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Origin and history

La Biche, at the tip of the Biche in the municipality of Locmaria (Belle-Île-en-Mer), is a key element of the defensive system designed to protect the island in the 19th century. It replaces an older battery, built in the seventeenth century on the plans of Vauban, which had been reinforced during the Revolution with a pellet oven. This strategic site monitored the Great Sands, the island's main landing point.

In 1858, the old battery was demolished to give way to a new fortification, equipped with five cannons and a creneled guard corps model 1846, designed to house twenty men. This reduction, completed in 1859, was one of the eight similar on Belle-Île. A 32 cm mortar was added in 1862, but the site was downgraded in 1870 and sold to an individual in 1891. The successive changes (comblement of slots, addition of a roof) and its transformation into a private home have altered its original appearance.

During World War II, the Germans installed a defensive support point, adding concrete structures and trenches. Today, the small, classified historic monument since 2000, retains traces of these military occupations, although its residential use has erased much of its original provisions. Property remains private, and access is limited.

The history of the reduced reflects the strategic evolutions of Belle-Île, marked by conflicts from the 17th to the 20th century. Vauban had already identified the importance of the tip of the Biche in 1689, recommending a battery of four guns. Over the centuries, the site has been adapted to military needs, before becoming a heritage testimony of coastal defensive systems.

The 1976 littoral law ended local controversies over the closing of the land, introduced in 1902 by the owner. Despite the transformations, La Biche's small scale remains a characteristic example of the 19th century coastal fortifications, incorporating vestiges of different eras, from Vauban to German developments.

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