Huddled around its two squares, the « Little Town of Character » of Pontrieux extends towards the marina, inviting you to set sail to Bréhat, Jersey or Guernsey. With its viaduct and two bridges, the town is ideal for strolling around in the daytime and night-time, thanks to a surprising trail of light that allows you to discover the wash houses, the half-timbered houses and stone houses, an 18th-century fountain and a 16th-century house nicknamed the « Tour Eiffel ».
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Discover Pontrieux
At the start of the 15th century, following the sacking of Châteaulin-sur-Trieux fortress and the primitive village, upstream of the town’s current position, the inhabitants built a new village on the banks of the Trieux. A bridge connected the banks. The town of Pont-Trieux was thus born.
Pontrieux was an ideal trading site and also became the port of Guingamp. However, after the Lézardrieux bridge was built in 1840, it was no longer compulsory to pass through the town. The arrival of the railway at the end of the 19th century led to the development of industry based on wood, cardboard and flax. This production, shipped by sea all over Europe, gave the port new life, and Danish and English schooners interacted with those setting sail to fish in Iceland.
A town with 50 wash houses
Hugging the meanders of the river, the town has two triangular squares connected by a ribbon of tall houses. Of the 50 wash houses along the Trieux, many were privately owned. Each bourgeois family had their own. It was a way of protecting their intimacy. To discover them from a unique angle, take an electric boat, in the daytime or at night.
