. The site is now suffering from recent storms, such as Ciarán (late 2023 - early 2024), which have weakened its structures.

The Cornwall battery testifies to French military engineering, from Vauban's initial plans to adaptations to the technological advances of the 19th and 20th centuries. Its current abandonment contrasts with its key historical role in protecting the harbour of Brest, one of the main French military ports since the seventeenth century.

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