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Pont-l'Abbé (Municipality, Finistère, France)

Pont-n'-Abad

by Arnaud Leroy

Presentation of Pont-l'Abbé
Municipal flag of Pont-l'Abbé

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Presentation of Pont-l'Abbé

Pont-l'Abbé (Breton, Pont-n'-Abad, 8,400 inhabitants) is the capital city of the Pays Bigouden, a traditional district located in southern Brittany (Cornouaille).The city of Pont-l'Abbé is located between the end of the estuary of the Rivière de Pont-l'Abbé (in Brittany, rivers are often named after the city built on their estuary) and a big pond.

Like (mostly) everywhere in Brittany, prehistorical megalithic monuments have been found near Pont-l'Abbé, namely the menhirs (erected stones) of Guiric and Pen Laouic (today in the river), and the dolmens (lying stones) of Menez Bodillo and Merc'hen (both destroyed).
After the conquest of Brittany, the Romans built a castrum (fortified camp) on the top of the hill dominating the today's city of Pont-l'Abbé, a place locally called Menez (mount) Roz Ar Hastel. There was a Roman way between Quimper and the point of Penmarc'h.

The name of the city (lit., the Abbot's Bridge) comes from the bridge built between the port and the pond by the monks of the abbey of Loctudy, located on the mouth of the Rivière de Pont-l'Abbé. In the IXth century, the Northmen sailed back the river and trashed the abb