Cadouarn can be explored through its fishermen’s houses, the history of a former boat harbour and the route to the Île de Boëde. The island can be reached on foot from Cadouarn on the Langle peninsula. This access is tide-dependent and difficult; a good knowledge of the route is required to make the crossing.
Tides and routes to the Île de Boëde
The Gué du Gornevez starts south of Cadouarn and heads towards the eastern side of the Île de Boëde. Its winding path is 442 metres long and no more than one metre wide. It passes through areas of soft silt. According to the conditions described in 1905, the ford could only be crossed between low tide and half tide, on either the rising or falling tide. This timing refers to the conditions at the time; tide dependency remains crucial for access today. Check local conditions before attempting the crossing.
For walkers, hikers and mountain bikers, the coastal and inland paths in Séné offer another way to discover the fishing village of Cadouarn and its typical fishermen’s houses. By contrast, the difficult, tide-dependent access to the Île de Boëde requires particular knowledge of the crossing.
Fishermen’s houses and traces of the village’s history
Cadouarn consists mostly of rendered fishermen’s houses. They are often joined together and usually have no upper floor. In Cadouarn and Le Ranquin, 28 recorded houses bear the dates 1873, 1893 or 1908. Le Ranquin was incorporated into Cadouarn at the end of the 19th century. The Manoir le Ranquin is one of the oldest buildings on the Séné peninsula; its stair tower bears the date 1613.
Individual buildings also point to different periods in the village’s history. In Cadouarn, a 19th-century cross stands on the site of a windmill shown on a 19th-century cadastral map. Ty Mad at 32 rue de Cadouarn is a characteristic fishermen’s house with two ground-floor openings and a projecting dormer; the house is privately owned.
The house at 39 rue du Moulin, also privately owned, once served partly as a café and as a social meeting place in the fishing village. The house at 2 rue des Algues is privately owned and illustrates Cadouarn’s transformation from an agricultural settlement into a maritime village in the 19th century. Each house thus offers a different insight: into its architectural form, a former use or the village’s transformation.
Rue de Cadouarn and its maritime past
Rue de Cadouarn leads down to a former beach cove that once served as a harbour where boats could be beached. Houses for fishing families stand in regular rows on both sides of the street. The street thus connects a tangible built environment with the cove’s former use.
The shipyard of Jean Martin in Cadouarn is also part of the maritime history. From the second half of the 19th century until 1919, it built seven to eight Sinagots each year. Together with the former harbour cove and the rows of houses for fishing families, it offers a picture of different aspects of the former fishing village, without reducing them to a single attraction.
Discover more destinations: Camoël, Malansac, Guégon, Larmor-Plage, Malestroit, Plouhinec, Priziac, Pluherlin.
For the regional travel overview: Morbihan.
