Roscoff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Administration
Commune of Roscoff View of Roscoff from Île-de-Batz
Location
Longitude	3.98° W
Latitude	48.73° N
Country	France
Region	Bretagne
Department	Finistère
Arrondissement	Morlaix
Canton	Saint-Pol-de-Léon
Mayor	Joseph Seité (2001-2008)
Statistics
Altitude	m–m (avg. 6 m)
Land area¹	6.19 km²
Population² (1999)	3,550
- Density (1999)	574/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	29239/ 29680
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).

Roscoff (Breton: Rosko) is a commune in the arrondissement of Morlaix in the Finistère département, in France's Bretagne région.

The nearby Île-de-Batz, called Enez Vaz in Breton, is a small island that can be reached by launch from the harbour.

Since the early 1970s, Roscoff has been developed as a ferry port for the transport of Breton agricultural produce. Brittany Ferries' links with the United Kingdom and Ireland provide a boost to the local economy. In the late 1990s people from the South West of (England) began to travel to Roscoff from Plymouth in order to stay for one or two days and import French wines at much cheaper prices than in England.

Roscoff is also a traditional departure point for Onion Johnnies.

[edit] Monuments

Notre-Dame de Croaz Batz (church)
The house known as "that of Mary, Queen of Scots"
The aquarium and the Station biologique de Roscoff, a research laboratory in oceanography and marine biology.

[edit] Historic events

In 1375, the harbour was destroyed by the Earl of Arundel. It would later be rebuilt at its current location, at Kroas Batz.
From 1522 to 1545-1550, construction the Church of Our Lady of Kroas Batz (see Monuments above).
In 1548, the six-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots, having been betrothed to the Dauphin François, disembarks at Roscoff.
In 1790, Roscoff was raised to independent commune. Until this time, the town had effectively depended on Saint-Pol-de-Léon.