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Origin and history

The guard corps of Fort Larron, located 30 metres north-west of the Baiguade de la Belle Fontaine at the Palais (Bretagne), was built between 1859 and 1860 according to the model plan No. 3 of the Ministry of War (1846). Intended to monitor a source of drinking water (aiguad), it is distinguished by its artificial glacis masking the view from the sea and its walls-traverse masonry on the terrace, partially removed in the 1970s. Unlike coastal batteries, its ammunition premises were undersized by decision of the Fortification Committee (1848). The southern façade bears the inscription "Port Larron Post – 1859", recalling its initial function of defending and controlling maritime approaches.

Its final location, in a valley west of the tank, resulted from a counter-project of 1857, after the rediscovery of a lost report from Inspector-General Noizet (1848) recommending this positioning. Built as a local shale and continental granite, the building was declassified in 1889 and transferred to the Domaines in 1926. Although the poet Robert Desnos tried to rent it in 1939, the German occupation (1940–44) made it a barracks. Transformed into a private home in the 1970s, it retains three of its four original faces, despite modern developments (covering the terrace, piercings).

The post of Port Larron was part of the Breton coastal defence network of the 19th century, responding to the directives of the Joint Coastal Armaments Commission (1841). Initially planned to replace an existing battery, its project evolved under the influence of military engineering inspectors, illustrating local strategic adaptations. Ranked Historic Monument in 2000, it bears witness to the standardized military architecture of the time, while bearing traces of its later civilian uses, from attempts at artistic rental to its residential conversion.

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