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Origin and history

Harbour Island is a rocky island in the Bay of Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine, part of the municipality of Dinard. Ranked a protected historical monument and natural site since 1934, it houses a fort built in the 17th and 18th centuries. The island, now privately owned, was part of a network of fortifications designed to protect access to Saint-Malo, including the forts of La Conché, du Petit Bé and Fort National. Its current name, of uncertain origin, could evoke an old harbour or pre-salaries, although ancient archives mention names such as Herbois or A countdown.

The fort was built on an ancient dread between 1689 and the 18th century under the direction of military engineers Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban and Simeon Garangeau. Located 1.6 km from Saint-Malo, it controlled two strategic sea passes: the Portes (main access) and the Décollé (Dinard coast). In peacetime, some ten soldiers occupied him, but this number could reach 90 in times of conflict, including 60 malign militiamen. Disused after 1944, the fort was classified as a Historic Monument in 1952 and briefly belonged to actor Alain Delon (1967)–1981, before being sold to a private owner.

The local legend attributes to the island a much older historical role: in the fifth century, Saint Aaron would have welcomed Maclou (future bishop of Aleth and founder of Saint Malo). An oral tradition also suggests that the island housed the primitive port of Aleth before the tidal wave of 709, although the name harbour (havre in English) is a recent name. The islet, a part of a rocky bank, is located 1 km north of the beach of Saint-Énogat and 3 km west of the closed city of Saint-Malo.

Architecturally, the fort has an irregular enclosure pierced with niches, with two bastions: one pentagonal to the east and another called the Advanced to the southeast, serving as the main access. The buildings include a barracks and a powder shop, dominated by courtesins. The site, now inaccessible to the public, illustrates the military engineering of the 17th–15th centuries, designed to secure the Rance and the port of Saint-Malo against maritime attacks. His post-1944 abandonment and his private status make him a preserved but unknown testimony of the Breton defensive heritage.

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