Penmarch

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Commune of Penmarch
Location
Longitude	04° 20' 12" Ouest
Latitude	47° 48' 46" Nord
Administration
Country	France
Region	Bretagne
Department	Finistère
Arrondissement	Quimper
Canton	Canton of Le Guilvinec
Intercommunality
Mayor	Jacqueline Lazard (2001-2008)
Statistics
Altitude	m–m (avg. m)
Land area¹	16.39 km²
Population² (1999)	5,889
- Density (1999)	359/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	29158/ 29760
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 mi² or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Penmarc'h or Penmarch (the apostrophe in the name is correct) is a village and commune of western France in the département of Finistère, 18 m. SW of Quimper by road. Pop. (1906), of the village, 387; of the commune, 5702. It is the most populated commune in Guilvinec

On the extremity of the peninsula on which it is situated are fortified remains of a town which was of considerable importance from the 14th to the 16th centuries and included, besides Penmarc'h, Saint-Guénolé and Kerity. It owed its prosperity to its cod-banks, the disappearance of which together with the discovery of the Newfoundland cod-banks and the pillage of the place by the bandit La Fontenelle in 1595 contributed to its decadence.

The church of St. Nouna, a Gothic building of the early 16th century at Penmarc'h, and the church of St. Guenole, an unfinished tower, and the church of Kerity are of interest. The coast is very dangerous. On the Point de Penmarc'h stands the Phare d'Eckmuhl, with a light visible for 60 miles. There are numerous megalithic monuments in the vicinity.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.